Isla de Mezcala

Isla de Mezcala is a small island in Lake Chapala, about 5 kilometers off the village of Mezcala on the north shore, and one of the most remarkable episodes of Mexico's War of Independence took place on it. In 1812, after the insurgent defeat at Puente de Calderón, local indigenous fighters led by José Encarnación Rosas and José Santa Ana, with the priest Marcos Castellanos, fortified the island and held it against royalist forces for four years.

The defenders built walls along the shore and kept their cannons on a smaller islet next to it, while people from the lakeside towns smuggled food and weapons to them at night. When the authorities discovered the supply line, they burned the crops along the shore. Worn down by hunger and disease, the insurgents finally capitulated in November 1816.

Afterwards the Spanish turned the island into a presidio, and it later served as a prison. Today you can walk among the stone ruins of the fort, its moat and bastions, the old barracks and a small chapel, with wide views across the lake.