The History of Isla Mujeres

Isla Mujeres has a long and colourful history. In Mayan times, the island served as the sanctuary for Ixchel, the Mayan Goddess of fertility, healing, the water and the moon. The temple is located at the Southern most point of the island. It was also used as the lighthouse, the light from torches was shown through holes in the temple walls, which could also be seen by ships at sea. The Maya to also came to the island to harvest salt from the salt lagoons.

In 1517, Francisco Hernández de Córdova sailed from Cuba with three ships to procure slaves for the mines... (some say he sailed to discover new lands). He landed on the tiny island and named it Isla de Mujeres because the idols he found of the goddess "Ixchel", her daughters and daughters-in-law "Ixchebeliax", "Ixhunie", "Ixhunieta".

For the next three centuries Isla Mujeres was supposedly uninhabited. The only visitors were fisherman and pirates who used Isla Mujeres as a refuge and to leave their women on the island while they sailed the high seas. Infamous pirates like Henry Morgan and Jean Lafitte walked the beautiful shores of Isla Mujeres and as legend goes, and possibly buried their stolen treasure under the white sands. After the Independence of Mexico, a small village began in what is now downtown Isla Mujeres or 'centro'. During the wars many Maya took refuge on Cozumel, Holbox and Isla Mujeres. Mayan fisherman found the waters around the island to be a fisherman's paradise and the village slowly grew. In august of 1850, the governor of the state of Yucatan, Don Miguel Barbacano, named the village, Pueblo de Dolores

Long before Cancun was even a vision in the developer's eyes, Isla Mujeres opened her arms to tourist from around the world. Some older residents of the island tell stories of tourists signalling from a make-shift dock near where Puerto Juarez stands today. Son's of local fisherman would take small boats over to the mainland and pick up visitors for their stay on the island. Eventually, Isla Mujeres established a regular ferry service, making runs to Puerto Juarez once or twice a day and in the last few years, every half hour.