Cozumel

The Maya called the island Cuzamil, "island of swallows", and more than 30 archaeological sites show it was occupied from the Late Preclassic period, about 300 BCE. From around 1250 CE it flourished as a port on the trade route along the peninsula's coast and as a pilgrimage centre where merchants and pilgrims worshipped Ixchel, goddess of the moon, childbirth and weaving; San Gervasio was its chief city.

Juan de Grijalva's expedition landed in 1518, and Hernán Cortés stopped in 1519, when the Maya received the Spanish peacefully. Smallpox, brought in 1520 by members of the Narváez expedition, devastated a population of perhaps 10,000; by 1570 only a few hundred people survived. Pirate raids followed, and in 1650 and 1688 most of the remaining islanders were moved to the mainland. The island was resettled in 1848 by families fleeing the Caste War, mostly from Valladolid and nearby towns, who founded El Cedral and San Miguel; San Miguel was officially recognised in 1849. In 1861 the United States explored buying the island to resettle freed slaves, an idea Benito Juárez rejected.

An airport built during the Second World War, the arrival of cruise ships from 1968 and the fame of its reefs turned Cozumel into a major destination. Hurricanes have repeatedly struck it — Beulah in 1967, Gilbert in 1988, and Emily and Wilma in 2005, which together cut live coral cover by more than half. The reefs of the south became a national marine park in 1996, and in 2023 Cozumel was named a Pueblo Mágico.

Cozumel's people descend largely from the Yucatecan families who settled the island after 1848, and the island keeps a strong small-town identity despite the millions of visitors who pass through. Its flag shows a swallow, for the meaning of its Maya name, and Benito Juárez is still honoured here for refusing to sell the island to the United States.

Two celebrations anchor the year. The Carnaval de Cozumel is among the oldest in Mexico; for more than a century, when the island was a small community, it was the high point of family and social life, and in 2007 it was named one of the country's eight most important carnivals. The Fiestas de la Santa Cruz and Feria del Cedral, held in the village of El Cedral since 1848, honour the Holy Cross that the first refugees vowed to venerate, and are among the oldest celebrations on the peninsula.

Week to week, life gathers on the main plaza, where residents and visitors meet for music and dancing on Sunday evenings. Diving culture is everywhere in San Miguel, and conservation of the reefs is a public cause: in 2025 plans for a fourth cruise pier met fierce opposition from residents worried about further damage to the coral.

About 89,000 people lived in the municipality at the 2020 census, nearly all of them — about 85,000 — in the town of San Miguel. The island is flat limestone, covered in mangrove and low forest, and the rest of it is almost empty apart from the coast road, beach parks and a few small settlements such as El Cedral.

The economy depends on tourism: cruise passengers who come ashore for the day, divers, snorkellers and anglers who stay longer, and the restaurants, hotels, dive shops and souvenir sellers that serve them. Cozumel is one of the world's leading cruise destinations and the first in Mexico, and on busy days several large ships are in port at once, with the town crowded around the piers.

Everyday life follows the ferry and the ships: passenger ferries cross constantly from Playa del Carmen, and freight and cars come by ferry from Calica. Hurricanes are a fact of life, with storms in 2020 and 2021 and a warning for Beryl in 2024, and the health of the reefs, hit by coral disease since 2019, is a constant concern.

Cozumel eats like the rest of the Yucatán Peninsula, with seafood added. The classics are cochinita pibil, pork marinated in achiote and sour orange and slow-cooked; poc chuc, pork marinated in sour orange and grilled; sopa de lima, chicken broth with the local lime; and panuchos and salbutes, fried tortillas with beans and toppings. Habanero chillies come with almost everything.

Fish and shellfish come fresh from the surrounding sea. Ceviche, fish tacos and fried fish are the standard beach food, served at bars along the coast road, often with guacamole and cold beer. In town, restaurants around the main square serve Yucatecan specialities alongside tacos and enchiladas, and simpler places near the municipal market cook breakfast and lunch for residents. Bottled liquor gets a little cheaper away from the centre.

To drink there are fresh fruit waters, horchata and Mexican beer, and the peninsula's honey liqueur, xtabentún. Honey has a long history on the island: in Maya times the pilgrim trade encouraged local honey and wax industries.