Tabasco , officially
Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco , is one of the 31 states which, with the
Federal District, comprise the
32 Federal Entities of
Mexico. It is divided in
17 municipalities and its capital city is
Villahermosa. It is located in the southeast of the country bordering the states of
Campeche to the northeast,
Veracruz to the west and
Chiapas to the south, and the
Petén department of
Guatemala to the southeast. It has a coastline to the north with the
Gulf of Mexico. Most of the state is covered in
rainforest as, unlike most other areas of Mexico, it has plentiful rainfall year round. For this reason, it is also covered in small lakes,
wetlands and rivers. The state is subject to major flooding events, with the last occurring in 2007, which affected eighty percent of the state. The state is also home to
La Venta, the major site of the
Olmec civilization, considered to be the origin of later
Mesoamerican cultures. Even though it produces significant quantities of petroleum and natural gas, poverty is still a concern.
