city and port, southeastern Tamaulipas estado (state), northeastern Mexico. It lies on the northern bank of the Pánuco River, 6 miles (10 km) from the Gulf of Mexico. Tampico is almost surrounded by swampy lands and lagoons.

The city grew around a monastery founded on the ruins of an Aztec village by a Franciscan friar about 1532. Destroyed by pirates in 1683, it was not reoccupied until 1823, when General Antonio López de Santa Anna (Santa Anna, Antonio López de) ordered that the site be settled. In 1829 a Spanish force was defeated at Tampico by Santa Anna. It was occupied for a short time by U.S. forces during the Mexican War (1846–48) and also in 1862 by the French. The arrest of some U.S. sailors in Tampico on April 9, 1914, led to the bombardment and occupation of Veracruz on April 22, 1914, by the U.S. Navy.

Several of the most productive oil fields in Mexico (including the Ebano, Pánuco, Huasteca, and Túxpan) are situated within a 100-mile (160-kilometre) radius of the city. Until 1901 it was a second-rate port, the outlet for the fertile but relatively underdeveloped hinterland, with a reputation for unhealthful and insanitary conditions. The rapid exploitation of petroleum resources, however, resulted in a marked increase of population and in improved sanitary conditions, and for several years Tampico ranked as the greatest oil port in the world. Pipelines lead from the nearby fields, and fleets of barges transport oil from farther up the river. The Chijol Canal, which was begun in 1901, affords a waterway 6 feet (1.8 m) deep and 25 feet (7.6 m) wide for about 75 miles (120 km) southward through the oil fields to Tuxpan. Spacious, modern portworks, warehouses, a union railway station within easy reach of the waterfront, and excellent equipment for loading oil tankers make Tampico the most up-to-date harbour in Mexico.

Other industrial establishments include machine repair shops, shipyards, clothing factories, canneries, and sawmills. In addition to petroleum, exports include silver bullion, agave fibre, sugar, hides, live cattle, coffee, and copper ores. The city has excellent railway facilities, road connections with the Pan-American Highway, and air service to Mexico City and Veracruz, to Brownsville, Texas, and to other points as well. A branch campus of the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas is located there. Tampico is a tourist resort, and there are fine facilities for golfing and hunting and for swimming, fishing, and other water sports. The port city and suburb of Ciudad Madero was annexed to Tampico in the 1970s. Pop. (2005 prelim.) city, 303,924; (2005) urban agglom., 803,196.