The Entire History of Mexico

The nation of Mexico is one of the most vibrant and culturally recognizable on the planet today, boasting an enviable mix of natural beauty, art, cuisine and a warm, welcoming people, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, result in it consistently ranking amongst the top 10 most visited countries by tourists each year. This impressive cultural offering, however, is the legacy of centuries of political, social and economic change, which at times has been so turbulent that its impacts can still be seen and felt to this day. Like much of the rest of Latin America, Mexico has been irrevocably shaped by the interaction between the old world and the new, when, during the 16th century, Spanish explorers arrived on its shores and initiated the largest transfer of ideas, resources and peoples in human history. Since then, however, Mexico has undergone many profound changes that have uniquely affected it. But how did these events and their outcomes accumulate in such a way that they resulted in the nation we recognize so well today? This is the history of Mexico. The first humans to populate what would one day become the nation of Mexico, as well as the rest of the Americas, are thought to have arrived sometime between 26,000 and 19,000 years ago by crossing the Beringia land bridge that once connected North America to Asia. These people rapidly spread southward in the years that followed, before global sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age, permanently cutting off the Americas from Asia around 11,000 years ago. Nevertheless, the early humans who settled in the region, historically referred to as Mesoamerica, began to flourish due to the area's abundant natural resources. These allowed for the first permanent civilizations to take hold around 2000 BC, which saw the establishment of intensive farming and pottery works. The earliest known ancient Mesoamerican civilization was that of the Olmecs, who occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. Their society, famous for its colossal stone heads, reached its zenith between 1200 and 400 BC, and is considered the foundation upon which all later civilizations in Mesoamerica developed. The decline of the Olmecs by 300 BC left a power vacuum, which was filled by the rise of Teotihuacan, the first true metropolis of Mesoamerica, located in what is now the Valley of Mexico. By the middle of the first millennium AD, the city was home to around 125,000 people and featured monumental stone pyramids, such as the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun, which would become archetypal architectural forms in the region for centuries to come. A contemporary of the great Teotihuacan civilization was the Maya, who occupied much of what is now southeastern Mexico, particularly the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as parts of Belize and Guatemala. The Maya similarly built monumental stone pyramids that served as temples, and they developed a sophisticated writing system that allowed for innovations in mathematics, astronomy, and even the creation of calendars. However, as time passed, Mayan society began to fragment, with cities like Tikal and Calakmul becoming increasingly powerful and competing for dominance in the region. By the 9th century, this competition had led to political collapse, civil war, and the abandonment of many great cities. The city of Teotihuacan to the north had also fallen victim to this wider societal collapse, though its decline preceded that of the Maya by some years. Historians continue to debate the causes of these societal breakdowns, whether they were due to war, revolution, or even climate change. Out of this period of darkness emerged the Toltecs, who had previously been a client state of Teotihuacan. The Toltecs came to rule over most of Mesoamerica by the turn of the first millennium. However, it was their cultural and intellectual successors, the Aztecs, who would leave the most recognizable and ultimately final imprint of native Mesoamerican civilization on the region. The Aztecs were an alliance of three city-states centered around the Valley of Mexico, Texcoco, Tlacopan, and their own city of Tenochtitlan, which was founded in 1325 and built on a lake accessible only by the huge man-made causeways that connected it to the shore. Home to some 200,000 people, the city was an elaborate construction of stone buildings centered around a great pyramid, which formed the religious epicenter of the settlement and was the site of countless human sacrifices. Tenochtitlan served as the capital of the ever- expanding Aztec Empire, which ruled over much of central Mexico and an estimated population of 4 to 7 million. Although the empire was expanded through military conquest, it was primarily economic in nature, extracting vast wealth from the people it had conquered, making it enormously rich and the envy of many. Nothing, however, could prepare the Aztecs or the other peoples of Mesoamerica for what was about to unfold in the year 1519, for two entirely different worlds, old and new, were about to collide. The discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus at the end of the 15th century opened the doors for European exploration and exploitation of the continent. The Spanish were the first to capitalize on the opportunities that had presented themselves in the New World, and by the first decades of the 16th century, they had claimed and colonized much of the Caribbean and made inroads into parts of the South American mainland. News eventually reached the Spanish that advanced civilizations existed to the west in Mesoamerica, and so, in February 1519, the conquistador Hernán Cortés launched a expedition to the region, aiming to bring this part of the Americas under Spanish rule. Cortés' 500 men landed on the Caribbean coast and laid the foundations of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz on the 18th of May, the first Spanish town to be established in Mexico. One problem that the Spanish did not have to face when they arrived in the New World, however, was the inability to access their favorite websites or streaming services when in a different country. But even if the internet had existed back then, they needn't have worried thanks to NordVPN, the sponsor of this video. NordVPN is one of the best, all-encompassing online solutions for those wanting to access their favorite websites and streaming services, no matter where they are in the world. 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Cortes then received word of the enormous riches possessed by the Aztec Empire from many local native tribes, who were forced to pay tribute to Tenochtitlan. In the hope of ridding themselves of their oppressive Aztec overlords, many native tribes, such as the Tlaxcala, offered to join Cortes' expedition and march on the Aztec capital. The events that unfolded between 1519 and 1521 culminated in Cortes' small band of Spaniards, along with their countless native allies, conquering the city of Tenochtitlan, overthrowing and killing the last Aztec emperor, Moctezuma II, in the process. The ruined Aztec capital was renamed and rebuilt as Mexico City, which would serve as the capital of the territory of New Spain. Efforts to develop the region according to European ideals soon followed, with Spanish missionaries brought in to convert the natives to Christianity, and a forced labour system, known as the encomienda, introduced to construct many of the new towns and farms. Although the Spanish had conquered most of central Mexico by the mid-16th century, much of Mesoamerica remained under native control. The southern region continued to be ruled by the Maya, but the conquest of the Yucatan proved to be a much longer and more protracted affair than that against the Aztec empire. The fractured state of Mayan politics made it difficult to dominate, and the inhospitable, dense jungles slowed Spanish advances to a crawl. It took many decades to establish authority over the area, although the introduction of European diseases, such as smallpox, did far greater damage to the native populations than the sword. It is estimated that millions died within just a few months of the first contact between the Spanish and the natives of Mesoamerica, as they had practically no natural immunity to the highly contagious diseases. Meanwhile, in the north, many of the semi-nomadic tribes began to put up stiff resistance to the encroaching Spanish, who were attempting to gain access to the region's rich silver deposits. The Chichimeca War, in the second half of the 16th century, eventually culminated in a peace treaty and allowed for the establishment of silver mines, such as those at Zacatecas and Guanajuato. Silver quickly became the backbone of the economy of New Spain, as well as of the wider Spanish empire, as similar silver mines were also established in Peru. The enormous quantities of riches being extracted from the New World made Spain wealthier beyond its wildest dreams, and served as a pull factor for more Spaniards to cross the Atlantic and seek their fortune in the Americas. Many arrived in the colonies and established cash crop plantations, such as tobacco and sugar, which were able to take advantage of the encomienda system by using the natives as forced labour. As many of the natives had already perished from disease, some began to import slaves from West Africa to supplement their labour, thereby laying the foundations for the transatlantic slave trade. As a result of this mixed population in Spain's New World colonies, a strict caste system was introduced, which divided people into a social hierarchy based on ethnicity. At the top were the peninsulares, native Spaniards who had emigrated to the colonies to form the new ruling elite. Below them were the criollos, Spaniards born in the New World. They were followed by people of mixed races known as mestizos, and finally, at the bottom, were the Native American indios. Despite this segregation, Spanish and native practices fused to create many of the cultural icons of Mexico that endure to this day, including tequila, mariachi and charros. The most notable of these cultural synergies, however, occurred in religion, which, although officially Catholic, integrated