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History of Cozumel |
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Cozumel
island derives its name from the Mayan words Cuzam (swallow) and Lumil (land of)
which form the word Cuzamil (land of swallows). The Mayan word changed with time
to the Spanish name of Cozumel. The Mayans believed the island to be a sacred
shrine.
The first Mayans settled on
Cozumel approximately 2,000 years ago. During the Classic Period (300-900 A.D.)
the priests held all political and economical power. Art, science and
architecture achieved their highest splendor. This was the time of the great
chronological steles, hieroglyphic writing, and the precise and complex calendar
calculations by which farming and religious activities where regulated.
Around the year 900 A.D., the
Putunes (also know as Itzaes or Chontales) had already coasted the peninsula of
Yucatán. Around 918 A.D., they had taken over Chichén, the ancient city that
gained a new vitality and a renewed hegemony under their rule. Their influence
spread over the northern area of the peninsula and with it the cult of KuKulKan
(Quetzalcoatl). Chichén itzá became the seat from where they ruled over the
entire region during some 200 years.
In the Yucatan region there were
three important sanctuaries visited by pilgrims from all over the area: Chichén
Itzá, Izamal and Cozumel. The object of the pilgrimages to the island were to
venerate the goddess Ix Chel in her shrines. It was a tradition for the Mayans
to make the trip at least once in their lifetime. The art of divination was
common practice in Middle America. It was related to the importance set upon
calendaric and astronomical signs in person's destiny. In the Mayan area, the
predominant form of divination was the Oracle of Cozumel, a rite described in
the XVI century.
Ix Chel is goddess of the moon,
pregnancy and childbirth. She is the protector of those whom are never born. She
is the one who molds the facial features while still in the mother's womb. She
is the wife of Itzam Na, Lord of the Heavens. She is the deity of all things
feminine, the one who creates spinning and weaving and who is the giver of all
attire. But she is also the destructive water that becomes floods and makes
things come to an end. By such nature, she is also the ruler of tides.
In Middle America there existed an
important long distance trade in which Cozumel was a key link. It was on this
island where all kinds of merchandise arrived from far away places. Goods were
temporarily stored before being sent in canoes to other distribution points.
The Mayans built a road network in
Cozumel. The sacbeob (plural of sacbé which means white road) were wide
elevated highways that connected the cities with each other. They were built
between parallel stone walls, filled with layers of lime and coarse gravel and
covered with an uppermost surface of leveled cement. The roads were between two
and ten meters wide and some of them were 100 kilometers long.
In
the new social structures during the Post-Classic Period (900-1521 A.D.) the
main activities became basically commercial and the great religious and
chronological monuments came to be unnecessary and superfluous. Among other
prehispanic ruins, the remains of great platforms used for storage still stand
out in Cozumel.
Gonzalo Guerrero, Fray Jerónimo
de Aguilar and their crew were the first Spaniards to reach the land of the
Mayans. After being shipwrecked on the shoals of Los Alacranes near Jamaica, the
current led their canoe to the coast of the Yucatan, where they were captured by
a group of Mayans. Five of their companions were sacrificed immediately, the
rest were able to escape. But a few days later they were recaptured by another
group, taken as slaves and delivered to different Mayan rulers. After time the
only survivors were Aguilar and Guerrero. The latter adopted the Mayan beliefs
and way of life, married the daughter of the Principal of Chetumal and fathered
her three children signaling the beginning of the long and painful process of
mestizaje: the cultural and physical process that gave birth to the unique
mexican people and culture. Mestizos are those with spanish and indigenous
blood.
On Holy Cross Day (May 3rd) Juan
de Gijalva's expedition landed in Cozumel. The islanders received the Spaniards
in peace. They exchanged gold and a variety of goods. The expedition then
continued south, sighting several settlements on the coast of the peninsula,
among them Tulum. The Catholic mass held that day at the beach, currently named
Las Casitas (little houses), is still celebrated by locals every year.
