Bolonchén, Campeche

Bolonchén or Bolonchén de Rejón (Bolon Che'e'en in Modern Maya) is a town in the Mexican state of Campeche, about 120 km East from the state capital, Campeche, in Hopelchén Municipality. The name "Bolonchén" means "Nine Wells" in the Maya language. "de Rejón" commemorates Manuel Crescencio Rejón, a lawyer who helped draft the 1917 Constitution and who was born here. Previously the Pueblo was named Bolonchenticul. It was renamed in September 1955 to Balonchén de Rejón . It is also the birthplace of Olegario Molina y Solis, the Governor of Yucatán and Minister de Fomento in the Porfirio Diaz era(1877–1911). In 1833 it was the only pueblo to escape the cholera epidemic. This was due to the efforts of Julian Molina y Bastante (Olegario's grandfather) and the brothers Martinez. In 2010 the town had a population of 3,975 people.

A good sized ruined site of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization is centered just north of the modern town. It dates to the classic and postclassic periods. Most of the carved stone on the ancient structures was removed in the 18th century through the mid 20th century for reuse in modern construction. Nonetheless, a few monuments with sculpture and hieroglyphic texts are still visible at old Bolonchen.

A short distance to the south of Bolonchén are the caves of Xtacunbilxunan.

Both the ruins and cave were visited and described briefly by John Lloyd Stephens at the start of the 1840s, but no detailed scholarly examination of the ruins was made until that of Eric von Euw in 1973 (in part because Stephens and other early visitors failed to note that there were surviving inscriptions).

Climate

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