Cozumel History

Cozumel is Mexico's largest island, nestled just 12 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. It measures 28 miles long & 10 miles wide and is world renown for it's white sandy beaches, the multi-hued azure Caribbean ocean and the second largest reef in the world.  The subtropical climate creates a perfect environment for a vast array of sea life.

 

Mayans are known to have been inhabiting Cozumel since 300 AD and during the height of the Mayan empire the island became an important port for trade  The Mayan were a culture of farmers, fisherman & warriors, who also had great knowledge in astronomy, mathematics, architecture, who ruled for over 2000 years before the arrival of the Spanish Explorers in the 15th Century.  

 

The Mayans believed that Cozumel was the spiritual home of Ixchel, the Mayan Goddess of fertility and love, and Mayan women would journey from all parts of the Mayan empire to worship at her shrines. The name Cozumel comes from the Mayan word "Cuzamil-Pectin" or "Land of the Swallows" because, as legend has it, she thanked the women for dedicating temples to her by sending her favorite bird as a sign of gratitude.   One of the lesser known, but very interesting sites on the island and is called San Gervacio. Now a park with a resoration project to study the Mayan culture.

(A sidenote for birders: There are two species of birds on Cozumel found nowhere else in the world: the Cozumel vireo and the Cozumel thrasher.)

 

By 1570 a smallpox epidemic had reduced the Mayan population to less than 300 people.

 

By 1600 the island was virtually deserted making it an ideal base for pirates who terrorized the Caribbean during the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

In 1848 Cozumel's population began to grow again as it was reinhabited by Mayan and white Spanish refugees from the long and bloody Caste War on the mainland. 

Jewel of the Caribbean , appears a small scale version of the history of the Americas.

Inhabited first by Mayans, later on by colonists, pirates and buccaneers, and today by a multitude of races, this island, 12 miles off shore has retained its mysteriousness from time past.  

 

Until today the shadows of the Mayans haunt the island. To them Cozumel was a sacred shrine, a place to worship Ixchel. Especially women came here as pilgrims offering small dolls as sacrifices. First Spanish arrivals left no traces. 

 

Juan de Grijalva landed shortly in 1518 on his way to Cuba taking in new supplies and the first sight of Caribbean beauty. At Hernan Cortes arrival in 1519, the islands population had grown to an approximate 40,000. Years later, as this infamous explorer left, Mayan temples lay in ruins, villages in ashes, and an outbreak of smallpox swept the island thoroughly. 

By 1570 the population had dwindled to a mere 300, and consequently the island was abandoned 30 years later. 

Over the next hundred years the small town of San Miguel developed into a small, relatively prosperous fishing village until 1961, when a Frenchman by the name of Jacques Cousteau declared it one of the most beautiful scuba diving areas of the world. Since that time Cozumel has become an underwater marine park to protect the delicate balance of it's dazzling coral reefs & abundant variety of tropical fish.

 

history of Cozumel is moving and lest us admire this tough island which today has become one of the most visited tourist and diver’s destinations in the Caribbean.