Originally settled by Maya Indians, the area was recorded as Cancúne (Mayan: “Vessel at the End of the Rainbow”) in 1843 by the American explorer John Lloyd Stephens and the British explorer Frederick Catherwood in their classic work, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan (1843). Cancún remained a small fishing-and-gathering settlement of about 100 Maya until 1970, when, after a three-year study of conditions by the Mexican government in association with private interests, the area was selected as a suitable site for an international holiday centre. A building boom in the 1980s transformed Cancún Island into a major resort for tourists from the United States, Europe, and elsewhere.

Mexican tourism officials view Cancún as a successful model for planned economic and urban development, but critics question its location on an unstable barrier island in Mexico's hurricane zone and note that severe housing problems persist in the adjacent service town, where many tourist-industry workers still live in substandard conditions. Cancún is linked by highway to Puerto Juarez to the north (with ferry service to the tourist destination of Isla Mujeres), to Puerto Morelos to the south (with ferry service to the tourist destination of Cozumel Island (Cozumel)), and to various Mayan sites, including Tulum to the south and Chichén Iztá (Chichén Itzá) 87 miles (140 km) to the west. An international airport is located 12 miles (19 km) south of the city on the mainland. Pop. (2005) urban agglom., 586,288.