Upon his return to Cuba, Juan de
Grijalva brought news about the existence of two Spaniards in the land of the
Yucatán. When Hernán Cortés arrived to Cozumel in 1519, in command of the
next expedition, he sent them word to join him on the island. Fray Jerónimo de
Aguilar did so after a few days, but Gonzalo Guerrero sent word back refusing to
return with the Spaniards. Furthermore, he set about organizing the Mayans so
that they could defend their land from the Spanish takeover. Eighteen years
later, Guerrero died at the hands of Hernán Cortés, in Honduras.
Cozumel was the first site touched
by the army of Hernán Cortés in what is now Mexican territory, becoming the
starting point for the conquest of Mexico. It was on this island that the long,
drawn out domination of the Yucatán started and was carried out. Between the
arrival of Cortés in 1519 and the year 1524 when the conquest culminated, there
were no large-scale confrontations between the Indians and the Spaniards on the
island. The Mayan ruler of Cozumel accepted their domination peacefully.
As the Spaniards became more
familiar with the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, they realized they did not have
to stop-over in Cozumel, excluding it as a port of call for Spanish ships. At
the same time, as an immediate effect of the conquest, Mayan trade was nullified
and the cult of the goddess Ix Chel suppressed. The islanders, deprived of their
principal economic activity, were forced to depend only on agriculture for their
survival.
The Spaniards did not visit the
island very often due to the dangers and difficulties of reaching it and the
considerable distance that separated it from their ruling cities on the
mainland. Nonetheless, a high tax was imposed on the islanders. The Mayans
peacefully accepted the ruling of the Spaniards. They did so in order to
preserve their peace and isolation, as well as to avoid the presence of the
missionaries who insisted on modifying their beliefs and way of life.
By the decree of the King of Spain of July 15 of 1583, Cozumel became directly
dependent upon the Yucatan church. Between 1519 and 1570, the island's
population dropped from 40,000 to 30. By 1700 it was finally uninhabited. |
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The social upheavals that took
place in the peninsula during the mid 19th century gave way to a rebirth in
Cozumel history. The mestizo fishermen and woodcutters that had been harassed
and isolated from Mérida throughout the Mayan insurrection were forced to seek
shelter in Cozumel and Isla Mujeres. A few years after the war began, there were
two known villages formed in Cozumel with more than 700 inhabitants. This war,
known as the Castes War, ended when President Porfirio Díaz launched a final
attack against the rebels. Without the rebels, he was able to exploit the area's
resources, mainly chicle (substance used to make chewing gum), sugar cane and
hardwood. In June of 1901, the last of the Mayan chiefs was shot in Xacán.
Although the Castes War brought
about a renewal in Cozumel. The island isolation limited the island's
development to some fishing and agriculture. It was not until the Mayan rebels
were finally dominated that Cozumel came out of isolation and became the most
favored port on the eastern coast. Maritime transportation and trade became the
most profitable economic activities. Some fruits and other agricultural products
reached high production levels for the foreign markets. The island exported
Henequen (a natural fiber used to make heavy rope), coconut, meat, sugarcane,
banana, chicle and pineapple. Honey and wood, Cozumel's traditional products,
also held an important position.
During those years, Cozumel was
the only port with permanent and safe facilities, controlled by a group of
merchants and ship owners who were able to make contact with the outside world.
The port, therefore, became a center for the reception and distribution of
products for all of Mexico. By the mid fifties, transporting goods by road
became more practical than shipping goods by way of Cozumel.
By 1928 Pan American Air Ways
established a route between Key West Florida and Colón, Panama. The plane
made a stop over at Cozumel. |
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History tells us that in 1950 Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey, a couple of journalist,
visited the island and later published an article in the tourist magazine
"Holiday". They were sent to the island by Charlie Fair who came to
Cozumel two years before after a Panamanian flag ship ran aground on the south
reefs. This began the international promotion of Cozumel.
The Mexican Airline Company, now
Mexicana Airlines, established a fixed intinerary between Mérida and Cozumel.
The first flight arrived on June 13th 1958.
In 1962 the french explorer
Jacques Yves Cousteau visited Cozumel and proclaimed it to be one of the finest
sites in the world for the practice of scuba diving. In 1970, no more than two thousand people visited the island yearly. In the 1980's, Cozumel bacame one of the top tourist destinations in the Caribbean. |
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