handled gold and silver from other areas in Mexico going to Spain. Imported items to the port included luxury items to such as Italian marble and crystal chandeliers from Austria . The Spanish built a European based colonial city here and as it became rich, it was filled with large mansions. However, to survive in the hot and humid environment, the Europeans also adapted a number of Mayan products such as hammocks for sleeping and storing drinking water in hollow gourds. They also built with the area�s local red cedar, mahogany and �sahcab� a local limestone. The shipping in these waters attracted pirates such as John Hawkins, Francis Drake, Diego the Mulatto, Henry Morgan, Cornelis Jol,Bartolomeu Portugu�s, Lewis Scot and Roche Braziliano . Most of the attacks were at the port of Campeche but Champont�n also suffered significant attacks in 1644 and 1672. Fortification of the city of Campeche began as early as 1610, but these structures were insufficient. The worst pirate attack occurred in 1685, when Laurens de Graaf sacked the city of Campeche and the surrounding haciendas for over thirty days, killing about a third of the area�s population. This prompted far more extensive fortification with numerous forts and a wall around the city that measured 2,560 meters in an irregular polygon shape. Most of the forts survive but only 500 meters of the original wall remains. These fortifications cut the threat of pirate attacks but it remained walled until 1890. Campeche was officially recognized as a city in 1774 (the first in southeast Mexico) and in 1784 was declared a minor port. In 1804, the port was closed due to the war between Spain and England. This caused discontentment in the city and fomented insurgent tendencies.
Campeche remained a wealthy and important port until the early 19th century, when a number of events brought on decline. In 1811, the port of Sisal was opened in what is now the State of Yucat�n, taking much of the city�s business. Another
