Tampico, Mexico

City: Tampico

State: Mexico

Lat/Long: 22.2167, -97.8500

Located in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, six miles from the Gulf of Mexico on the Pánuco River, Tampico is one of the central seaports of Mexico. Franciscan monks arrived in the area in the sixteenth century, establishing a monastery in 1532, around which Tampico grew. In 1683, pirates attacked and destroyed Tampico, and the remaining inhabitants abandoned the town. Mexicans resettled Tampico in 1823. During the Mexican War, U.S. forces under General Zachary Taylor occupied Tampico. French forces occupied it in 1862 during French intervention in Mexico.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1997), 1157.