During his fourth voyage to the New World in 1502, Christopher Columbus came across a heavily laden Mayan trading canoe near the Bay Islands in Honduras. Packed with cotton
from the Yucatán, cacao from Belize and a variety of other goods from faraway places, the canoe is testimony to the size and importance of the Mayan trade empire.
The Maya were shrewd merchants who forged trade links with other Mesoamerican cultures in the Mexican highlands such as the Aztecs, and with their Central American neighbors, as far south as Panama.
One of their principal trade routes was the maritime route that skirted the Yucatán Peninsula and extended south into the Caribbean. Merchants used a network of overland routes and rivers to transport their cargo from the coast to cities far inland. During the Post-Classic period (A.D. 1200-1521), ports on the Mexican Caribbean coast including Tulum, Xaman-Há, Polé, Xel-Há, Muyil and Cozumel controlled the traffic of goods to and from the area.
Archaeologists have identified at least 75 trade goods, including honey, beeswax, salt, cotton, cacao, henequen, stingray spines, cinnabar, natural dyes, shells, jade, quetzal feathers, animal hides and ceramics. Mayan traders obtained obsidian and basalt, used to make knives and grinding stones, from central Mexico; turquoise came from the far north and gold was introduced to the area from Costa Rica and western Panama.
The Mayan deity associated with trade, cacao cultivation and war is Ek Chuah.

The Mexican Caribbean coast is dotted with many Mayan archaeological sites, Mayan ruins and temples that were once ancient ports to Mayan traders that navigated Tulum beaches in sturdy canoes, venturing as far south as Honduras.

Yet one site surpasses all others, a sacred cliff top city that greets the sun as it rises over the Caribbean known as the ruins of Tulum Archaeological site. Here is a list of some interesting facts on Tulum Archaeological site ruins.

1. Tulum ruins are located in the Archaeological site that was once known as “Zama” which means “place of the dawning sun” in Mayan language.

2. Tulum ruins are in the most important Mayan archaeological site in the state of Quintana Roo coast and is the third most visited site in Mexico.

3. The Mayas inhabited around Tulum ruins as far back as A.D. 564 but Tulum  archaeological site reached its peak during the Post-Classic period (1250 – 1521) as a strategic port on the sea and land trade routes.

4. It is believed that trading canoes may have anchored in the tiny bay below Tulum Ruins at the  archaeological site, at the foot of the cliff crowned by El Castillo, the main temple in the city. Trade goods such as jade, obsidian, copper, flint and ceramics have all been found at the site.

5. Tulum Archaeological site ruins feature the religious and ceremonial zone of the ancient city that includes the temples and palaces of the ruling class.

6. Apart from El Castillo, other important ruins at Tulum Archaeological site are the Temple of the Descending God, the House of the Columns, the Temple of the Wind and the Temple of the Frescos, which still has traces of murals on its inner walls.

7. Tulum Archaeological site is one of the very few walled cities found to date in the Maya World. A massive stone wall surrounds Tulum ruins on three sides, the fourth being the ocean.

8. Archaeologists believe that rather than being used for defensive purposes, the wall surrounding Tulum Archaeological site ruins was used as a class barrier, separating the ruling elite from their subjects. The word Tulum actually means “wall, trench or fence” in Maya.

9. Spanish explorer Juan de Grijalva and his men are believed to have been the first Europeans to spot Tulum  Archaeological site ruins, in the Riviera Maya from afar during their voyage along the eastern coast of the Yucatan in 1518.

10. During the19th-century, the Maya World pioneers, J.L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood placed the ruins of Tulum Archaeological site on the map. They visited the long-lost site in 1841 when the crumbling temples were covered in jungle creepers and published their findings a year later to great acclaim. Catherwood’s detailed drawings of El Castillo became world famous.