Introduction to the History of Mexico
The ancient inhabitants of Mexico were probably descended from Asians who crossed the Bering Strait in prehistoric times. Archeological evidence indicates that Mexico was populated by 10,000 B.C. The earliest known advanced culture was developed by the Olmec Indians about 1200 B.C. along the Gulf Coast. The civilization of the Mayas, in the Yucatan peninsula and other regions of southern Mexico, was at its peak in the seventh and eighth centuries a.d. The Toltecs flourished in the south-central plateau area from the 10th into the 12th century. In the early 15th century the Aztecs gained control of most of the central area. The Tarascans, who lived to the west, and the Zapotecs and Mixtecs, who lived in the southwest, maintained their independence.
Important dates in Mexicoc. 2000 B.C. Village life developed in the Valley of Mexico.c. A.D. 250-900 Great Indian civilizations thrived during the Classic Period.c. 900-1200 The Toltec empire controlled the Valley of Mexico.c. 1325-1350 The Aztec founded Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City).1519-1521 Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec empire for Spain.1810 Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla began the Mexican struggle for independence.1821 Mexico won independence.1836 Texas won independence from Mexico.1846-1848 The United States defeated Mexico in the Mexican War and won much Mexican territory.1855 A liberal government under Benito Juarez began a period of reform.1863 French troops occupied Mexico City.1864 Maximilian of Austria became emperor of Mexico.1867 Liberal forces led by Benito Juarez regained power.1876-1880 and 1884-1911 Porfirio Diaz ruled Mexico as dictator.1910-1911 Francisco I. Madero overthrew Diaz.1917 A revolutionary constitution was adopted.1920 The government began making revolutionary social and economic reforms.1929 The National Revolutionary Party (now called the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI) was formed.1934 The government began a major program of land distribution to farmers.1938 Mexico took over foreign oil company properties.1942-1960 Mexico's industries expanded significantly.1953 Women received the right to vote in all elections.1968 Government troops put down student demonstrations in Mexico City.1970's Major new petroleum deposits were discovered on the Gulf of Mexico coast.1985 Two earthquakes struck south-central Mexico, killing about 10,000 people.1994 NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) took effect, providing for the gradual elimination of trade barriers among Mexico, the United States, and Canada.1997 The Institutional Revolutionary Party lost its majority in the Chamber of Deputies for the first time.2000 Vicente Fox Quesada of the National Action Party was elected president of Mexico. He became the first non-PRI candidate elected to that office in 71 years.Spanish Conquest
Mexico was discovered by the Spanish in 1517 when Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba landed on the Yucatan peninsula. In 1519 Hernando Cortez, with 600 men, established the port of Veracruz. He defeated the Aztecs in 1521 and built Mexico City on the site of their devastated capital. In the next few years, Cortez and other conquistadores subdued the Zapotecs, Mixtecs, and other Indian groups and conquered all of Mexico. The colony was named New Spain, and in 1535 was made a viceroyalty. Nominally, it included Central America as far south as Panama, and stretched northwest to newly discovered Lower California, and northeast to the Rio Grande.
Aztec gold, silver, and gems enriched both the Spanish government and colonial officials. New mines were opened and new treasure sought by further exploration. Meanwhile, Roman Catholic friars began converting the Indians to Christianity. The first missions were established in 1524 but met with little success at first. Then, in December, 1531, Juan Diego, an Indian, reported that the Virgin had appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill at the edge of Mexico City. Named Our Lady of Guadalupe, she was made the patron saint of Mexico. Many Indians were rapidly converted and became devout Catholics.
Together, Spanish troops and missionaries extended the boundaries of New Spain northward. The present states of New Mexico and Arizona were occupied in the early 17th century; Texas, 1720–22; California, 1769–76. By 1790 the land that is now Nevada, Utah, and part of Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas also fell within the territory governed from Mexico City.
Spanish Rule
Mexico was of great economic importance to Spain, and it was rapidly colonized. Indians were gathered into communities governed by the Church. At first many of the Indians were held in slavery. Later they were legally free, but lived and worked wherever the Spanish directed. Indians supplied the labor for the great plantations, called haciendas, for the mines, and for the textile industry. Mexico was permitted to trade only with Spain and certain Spanish territories. After Spanish occupation of the Philippines in the early 17th century, a brisk Oriental trade developed.
Government officials were sent to Mexico from Spain. In the early colonial period all high offices were held by Spaniards. Mexicans of pure Spanish descent, called Creoles, could hold minor offices, but the mestizos (persons of mixed Spanish and Indian descent) were excluded even from these. Gradually, however, Spain relaxed its supervision. In the 17th century, the number of Mexican-born officials steadily increased.
After the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700, the throne passed from the Hapsburgs to the Bourbons. The new ruling house tightened its control of Mexico. Military forces were built up, and exploration and conquest in the north were resumed. All Creole and mestizo officials were replaced by Spaniards. This discrimination was deeply resented.
Import and export duties were reduced and Mexico was allowed free trade with other countries of the Spanish empire. The economy was built up until in the late 18th century Mexico supplied more than half the world's annual output of gold and silver and exported more than six times as much cotton as the United States.
Independence Movement
The American and French revolutions had stirred Creoles and mestizos of Mexico to thoughts of self-government. In 1808 Napoleon invaded Spain and placed his brother Joseph on its throne. The royal officials in Mexico might easily have been overthrown, but instead the majority of Mexicans expressed their loyalty to the deposed Ferdinand VII.
