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Isla Mujeres: Island of the Women
Isla Mujeres (Spanish for “Island of Women”) is an island in the Car- The island is part of the Isla Mujeres Municipality in the State of
ibbean Sea, about 13 kilometers (8.1 mi) off the Yucatán Peninsula Quintana Roo, Mexico. In Pre-Columbian times the island was
coast. The island is some 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) long and 650 meters sacred to the Maya goddess of childbirth and medicine, Ix Chel.
(2,130 feet) wide. To the east is the Caribbean Sea with a strong surf When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century they named it “Isla
and rocky coast, and to the west the skyline of Cancún can be seen Mujeres” because of the many images of goddesses. The first infor-
across the clear waters. In the 2010 census, the namesake town on mation available about Isla Mujeres is from the period between 564
the island had a population of 12,642 inhabitants. - 1516 AC, when it was part of the Maya province called Ekab. There
were 4 Maya provinces in what is today the State of Quintana Roo.
