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> Homepage > Homepage > Welcome > Destinations > Chetumal & the South >   Oxtankah
 The name means ‘three neighborhoods’ although it has also been translated as ‘place of the ramón (the ramón or breadnut tree bears a nut gathered by the ancient Maya and ground into flour). Intermittent building went on at Oxtankah for centuries: its first structures date from A.D. 200 - 600 and remnants from the period have survived at Plaza Abejas and Plaza de las Columnas. Oxtankah was then abandoned for 800 to 900 years until the Maya built a humbler settlement with stones from the first. Remains have also survived. Colonial sources state that Gonzalo Guerrero lived at Oxtankah. By 1531, the Spaniards had arrived, and Alonso de Ávila christened the settlement, Villa Real de Chetumal. The Indians’ hostility forced the foreigners to flee within two years. During that time they built a church, and the presence of both Mayan and European architecture is what makes Oxtankah so interesting. To reach the site head north on Ave. Heroes until it becomes a dirt track (the Calderitas-Tampalán road). At km 11.5, go left and follow the signs.
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© 2004 Editorial Veras. La guía Oficial del Caribe Mexicano.