Things you did not know
about the history of Puerto Morelos....From the Mayans..
to the Gum Traders...to a telegraph office...to the
present, what we call "The best kept secret of the Mayan
Rivera!"
In the area
where the town of Puerto Morelos sits there was an
extensive site of human settlements, shrines and resting
spots used by the Mayan Navigators on their trading
trips to Central America. There is archeological
evidence of this in its coast, wetlands and jungle
areas.
The
modern history of Puerto Morelos, originally known as
"Punta Corcho," began in 1898 with the arrival of the
company "Compañía Colonizadora de la Costa Oriental de
Yucatán", which exploited agricultural and forestry
products such as mahogany, chicle (gum), vanilla,
tobacco and cedar.
It
was here that the products extracted from the jungle
were loaded and unloaded,"...they took them to the USA
and then to Japan. I remember when I was a kid that the
boats came here to load up; they loaded chicle (gum) and
the wood, the mahogany and the cedar.
The
boats docked at the big pier, where the ferry is and
they were filled from smaller boats and the warehouses
were there...big warehouses, dining rooms, platforms.
They arrived with mules and loaded the boats there..."
(Don Quino Zetina).
The
political administration of Puerto Morelos was placed
under the Municipality of Isla Mujeres and later
transferred to Cozumel, where for several decades, the
port's political and economic destiny was decided.
Currently Puerto Morelos forms part of the Benito Juarez
Municipality and the political administration is
maintained through a Municipal Delegation, with its head
in Cancun.
In
1904 Puerto Morelos had a telegraph office as well as a
post office where mail was sent to Cozumel and to the
communities inside the jungle. "...here I was able to
see airplanes arrive, there was a strip in the mangrove.
There were posts and telegraph wires, Puerto Morelos was
at its peak..." (Don Beto Sánchez). By the year 1923,
mahogany was no longer in demand on the international
markets and by Presidential Decree a new concession was
granted to the Bank of London and Mexico to exploit the
northern part of the state, creating the company "Colonia
Santa María" dedicated solely to the exploitation of
chicle, greatly influencing the economy of Puerto
Morelos by establishing the storage warehouses in the
port.
By
that time Puerto Morelos was a town with wooden houses,
a dock, one lone street running parallel to the coast
and a warehouse. They were living good times as the
production of chicle increased, which fell sharply in
1934 due to a world recession from the post-war era.
With the opening of Cancun, in the 70s, and the
promotion of tourism, Puerto Morelos began a phase of
population and economic growth which was characterized
by the immigration of people from all over the country
and the world. The jungle areas of the legal land of
Puerto Morelos was also inhabited, located two
kilometers from the coast, one both sides of the federal
highway, thus establishing the "Colonia Joaquín Zetina
Gazca".
Puerto Morelos has been the site of important education
and investigation institutions such as the "First of
June" Fishing Techniques Boarding High School, for young
people from all over the Yucatan Peninsula; The Regional
Center of Fisheries Investigations of the National
Fishing Institute, and the Investigations Center of
Quintana Roo, (CIQRO) currently known as the College of
the Southern Border (ECOSUR).
The
National Autonomous University of Mexico established a
research station, dependent on the Marine and Limnology
Sciences Institute back in the early 80s. Thanks to all
of this the coral reef located off the coast of the town
is probably the most studied in the country.
Today Puerto Morelos has close to 5,000 inhabitants and
it is estimated that more than half of the population
depends economically on the reef; some directly, as
nautical tourist service providers and fishermen, and
others indirectly such as the merchants and employees of
hotels, restaurants, shops, taxis and their families.
Puerto Morelos continues to be a small place which has
maintained the characteristic air of fishing villages
"...there probably is something better than Puerto
Morelos, but I haven't discovered it." (Fernando Cusi).
Looking for a place to
stay in Puerto Morelos??
- www.PuertoMorelosVillas.com
Another site to
find rentals in Puerto Morelos is
Home Away vacation rentals.
