Ciudad del Carmen or Carmen is the second-largest city of the Mexican state of Campeche. Ciudad del Carmen is located in the southwest of the state at on the southwest of Carmen Island, which stands in the Laguna de Términos on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. , Ciudad del Carmen had a population of 169,466, up from the 2005 census of 154,197.
The Puente del Zacatal, constructed in 1994, is one of the longest bridges in Latin America.
This border area at the western edge of the Yucatán Peninsula was previously part of the state of Yucatán, then of Tabasco; since 1863 it has been part of the state of Campeche. In 1840 the city had a population of about 7,000.
The city is also the seat of the state of Campeche's Carmen municipality, which includes the city and the surrounding area. The 2010 census population of the municipality of Carmen was 221,094 people, second only to the capital municipality of Campeche.
The main university in Ciudad del Carmen is the Universidad Autónoma del Carmen (UNACAR).
History Carmen Island/Isla del Carmen was settled by Acalan in the fifteenth century, but they were driven out by their rivals of Xicalango and Chakán Putum.
Colonization
The Isla del Carmen and its surrounding places were found on the discovery route. By 1518 the island was inhabited by indigenous people of Chontal Maya origin, by migrations of Toltec, Zapotec and Tutul-Xiu groups, conquerors of Xicalango. At the end of May of that same year, the Spaniards arrived aboard four ships at the desired port - Puerto Real or Isla Aguada. At the head of that expedition was Juan de Grijalva and, as an experienced pilot, Antón or Antonio de Alaminos, a navigation man who, to the recorder in his heading letters the Island of Trs (then for making reading difficult in the sea letters are added the letter "i" remaining as tris), from Terms, gave a sense that was the limit of the land discovered by them, although they also considered that there ended the great island they believed was Yucatán. The abbreviation Tris became usual in maps and navigation charts, giving birth to a memorable place for future events, since the colonization of the island was only made years later of the Spanish foundation of San Pedro de Champotón in 1537 and San Francisco de Campeche in 1540. After these initial moments of the Colony, it was pirates who arrived in 1558 to take refuge, first, after taking advantage of the natural resources of the Island of Terms.
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, when the city of Campeche was a trade hub between Spain and New Spain (Mexico), Ciudad del Carmen was inhabited by pirates and served as a port for repairing ships and planning attacks against the Spanish. A 1699 map of the Bay of Campeche indicates Isla del Carmen as two islands: Triest I and Port Royal I. On the opposite side of the lagoon there is a waterway marked as Logwood Creek; this indicates that the residents were probably English and logging was another of their activities. The city received its current name on 16 July 1717, in honor of the Virgin of Carmen, believed to be the protector of the island, when the Spanish forces, commanded by Alonso Felipe de Andrade evicted the pirates from the island and took control of the city after a long period of occupation. Since then, every year at the end of July, Ciudad del Carmen turns into the very center of the regional social, cultural and religious festivities, on the fair that celebrates the island's protector virgin.
Captured as a safe haven and converted into a base for different attacks by sea and land, the Tris Island seems to be destined to fulfill the functions played by Jamaica, in the power of the English since 1655, or the Tortuga Island, which the French dominated, that is to say, port of provisioning of the corsair ships. Laguna or Isla del Carmen has, along with the territorial portion, a unique history for different reasons, among them, that the Spaniards discovered but did not conquer or colonize it; while the pirates made it a den and residence while fighting for neighboring lands and populating other places in the region. Its formal Spanish surgical colonization almost two centuries after the trip of Hernández de Córdoba (Francisco Hernández de Córdoba) and Grijalva to these places. Consequently, the buccaneers sat in that region their reals, and when they did not attack the commercial controls that passed near the place, they dedicated themselves to cutting the dye stick to send it to Europe. They were men of great physical strength, confirmed through the work they carried out, however criminal it was and effectively productive, is carried out in extremely difficult conditions. The harsh environment they supported in the jungle or along rivers and swamps exceeded 35 degrees Celsius. In addition to that, they faced extreme humidity and high numbers of insects- without neglecting the wide variety of vipers and arachnids.
Another historical explanation about the late colonization of the island was its location: in the most hidden area of the Gulf of Mexico, on the border with the indigenous Mayan and Tabscoobs tribes, and immediately to the isthmic region of Tehuantepec, together with its extraordinary timber wealth, but, for that reason, safe refuge of the lowlands that are dedicated to its traffic, reason why always it is constituted in object of ambition of other countries.
The problems of the [Europe of America Colony] remained on the mainland, with a slow and difficult colonization. Progress was made so slowly that, for example, on 4 September 1663, during the provincial government of Francisco Esquivel and de la Rosa, governor and captain general of Yucatán, came with news that Tris Island was held by the pirates, who at that time already exploited, with great utilities, the dye stick. First expedition (1672)
Two decades had to pass for something to be done about it: on 14 August 1672, a decision was made and a first expedition to the island left the port of Veracruz with the intention of throwing the pirates who had possessed it into the sea; however, in October 1673, the expedition returned with the news of not being able to evict them.
