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Although it only had 30 inhabitants, Bacalar was the most important settlement in Quintana Roo in 1630. As it was a supply station on the merchant shipping route to the provinces of Guatemala and Honduras, it was a magnet for pirates and there were raids throughout the century.
In 1640 one such pirate, Peter Wallace, settled on the shores of the Hondo River, the southern limit of Spanish influence, and began to cut logwood. The colony he founded was the forerunner of British Honduras, now known as Belize, a derivation of "Wallace."
In 1652 Cuban buccaneer Diego el Mulatto, sacked Bacalar, and the attacks persisted well into the 18th century until the authorities decided to build a fort in 1729. The threat from pirates over, Bacalar prospered from the export of mahogany, logwood, sugar, goats, pigs and some fruit.
Other pirates associated with Quintana Roo are Captain Henry Morgan (later British Governor of Jamaica) and Miguel Molas who had hiding places on Cozumel. Pirate and slaver Fermín Mundaca retired to Isla Mujeres and built a splendid hacienda.
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© 2004 Editorial Veras. La guía Oficial del Caribe Mexicano.