many native customs, such as the veneration of the dead, giving rise to famous holidays such as Dia de los Muertos. The territory of New Spain was governed as a vice-royalty of the Spanish Empire, and expanded further in the 17th and 18th centuries. The northern limits of the territory extended into what is now the southwestern United States, with settlements such as Albuquerque, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Antonio being founded during this time. Meanwhile, the southern portion, consisting of modern-day Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, was governed as the incorporated captaincy general of Guatemala. These regions, however, remained sparsely populated and were predominantly inhabited by natives, especially when compared to the heartland of New Spain, centred around Mexico City. The society of New Spain was dominated by the peninsulares elite, who acted predominantly in their own interests and those of the mother country. This resulted in a fair degree of animosity between them and the lower classes of criollos and mestizos. By the turn of the 19th century, many in New Spain began to consider a move towards independence, inspired by the revolutions in the United States and France in previous decades. However, it was events in Spain itself that would ultimately result in the emergence of an independent Mexico. When Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain in 1808, he installed his own brother, Joseph, as its new king. This sent shockwaves throughout the Spanish Empire, including New Spain, as the various political factions and social classes desired different outcomes, some advocating for closer ties with Spain, while others wanted complete independence. By 1810, the latter sentiment had prevailed, with the Mexican War of Independence breaking out that same year. Led initially by the priest Miguel Hidalgo, a massive but poorly organised armed insurgency began to fight the forces loyal to the Spanish crown in a conflict that lasted for over 11 years. In the end, the former royalist commander Agustín de Iturbide made an alliance with Vicente Guerrero, the insurgent leader who succeeded Hidalgo, under the plan of Iguala in 1821. They formed a unified military force that rapidly brought about the collapse of the royal government and the establishment of an independent nation. Mexico first established itself as an empire, deciding to continue under the system of monarchy inherited from Spain. Iturbide served as the nation's first emperor and ruled over almost the entirety of the former viceroyalty of New Spain, stretching from California to Costa Rica. However, the empire's existence was brief, lasting only two years until 1823, as it was marred by issues of legitimacy, conflicts between Congress and the emperor and a bankrupt treasury. The emperor ultimately abdicated in favour of establishing the Mexican Republic that same year, which promptly led the nations of Central America to break away and chart their own paths as independent states. Like its imperial predecessor, the first Mexican Republic was plagued by political turmoil throughout its 12-year existence, until it was finally overthrown in 1835 by General Antonio López de Santa Anna, who established the Centralist Republic of Mexico. In the years preceding this, various Mexican governments had pursued a policy of populating the northern territory of Tejas by offering land grants to thousands of families from the United States, in the hope that they would convert to Catholicism, become Mexican citizens and act as a buffer against further American westward expansion. The Mexican government also forbade the importation of enslaved people into the region. However, these policies ultimately failed, as the people of Texas began to demand independence. The Texas Revolution was fought from October 1835 to April 1836, and saw many famous battles, such as those at the Alamo and San Jacinto, which resulted in the creation of the Republic of Texas, later annexed by the United States in 1845. Tensions between the US and Mexico continued into the 1840s, before finally boiling over into outright war in 1846. The Mexican-American War lasted for two years and was a complete disaster for Mexico, as it not only suffered the humiliation of having its capital city captured and occupied by US troops, but also lost the entirety of its northern territory, stretching from the Rio Grande to the Pacific, which was ceded to the United States. Further indignities for Mexico were incurred in the war's aftermath, with President Santa Anna ceding yet more land to the United States, until he was eventually overthrown and exiled in 1855. A liberal government under President Ignacio Comanfort succeeded him. However, the drafting of the Constitution of 1857 alienated many conservatives within the country, resulting in a period of polarizing civil conflict known as the War of Reform. The liberals eventually triumphed in 1861 after four long and bloody years. However, this came at a cost, as the new administration under President Benito Juárez had accumulated massive amounts of war debt, primarily owed