The Maya
Over 2000 years ago the people of the Maya civilization discovered
and settled a tiny, but beautiful island, off the coast of the Yucatan
Peninsula. They named this place "Ah-Cuzamil-Peten", meaning
"land of the swallows", after the native birds that thrive
there. The island was established as an essential port of trade for
the Maya. But even more significant, it was the home of Ixchel, the
Moon Goddess of fertility and childbirth. For centuries, women would
make pilgrimages from all over the Mayan empire just to worship at Ixchel's
sacred temples. |
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The Spanish
During
the early 1500's, shortly after the discovery of the "New World",
Spain began an intense campaign of exploration. In 1518 Jaun de Grijalva,
nephew of the governor of Cuba, was charged with investigating the Yucatan
Peninsula. He left Havana with four ships and 300 men. Eighteen days
into his journey, Grijalva discovered Cozumel. His reports of the island
and mainland sparked the beginning of Spain's insatiable search for
gold. |
The very next year, in 1519,
Hernán Cortés, the most famous of the Conquistadors, arrived
at Cozumel with 11 ships and 750 men. At the time of his arrival the Mayan
population was 40,000 strong. But in just a few years, battles with the
Spanish and the diseases the new intruders brought with them, dwindled
their numbers to only about 300.The Maya eventually abandoned Ah-Cozamil-Peten
and the island lay deserted.
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The Pirates
In the 1600's, the Caribbean shipping lanes were full of cargo ships either
hauling supplies to newly established towns and outposts, or carrying
gold and other commodities back to Europe. Ships too ripe for pirates,
privateers and buccaneers to ignore. It was during this period that infamous
captains like Jean Lafitte and Henry Morgan began frequenting Cozumel.
With its deep harbors, its proximity to all the action and relative obscurity,
the island made an ideal base of operations for them. It is even said
to have been the location of many a buried treasure - although none have
been found (yet).
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Re-population
In 1847, the Yucatan Maya launched a campaign of independence against
the Spanish settlements in the peninsula. This started a brutal 58-year
battle known as the Caste War. In 1848, twenty families fleeing the war
escaped from the mainland and resettled the island of Cozumel. The island
finally had permanent inhabitants again. The descendants of those families
to first return can still be found on Cozumel.
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The New Explorers
With the exception of a U.S.-built air base constructed during World War
II, the island's tiny community remained virtually unchanged for many
years. Then in 1961, Cozumel was visited by yet another famous explorer,
oceanographer and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau. Through his efforts, Cousteau
made the island's spectacular reefs famous throughout the world. The diving,
which he regarded as some of the world's finest, soon attracted many more
visitors and by the 1970's the population grew to 10,000 people. |
| Since then, the island has blossomed into a full-fledged
vacation paradise with over 80,000 happy residents. |
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