Second expedition (1680)
The stumbling blocks, with the discouragement capacity, did not fall into oblivion, and in the year 1680, the mayor of San Francisco de Campeche, Felipe González de la Barrera, put into operation what we can call the second expedition, which then fixed the mature port and reached Laguna, where rooms, houses, and dyewood were set on fire. The expulsion was temporary, however, because when the soldiers concentrated on the square from which they had left, the pirates returned to their inhabited tasks. However, the fact was considered so remarkable that the king granted the mayor the noble title of Count de la Laguna.
Third expedition (1703)
The characteristics of the region at that time were not hospitable, and that is what I add the distance, what normally covered by water, and what required months and months to go from one place to another. In addition, the settlement of the peninsula passed slowly, and it took a little over two decades to send a third expedition to remove the pirates from the lagoon. At the end of the seventeenth century there are about 600 people organized in Terms and Puerto Real, from 1686 to a considerable number of pirates returned to the island, restarting the harassment of Tabasco villages and taking out the Usumacinta. The Spaniards took over the initiative and Viceroy Gálvez supported the provinces of Tabasco and Yucatán, which in 1690 reconquered the place, but did not settle. Also, the viceroy sent engineer Jaime Frank to study the possibility of fortifying the island; but this one thought that it was not convenient, since when there were several entrances to the island, the opposites could surprise the soldiers and fortify. It is Captain Francisco Fernández who overcomes pirate resistance around the years 1703–1704 with a coast guard, six canoes and 184 well-equipped and armed men. He arrested a hundred English outlaws and nine blacks, and destroyed facilities and boats, seized a small urca loaded with dye stick, a British-built patache with 800 quintals of Campeche stick, a Spanish brig, stolen before by pirates and another built in San Román; the victorious expeditionaries of a sloop, half a hundred canoes, useful for different movements also took over; good amount of rigging and miles of quintals of the stick already cut and ready to embark, but withdrew from the place due to lack of financial support. They made nothing despicable prisoners, like Isaac Hamilton, a London Jew whose mission was to ship the dye bound for New England; William Haven, a native of Jamaica, and John Elliot, a Londoner enlisted in Jamaica in the ranks of piracy. Booty and prisoners were transferred to San Francisco de Campeche, and the last ones sent to the capital of New Spain.
As the continuous pirate attacks, the Spanish authorities decided to organize an eviction of the pirates stationed on the island of Tris. This incursion is carried out in the month of May 1704, for which, the Viceroy sent the Mayor of Tabasco the order to incorporate the Laguna de Términos to carry out an attack along with Campeche forces. The Mayor of Tabasco Mayor, Alonso Felipe de Andrade, affected and personally controlled by 200 men and 14 canoes towards the Laguna de Términos.Eugenio Martínez María Ángeles. The defense of Tabasco 1600-1717. School of Hispanic American Studies of Seville. Sevilla Spain. p = 118. Andrade discovered fourteen pirate campaigns and after facing them, captured several pirates and artillery pieces that led to Tabasco after having stayed more than a month in the lagoon of Terms, entrances and exits to land and sea demarcated making a map. Fourth expedition (1707)
Several years have to pass again so that in 1707 — fourth attempt — the governor of Tabasco, Pedro Mier y Terán, sending forces to remove the pirates from the island. They succeed, but the circumstances are repeated: when leaving the place, the pirates return. It was the time when Barbillas settled on the island and from there captured ships and dismantled wineries of other ships. That is, as long as a group of inhabitants was not established, the region would change possession with relative ease.
Fifth expedition (1716)
The English ships were seen returning in 1710, and on their way they sank a coast guard. It became impossible to admit eventualities in the matter of the Laguna de Términos, in such a way that the mayor of Tabasco, Juan Francisco Medina y Cachón, proposed an eviction strategy in which ships from the Windward Navy, based in Veracruz, and the naval forces of Tabasco and San Francisco de Campeche. Those chosen in San Francisco de Campeche for the expedition were: the frigate Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, owned by Mayor Ángel Rodríguez de la Gala; the frigate of Andrés Benito, the sloop of Sebastián García, two coast guard and several canoes for the service of the containers. Mérida, Tacotalpa de la Real Corona and San Francisco de Campeche contributed 7,945 pesos from their royal boxes for the purchase of groceries, war gear and boat cage Preliminary movements were in operation when they had to depend: they reached San Francisco de Campeche the sailor Agustín Toledo, received from Laguna, warning that three English frigates were on the island, one of them with 20 guns, another of 16 and the last with 10; In addition, two brigs without artillery were prepared to ask for help in Jamaica.