to France, and had begun to default on its repayments. What followed was a French invasion of Mexico in 1862, which, with support from the Mexican conservatives, overthrew the liberal government and restored the monarchy under a distant relative of the Spanish royal family, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria, who became the emperor of the Second Mexican Empire. The French intervention in Mexico did not last long, and they withdrew their forces in 1867 after support for their cause began to fade. Emperor Maximilian, however, decided to stay on, although he was promptly captured and summarily executed by the liberals in the following year, 1868, and the republic was once again restored. The upheavals of regime change continued for Mexico just eight years later, in 1876, when the government was overthrown yet again, this time in an internal coup led by General Porfirio Díaz. He effectively established a dictatorship aimed at strengthening Mexico through his absolute rule, limiting any political opposition whatsoever, which he perceived to be the root cause of the country's recurring problems. A modern nation-state building program was enacted, which saw the creation of new public schools, railways, and factories, attracting a great deal of foreign investment and raising the country's living standards. Under Díaz's rule, this period of Mexico's history, known as the Porfiriato, would be one of the most stable and longest-lasting, running into the beginning of the 20th century. Despite some successes, Díaz declared that he would step down as president in 1910, but when he reneged on this promise and ran for office again, an air of revolution began to take hold in the country. Díaz did eventually step down in 1911 and was succeeded by Francisco Madero, a moderate supporter of the revolution, but who was nevertheless overthrown and assassinated in 1913 on the orders of General Victoriano Huerta, who subsequently assumed power. The following years saw Mexico plunge into an even more chaotic state of civil war, with Huerta's regime facing off against the constitutionalist army led by Venustiano Carranza and other key figures like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Although Huerta was ousted in 1914, political infighting and shifting allegiances prevented any form of peace from taking hold until 1920, by which point yet another president and several opposition leaders had been assassinated. The post-revolutionary years focused on stabilizing the nation, with Mexico's economy and political institutions being modernized by President Plutarco Elias Calles in 1924. He also established the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, in 1929, which would come to dominate Mexican politics for the remainder of the century. However, Calles' presidency did face challenges, particularly from the Catholic Church and the Cristero War from 1926 to 1929. This was a major uprising against the anti-Catholic policies and secularization measures enacted by his government, which only ended after concessions were made to the Church while maintaining the secular character of the state. Mexico's fortunes began to improve dramatically with the political entrenchment of the PRI during the 1930s. By the turn of the 1940s, the country had entered a watershed moment, having seemingly turned a corner on the destructive political instability that had plagued it for much of the previous century. Although it played a minor role in the Second World War, Mexico's support for the US war effort, in the form of equipment and labor, greatly benefited the nation's economy, as well as its international standing, once the conflict ended. The post-war years bore witness to the Mexican miracle, with the economy booming from large industrialization projects, resulting in prosperity for its citizens. By the 1970s, the boom times had given way to increasing economic instability, with several banks being nationalized and the Mexican peso being devalued. Furthermore, support for the PRI began to wane in the face of worsening governmental responses to deteriorating socioeconomic conditions, which were laid bare in the aftermath of the disastrous 1985 Mexico City earthquake. In more recent times, the nation has moved on from its legacy of revolution, with the formation of newer political entities outside of the PRI, and has embraced closer economic ties with the USA and Canada in a bid to boost North American trade. Although the country continues to face problems today, most notably in the form of the ongoing drug war against the powerful cartels, modern Mexico has far removed itself from its revolutionary past. From the great civilizations of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, to the arrival of the conquistadors and the countless upheavals of the 19th and 20th centuries, Mexico has been shaped by constant waves of turbulent change. These have undoubtedly left their mark on the attitudes and cultural norms of the Mexican people, who, instead of dwelling on the dark times of the past, dedicate themselves to celebrating and living their lives to the fullest in the here and now.