Tulum

History

The name Tulum means wall or palisade, and it was probably given once the ancient Maya city on the coast was already in ruins; in earlier times that city was called Zamá, a word linked to the dawn. Maya people living nearby still visited its temples at the start of the 20th century.

The modern town was born during the Caste War of Yucatán. Between 1860 and 1870 Maya rebels who followed the cult of the Talking Cross settled close to the old ceremonial center and built a church to the Holy Cross. Among the founders was María Uicab, who became priestess of the cross and was known as the Santa Patrona. Under her leadership Tulum was the most important religious center of the region by 1870. The Yucatecan army attacked the village in 1871; she escaped, and after further fighting in 1872 her trail is lost.

For decades afterward Tulum was a small fishing village and a stop for chicle harvesters. Highway 307 reached it in the 1970s, but in the early 1990s it was still a quiet place with a few shops and simple cabañas on the beach. Tourism to the ruins changed that. Tulum became the seat of its own municipality in 2008 and was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2015.