The growth and decline of the Mayan civilization is an important part of the prehispanic history of Cozumel.
Originally, the Mayans were established in Guatemala, fifteen centuries BC. Their culture and influence then extended through Central America. In 200 AC, they reached the Yucatan Peninsula and began to build cities. The advanced Mayan culture hit its peak from the VII century until the IX century, then Cozumel was used as a sacred sanctuary for pilgrimage and worship moon goddess Ixchel.
They called the island “Cuzaam Luumil” which means land or place of the swallows. When the Spanish arrived, the name adapted phonetically to “Cozumel”.
The Spaniards arrived in Cozumel for the first time in 1518. During this year, Juan de Grijalva arrived peacefully, from Cuba, married a mayan princess and had children. A year later, he would be followed by the infamous conqueror Hernán Cortés.
The Spaniards constructed a small church near to where the airport is currently located, Cortés destroyed many of the Mayan temples; when he left the island in 1530, the native civilization was in ruins. Unfortunately, one of the crew members of the ship had smallpox, a disease that until this moment had not existed in America. The resulting epidemic killed thousands, and by 1600 the island had been completely abandoned.
The next two centuries the island was used by pirates, such as Henry Morgan and Jean Laffite, for smuggling or base of operations. In 1847 the War of the Castes began, a conflict between the creoles and the native mayan in the Yucatan Peninsula. A year later, the displaced took refuge in the island so it became populated until this day, farming and fishing were the main activities in Cozumel, until the 1960s when tourism rose and the island became an international destiny and one of the world´s most important cruise ports.
Cozumel Island Museum exhibits vestiges of different periods about the history of the Island.
