Tabasco

Tabasco, officially Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de 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 along the Gulf of Mexico bordering the states of Campeche, Chiapas and Veracruz, as well as the country of Guatemala. 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. The state is also the origin of the cocoa bean, from which chocolate is made.