Isla Mujeres History

1866 Map.   Description: Scarce separately issued Spanish Sea chart of the Coast of Mexico, from Santander toYucatan . Highly detailed, including soundings and lighthouses. For sale at this LINK,where it can be enlarged digitally .        In 1865, the Mexican Imperial Government, led by Maximilian of Hapsburg, ordered an official census. People were required to remain at home for five days, and those who could not, had to leave their personal information and signature with a proxy. Failure to comply could result in a fine of one to 25 pesos or twice as many days in jail. The census taker was to warn people of these consequences and the natives would be warned through their leaders and employers. The census taker received a one peso payment for each person recorded, a one peso fine for each one omitted, and two days in jail for each peso he was fined and couldn't pay.      The questions were: Name, nationali...

Link to source of this map . Every August, Isla Mujeres celebrates the founding of the town & the original Decree is read. In this article, our town historian Fidel Villanueva Madrid, explains some of the circumstances surrounding this document:       "The town was founded in 1850 under special conditions because of the critical situation that existed in the state of Yucatan as a result of the Caste War. The villagers, who were escaping from the horrors of the war, were mostly farmers who came from different parts of the peninsula, and not fishermen as some writers have mistakenly reported. The Decree itself is clear about this because it orders the settlers to till the land of the island for six years, and it does not refer to fishing at all. As for the indicated time of six years, at the end of that period, they would be entitled to the land which they had worked without interruption.      I must add that the capt...

      For centuries Isla Mujeres was a shelter for pirates, until the Lafitte brothers were expelled in the early 1820's. After that, the isle was only occupied a few months of the year by a handful of fishermen from Campeche, Yucatan, and Cuba.This is evident from statements such as those of American John L Stephens, the "Father of Mayan Archaeology", who visited the island in 1842. He said there were only two huts and a shelter made from branches, inhabited by three fishermen and two natives, who were fishing for turtles. The three fishermen told him nostalgic tales about the good times they'd once had with the Lafitte brothers. Less definitive reports from visitors in 1825 said there were about a dozen huts.       When Mexico's War of Independence ended in 1821, the Spanish regime was ousted, and the Yucatan acquired statehood in 1824. There were constant disputes and regional clashes during the following decades, wi...

    In 1876, young Alice le Plongeon wrote about living in Isla Mujeres with her archeologist husband. The town of Dolores had been established 26 years earlier, by ~fifty families fleeing the Caste War. She describes the bay as being lively, with large Cuban schooners, small island boats, and an occasional smuggler's sloop...       "The bay is generally animated, because many fishing smacks from Cuba frequent those waters, and the captains make the bay their headquarters, as the pirat es did at the beginning of this century. These smacks are generally handsome schooners, of thirty to seventy tons burden, divided in three compartments. The central one forms a large tank whose sides are perforated with hundreds of holes, through which the sea water passes freely in and out. As soon as caught the fishes are bled by piercing them behind the right fin with a thin, hollow, cylindrical tube, then thrown in the tank, to be transferred t...

Top  photo is  part of the gardens and bottom photo is his empty grave & tombstone in the downtown Isla Mujeres cemetery From Yank in Yucatan by Rolfe F Schell, 1963           After the British Navy stepped up enforcement against piracy, in 1858, pirate Fermin Mundaca, 33, came to Isla Mujeres. He purchased 40% of the island, having acquired his fortune through the trafficking of slaves from Africa to Cuba. There are indications that Mundaca was also involved with transporting Mayans to work as slaves in Cuban mines and haciendas, as well as Africans.       He was the first to construct solid buildings on the isle, except for the old Mayan temples, whos e stones he presumably used. The foundation of a temple to Ixchel has been found on his Hacienda, which he named "Vista Alegre".        He was in his 50's when he became infatuated with a beautiful teenager known as "La Tri...