Brief History of Mexico
Mexico is such a large diverse culture that has many different places of origin, with this brief synopsis on the vast Mexican culture I hope to convey how much deep history this country has.
Mexico, located in South America, having 31 states making it the third largest Latin American country. Having a population of 129,000,000 and growing as of 2017 which makes it the largest Spanish speaking nation in the world.
Early History
The first known society in Mexico was known as the Olmecs. Settling in the Gulf Coast where Veracruz is now, the Olmecs had two main populations, the San Lorenzo which was from 1200 to 900 B.C and La Venta in Tabasco begging around 1500 B.C to 600 B.C.
Villages based on agriculture and hunting started to merge throughout the southern half of Mexico by 300 B.C. Estimating to have around 10,000 inhabitants being home to the Zapotec People.
The largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas, was the Teotihuacán and was located near present-day Mexico City. At their peak, it was estimated that their population was around 200,000 and had the largest portion of southern Mexico under their control but was overthrown in the 7th century.
The Mayan civilization was between 250 and 900 A.D and is often known today for their technologies. Technologies such as a writing system, calendars, and mathematics.
The Toltec civilization appeared in central Mexico near the 10th century and built the city of Tula, home to around 30,000–40,000 people. Because Toltec architecture resembled those that could be found at the Mayan site of Chichén Itzá in northern Yucatán, many believe they fled Yucatán to create a new version of Tula.
The Aztecs, originated as a nomadic tribe in northern Mexico, arrived in Mesoamerica during the beginning of the 13th century. The Aztecs were the dominant force in central Mexico having social, political, religious and commerical organizations that helped bring them to power by the 15th century.
Middle History
Spaniard Hernán Cortés arrived at Veracruz in 1519. In May of 1521, Cortez conquered the Aztecs and colonized the area naming it Nueva España which means new Spain. By 1574, Spain controlled a large portion of the Aztec empire. Bringing diseases the Spaniards caused the death of an estimated 24 million people between 1521 and 1605. Spain started to bring missionaries for the Catholic Church arriving in 1523.
Recent History
Miguel Hidalgo called for a rebellion on september 16,1810 against Spain. In response, Vicente Guerrero and Agustín de Itúrbide worked towards gaining Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821 by drafting the Mexican constitution. In 1822 Agustín de Itúrbide declared himself as emperor but was over thrown by Antonia López de Santa Anna and created a new constitution that established the federal Mexican republic composed of 19 states and four territories. Santa Anna served as president from 1823 to 1836 until his defeat at during the Mexican-American War and went into exile by 1855. Mexico’s occupation by the French in the mid-1800s, Porfírio Díaz served as president from 1876 to 1909.
In 1910 the Mexican people initated the Mexican revolution and the 10 year civil war resulted in 2 million casualties. In 1934, Lázaro Cárdenas became president and reestablished the ancient ejido system, which established communally shared tracts of farmland benefiting the citizens and the economy.