MERIDA  , a

city of Mexico and capital of the state of Yucatan, 23 M. by rail S. of Progreso, its port on the Gulf of Mexico . Pop . (1900), 43,630, the Maya element being predominant . Merida is the centre of an isolated railway system, connected with the ports of Progreso and Campeche, and having short lines radiating in all directions to Peto, Valladolid and Izamal . It stands on a broad, partly open plain near the northern border of the peninsula, where the thin loose soil covering a limestone foundation permits the rapid percolation and evaporation of the rainfall, and therefore supports a comparatively scanty vegetation . It is highly favourable to maguey cultivation, however, and Merida is the centre of the henequen, or sisal fibre, industry . There is an imposing 16th-century cathedral facing upon the principal plaza, together with the government and episcopal palaces . There are also an old university, with schools of law, medicine and pharmacy, an episcopal seminary and other educational institutions . The most interesting building in the city is a Franciscan convent, dating from 1547, which covers an area of 6 acres and is surrounded by a wall 40 ft. high and 8 ft. thick . It once harboured no less than 2000 friars, but has been allowed to fall into complete decay since the expulsion of the order in 1820 . The manufactures include straw hats, hammocks, cigars, soap, cotton fabrics, leather goods, artificial stone, and a peculiar distilled beverage called estabentun . The exports are henequen, or sisal fibre, hides, sugar, rum, chicle and indigo—all products of the vicinity .

Merida was founded in 1542 by the younger Francisco de Montejo on the site of a native city called Tihoo, or Th6, whose stone pyramids furnished building material in abundance for the invaders . It became an episcopal see in 1561 .