How America's obsession with chewing gum began with the Maya & supported our regional economy before tourism
Before tourism came to the coastal regions of Quintana Roo, chicle harvesting was one of the main industries that fueled the economy of the area for over half a century. Chicle was used in the manufacturing of chewing gum until the 1950's, and is a natural latex produced by the sapodilla tree to protect itself from insects and animals. In 1898, Puerto Morales was established (20 miles south of present-day Cancun) to serve as an international port for shipping chicle (called Punta Corcha). At an inland jungle village west of the port, chiclero workers cooked the sap down into a white resin, molded it into bricks, and transported it to the coast in rail cars, drawn by horses or mules, for export to the United States. Another rail line brought the bricks of chicle to Puerto Juarez. (Isla Mujeres had been founded a half-century earlier in 1850.) For centuries, the Maya extracted ch...