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> Homepage > Welcome > Destinations > Cozumel Island > A bit of history >   The Old World meets the New
 The Spaniards saw Cozumel for the first time in 1518. Expedition leader Juan de Grijalva claimed Cozumel and the surrounding seas for the Spanish crown. The conquistadors then prudently left the island without attempting to subject or convert its inhabitants.
It was Cortés, on his successful bid to conquer Mexico, begun in 1519, who visited the island and destroyed its temples. The Maya of Cozumel never submitted to Spanish rule, however, simply because there weren’t enough of them left to do so. The Spaniards carried diseases against which the Indians had no defenses, and in the case of Cozumel, the population was so decimated by measles that in 1570 only 300 people were alive, and by 1600 the place was deserted.
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© 2004 Editorial Veras. La guía Oficial del Caribe Mexicano.