I've done a lot of searching today on the subject of the boundaries of the
Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán. I have not made much
progress, but I'll report what I have.

First, I need to correct something: Last night I wrote that I have a 1916 map
showing Quintana Roo then part of Yucatán. It's a map in a 1916 railway guide
published in Chicago, but it appears that the boundaries shown were even then
somewhat outdated. Yucatán became a state in the Mexican union in 1824. It
gave birth to the state of Campeche in 1858 (a secession that was settled
amicably) and to Quintana Roo (as a territory), which was split off from Yucatán
in 1902. Quintana Roo became a state of the union in 1974, along with Baja
California Sur. (Those were the last two Mexican territories.)

Soon after Quintana Roo's statehood, Yucatán started asserting that the correct
location of the Put tripoint was at "Nuevo Put," and it wrote the coordinates
into its constitution. If this stood, it would mean that the boundary of
Quintana Roo with both states would be much farther east. There wasn't much
that Quintana Roo could do about it until a change in the federal judicial
process in the mid-1990's made it possible for them to bring a lawsuit.
Quintana Roo officially opened "constitutional controversies" in 1997 with
Campeche and Yucatán.

I have failed to find any final ruling from the Suprema Corte de Justicia de la
Nación on these cases. I have written to my friend in Cozumel to ask what he
knows about the status of the lawsuits and the obvious boundary adjustments that
have resulted in such irregularity on the newest maps.

Finally, I have found the boundaries of the state of Yucatán as stated it its
constitution. Here is the pertinent article in English translation:

ARTICLE 14, - The territory of the State of Yucatán has the extent and the
limits that demarcate the Federal Constitution; it constitutes the north part
of the Yucatán Peninsula, that is limited by a dividing line that, beginning
from the northeast vertex follows the arc of the meridian 87 degrees, 32 minutes
(longitude west of Greenwich), unto its intersection with the parallel 21
degrees; and from there continues until finding the parallel that passes through
the south tower of the church of Chemax, 20 kilometers to the east of this
point; arriving later at the vertex of the angle formed by the lines that
divide the States of Yucatán and Campeche, near Put, that has the following
geographical coordinates: 19 degrees, 18 minutes, 27 seconds, north latitude,
and 89 degrees, 8 minutes, 52 seconds west longitude; from this point unto the
Gulf of Mexico, it has the limits fixed in the convention celebrated between the
states of Campeche and Yucatán with date of May 3, 1858; and from this point
towards the east, by the coast, unto the point of beginning. Also it
comprehends the Isla de Pérez (LOS ALACRANES), and the islets, keys and reefs
adjacent to its coast.

The convention that was celebrated with Campeche on May 3, 1858, was the one in
which Yucatán agreed to Campeche's separation. I have been unable to find any
copy, but one description says that part of the boundary (presumably near the
coast) was placed in the middle of a road.

So does the specified longitude (89° 8' 52") of the vertex "near Put" match that
of the bzgt boundary?

That's it for now. More as it emerges from the fog...

Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA