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THE DISCOVERY OF THE WALLED CITY OF TULUM
By Adriana Veláquez Morlet

During the second expedition of Juan de Grijalva (1518), his chronicler tells that he saw a city “as big as Seville”, which could have been the great, densely populated, prehispanic city of Tulum. However the campaign to colonize the Yucatan Peninsula – initiated shortly after the arrival of the Spaniards – had such a devastating effect that by 1579 the splendour of Tulum was converted into a city in ruins.

With the consolidation of Spanish presence in the area Tulum was brought under the jurisdiction of Valladolid, to where the majority of the indigenous inhabitants were transported. The place, known as Tzamá, paid very little taxes due to its small population. The entire region was removed, leaving just a military outpost.

There is practically no information on the period between 1650 and 1842; The East Coast was so far from Spanish control that they opted to abandon it. We only know of a few journeys from Merida and Campeche to obtain precious woods, meat, turtle eggs, turtle shell for making combs, and grey amber ( a bile secretion of the sperm whale), that was used as a perfume fixative and for making jewelry. In the 18th century the coast of what is now Quintana Roo was known as the Amber Coast.

The territory was very dangerous and stories were told of the savagery of its inhabitants, such as during the shipwreck of Nuestra Señora de los Milagros or El Matancero in 1741, which ran aground to the north of Tulum, and whose survivors told of how they escaped the massacre by the local inhabitants. These lands were soon of interest to the English sailors, who, between 1776 and 1777, began raids in search of grey amber and wood for trafficking.

There are no more references to Tulum until 1842, when John Stephens and Frederick Catherwood arrived there guided by the son of a pirate. They were very impressed by the conservation of the site, and in spite of the mosquitos “making their stay miserable” they wrote the first description of the ancient city, making it known to the western world. During the outbreak of the cruel War of the Castes Tulum found itself at the centre of the conflict. In 1871 Tulum was a Sanctuary of the Cruz Parlante, headed by María Ucab, the “Patron Saint of the People”.

Archaeologists such as Sylvanus G. Morley arrived and Samuel. Lothrop, the compiler of the most complete reference text on the architecture of the region. There were also some Mexican researchers such as Miguel Ángel Fernández, who in 1937 carried out a very complete architectural survey in Tulum.

In 1954 William Sanders began the first architectural excavation and in 1969 the highway between Carrillo Puerto and Tulum was built, with which its role as a tourist attraction began. In the seventies a more direct federal intervention was begun by the National Institute of Anthropology and History and for many the definitive abandonment of the walled city of Tulum by the Maya. We believe that this is not so, since the Maya and Tulum will always form an inseparable unit.