DISCOVER COZUMEL, Mexico
Cozumel (Mayan: Island of the Swallows) is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is one of the eight municipalities (municipios) of the state of Quintana Roo. Cozumel is a popular tourist destination renowned for its scuba diving. The main town on the island is San Miguel de Cozumel.
The island is about 48 km (30 miles) north-south and 16 km (10 miles) east-west, and is the largest Atlantic island of Mexico. It is about 20 km (12 miles) from the mainland, and some 60 km (36 miles) south of Cancun. The vast majority of the population of Cozumel lives in the town of San Miguel, which is on the western shore. The rest of the island is low, flat, and densely vegetated.
Cozumel is part of the State of Quintana Roo (Q-Roo). The Municipality of Cozumel consists of the island of Cozumel and a piece of adjacent mainland.
 HISTORY OF COZUMEL
The Maya are believed to have first settled Cozumel by the early part of the 1st millennium AD, and older Preclassic Olmec artifacts have been found on the island as well.
The island was sacred to Ix Chel, the Maya Moon Goddess, and the temples here were a place of pilgrimage, especially by women desiring fertility. There are a number of ruins on the island, most from the Post-Classic period. The largest Maya ruins on the island were bulldozed to make way for an airplane runway during World War II. The ruins of San Gervasio are located approximately at the center of the island and are the largest remaining ruins.
The first Spanish visitor was Juan de Grijalva in 1518 , and in the following year Hernan Cortes came with a fleet and destroyed many Maya temples. Some 40,000 Maya lived on the island then, but smallpox devastated them and by 1570 only 30 were left alive. In the ensuing years Cozumel was nearly deserted, used as a hideout by pirates from time to time.
In 1848 , the Caste War of Yucatan resulted in resettlement by refugees escaping the tumult. A plaque at the Museo Cozumel states Abraham Lincoln as U.S. president was close to purchasing the island of Cozumel as a place to send the freed slaves. The continued war in the Yucatan forced him to change his mind.
FESTIVAL OF EL CEDRAL IN COZUMEL
To this day a historic festival is held in the small town of El Cedral, in the south of Cozumel Island at the end of April. This annual event is said to have been started over 150 years ago by Casimiro Cardenas.
Cardenas was one of a group that fled to the island from the village of Saban, on the mainland, after an attack during the War of the Castes. The attackers killed many other villagers, but Cardenas survived whilst clutching a small wooden cross.
Legend has it that Cardenas vowed to start an annual festival wherever he settled, to honor the religious power of this crucifix. Today, the original Holy Cross Festival forms part of the wider Festival of El Cedral, which includes fairs, traditional feasts, rodeos, bullfights, music and competitions. The celebrations last about 5 days in all and are held every year at the end of April or beginning of May.
LATE 20TH CENTURY
In 1959, Jacques Cousteau discovered the extent and beauty of Palancar, the coral reefs at the south of Cozumel and publicized it as one of the best places to go scuba diving in the world. Although the original airport was a World War II relic and was able to handle jet aircraft and international flights, a much larger airport was built in the late 1970s. This resulted in much greater tourism to Cozumel.
Scuba diving is still Cozumel's primary draw, mainly due to the healthy coral reef marine communities. These coral reefs are protected from the open ocean by the island's natural geography. In 1996, the government of Mexico also established the Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park, forbidding anyone from touching or removing any marine life within the park boundaries. Despite the importance of healthy reefs to Cozumel's tourist trade, a deepwater pier was built in the 1990s for cruise ships to dock, causing damage to the reefs, and it is now a regular stop on cruises in the Caribbean.
2005 HURRICANE SEASON
The island was struck directly by two Category 4 hurricanes during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. First to arrive was Hurricane Emily in July. Despite being a powerful storm, it was the slower moving Hurricane Wilma that caused the most destruction when it hit the island in October. The usually lush rainforest was sheared off. The tops of trees disappeared and no leaves were left on the highest five feet of almost every tree. A significant amount of vegetation was ruined when salt water washed over the island. The sewers of San Miguel were also heavily damaged.
Reconstruction was swift and concerted. Even before Wilma cleared the area, the supplies needed to restore the island were already being gathered on mainland Mexico. Within weeks, the island was receiving cruise ships again, and within months, almost all infrastructure was restored to pre-Wilma conditions or better.
More significant—and virtually impossible to repair—was the damage to the underwater marine life. Divemasters on the island report that much of the marine life has yet to come back to previous levels. This includes both the coral reefs, which suffered particularly at the shallower dive sites, and the fish that inhabit the reefs.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
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