Home > Gulf of Mexico

The gulf's eastern, north, and northwestern shores lie within the United States of America (specifically, the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas); its southwestern and southern shores lie within Mexico (specifically, the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo); on the southeast it is bordered by Cuba. It connects with the Atlantic OceanFor other uses, see Atlantic (disambiguation The Atlantic Ocean is Earth's second-largest ocean, covering approximately one-fifth of its surface. The ocean's name, derived from Greek mythology, means the " Sea of Atlas". This ocean occupies an elongated, via the Florida Straits between the U.S. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean SeaThe Caribbean Sea is a body of water adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, south of the Gulf of Mexico. It is bounded on the south by Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama, to the west by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and the Yucatan peninsula o via the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba.

(Note: In common usage, at least in the U.S., the term "Gulf Coast" usually refers to either 1) the continuous portion of the coast running from Cape Sable, Florida , to Brownsville, TexasBrownsville is a city located in Cameron County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 139,722. It is the county seat of Cameron County 6. Geography Brownsville is located at 25°55'49" North, 97°29'4" West (25., or 2) the continuous portion of the coast running from Cape Sable, Florida, to the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. Both meanings exclude Cuba as well as the Florida KeysThe Florida Keys is an archipelago or cluster of islands extending from the southeastern Florida peninsula near Miami, running south and then curving west to Key West, and out to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. The islands lie in the Florida Straits, dividi.)

The total area of the Gulf of Mexico is approximately 615,000 mile² (1.6 million km²), the southern third of which lies within the tropics. The Gulf StreamThe Gulf Stream also known as the North Atlantic Drift is a powerful warm, swift Atlantic ocean current that flows along the coast of the Eastern United States and makes Ireland, Great Britain, and the Scandinavian countries warmer than they would be othe, a warm Atlantic Ocean current and one of the strongest ocean currentAn ocean current is a current that flows more or less permanently in one of the Earth's oceans. Ocean currents may flow for thousands of kilometers. They are very important in determining the climates of the continents bordering on the oceans they flow ins known, originates in the gulf. The gulf has been visited many times by powerful Atlantic hurricanes, some of which have caused extensive human death and other destruction.

The Bay of Campeche in Mexico constitutes a major arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, the gulf's shoreline is fringed by numerous bays and smaller inlets. A number of rivers empty into the gulf, most notably the Mississippi RiverThis page is about the river in the United States; for other uses, see Mississippi River (disambiguation). The Mississippi River is the second-longest river in the United States; the longest is the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi. Taken t, but by one river or another all the run off from the United States between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians goes into the gulf. The land that forms the gulf's coast, including many long, narrow barrier islands, is almost uniformly low-lying and is characterized by marshes and swamps as well as stretches of sandy beach.

The continental shelf is quite wide at most points along the coast. The shelf is exploited for its oil by means of offshore drilling rigs, most of which are situated in the western gulf. Another important commercial activity is fishing; major catches include various fishes as well as shrimp and crabs, with oysters being harvested on a large scale from many of the bays and sounds. Other important industries along the coast include shipping, petrochemical processing and storage, paper manufacture, and tourism.

Coastal cities of note include Tampa, St. Petersburg, Pensacola, Mobile, New Orleans, Beaumont, and Houston (all in the U.S.), Veracruz and Mérida (in Mexico), and Havana (in Cuba).

The gulf's coastal areas were first settled by American Indian groups, including those representing various of the advanced cultures of Mexico. During the period of European exploration and colonization the entire region became a theatre of contention between the Spanish, French and English. The present-day culture of the coastal region is primarily Spanish-American (Mexico, Cuba) and Anglo-American (U.S.).