May 27, 1563 Earthquake: Colima, Jalisco, Mexico
An earthquake struck Colima, Jalisco, Mexico on May 27, 1563.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- May 27, 1563
- Place
- Colima, Jalisco, Mexico
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Country
- Mexico
The toll
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Many (101 to 1,000)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Probably this is the oldest earthquake reported for the Jalisco-Colima coast and not yet included in online catalogs. Figure 4a shows the report from Puerto de la Navidad, in which “most of the houses fell” (Archivo General de la Nación [AGN], 1563). The destruction of the village is inferred from the description, but unfortunately more detailed information probably no longer exists. The chronicle of Tello (1984) describes the damage in churches at Zapotlan El Grande and Autlan; this earthquake was also felt in Colima (Garcia Acosta and Suarez Reynoso, 1996). No tsunami was reported. (reference #13627)
1563 May 27. Colima. (reference #13234)
Probably the first destructive earthquake reported for the southwest coast of Mexico is that of May 27, 1563, which destroyed most of the houses in the port of Navidad. (reference #13641)
More
Significant earthquakes of 1563The 1500sThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 10713.