Some Mexicans, however, kept thinking of independence. On the night of September 15–16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla proclaimed a revolt. He won the support of several provinces, but in January, 1811, he was captured by government troops and shot. Leadership of the independence movement fell to another priest, Jose María Morelos, who in 1815 was also captured and shot.
In the meantime Napoleon had met defeat in Spain and Ferdinand VII had returned to the throne. His autocratic rule led to a Spanish revolt in 1820 and establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Spain. In Mexico the conservatives, opposed to constitutional government, joined the independence movement, hoping to establish an independent kingdom in Mexico.
Agustín de Iturbide, a creole army officer, joined forces with the revolutionary leaders, Vicente Guerrero and Guadalupe Victoria. Iturbide helped depose the Spanish viceroy in 1821 and in 1822 succeeded in having himself declared emperor of Mexico. His despotic rule lasted 20 months before he was forced into exile. In 1824 a federal republic, the United States of Mexico, was formed. Iturbide attempted to return to power and was shot.
Santa Anna and Maximilian
In the first 33 years of the republic, the presidency changed hands 37 times (counting acting presidents). Only one president served his full term. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who helped depose Iturbide, became a hero in 1829 when he repulsed a Spanish attack. In 1833 he became president for the first of seven times in 22 years. Santa Anna had little understanding of the welfare of the country, and under him Mexico remained in turmoil.
In 1821 United States settlers had been permitted to move into Texas. In 1836 they declared Texas a republic. Santa Anna led his troops against the uprising, but was defeated at San Jacinto by Sam Houston. Texas remained independent until it joined the United States in 1845, an event that led to the Mexican War. In 1848 Mexico ceded California and most of the remaining territory that now makes up the southwestern United States.
In spite of a growing liberal movement in which Benito Juarez, governor of Oaxaca, was a leading figure, Santa Anna again became head of government in 1853. He ruled as a dictator for two years, during which he sold additional territory to the United States. In 1855 the liberals deposed him and reorganized the government. A new constitution, containing provisions intended to achieve social and economic reforms, was adopted in 1857. These provisions alienated the conservatives—the church, the army, and the landowners—who the next year seized Mexico City, deposed President Ignacio Comonfort, and named General Felix Zuloaga president. The liberals fled to Veracruz and set up a rival government with Juarez as president.
The War of the Reform, a civil war between the two factions, ended in victory for Juarez in 1861. Foreign business interests suffered property losses, and in 1862 France, Spain, and Great Britain landed troops in Mexico. The two latter countries soon withdrew, and the French occupied Mexico City. France's action was contrary to the Monroe Doctrine, but the United States was engaged in the Civil War and was unable to intervene. In 1864 Napoleon III made Archduke Maximilian of Austria emperor of Mexico. The following year the Civil War ended and the United States sent troops to the border and demanded that France withdraw its troops. Napoleon III complied in 1867, and Maximilian was deposed, tried, and put to death.
The Reform
Juarez immediately began the reforms called for by the 1857 constitution These included separation of church and state, confiscation of the church's vast land holdings, exclusion of clergy from official positions, a bill of civil rights, and universal suffrage for men.
Before the death of Juarez in 1872 Porfirio Díaz, one of his followers, had started a new revolt. Díaz gained control of the government in 1876 and held it until 1911, serving as president during all but four years of this period. Díaz brought order to Mexico by arbitrary and autocratic rule. Foreign investment was encouraged and the country made economic progress. However, Díaz was a ruthless dictator and had no concern for civil rights or the welfare of the people. Great tracts of public land passed into the hands of speculators or estate owners. The upper classes, the church, and foreign businessmen became rich, while the condition of the lower classes became steadily worse.
Díaz was overthrown finally by a coalition of insurrectionist leaders that included Francisco Madero, Venustiano Carranza, Victoriano Huerta, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Alvaro Obregón. During the next 10 years, Mexico was in a state of chaos as the rebel leaders turned against each other. In this period, the United States became involved in Mexican affairs several times, often in support of one leader over another.
Mexico was neutral in World War I. The constitution was revised in 1917, but Carranza, then president, had no desire for reform. He was driven from power in 1920 by Obregón and Plutarco Calles, who, as the next two presidents, accomplished many social reforms, including land redistribution to the peasants, support for organized labor, and expansion of education to rural areas. An anticlerical policy was also followed by the government, which caused several years of armed violence by militant Catholics called Cristeros ("Followers of Christ").
Calles, whose term ended in 1928, continued to control politics by organizing in 1929 the National Revolutionary party (later, the Institutional Revolutionary party, or P.R.I.), which became the dominant political party; and by naming, and ruling through, three successors. His power was finally broken in 1934 with the election of Lázaro Cárdenas.
Cárdenas redistributed land on a vast scale, and in 1938 expropriated the oil properties held by foreign countries. Land reform and the development of natural resources continued under succeeding presidents. A settlement for the expropriated oil properties was arranged. Mexico cooperated fully with the United States and the Latin American countries in defense planning in World War II, and in 1942 entered the war against the Axis powers. The war greatly stimulated Mexican industry, which produced materials needed by the United States. A large number of Mexican migrant workers called braceros were brought to the United States to relieve the farm labor shortage.
After the war, during the presidency of Miguel Alemán Valdés (1946–52), extensive public works projects were undertaken, including highway building, electrification, and irrigation. Agricultural production was greatly increased as plants were built for the manufacture of fertilizer, and hybrid varieties of corn and other staples were developed. However, by the mid-1950's it was apparent that government funds had been overpledged, and a treasury deficit forced a devaluation of the peso.
Women, given the franchise in 1953, first voted in a national election in 1955. Under President Lopez Mateos (1958–64), the electric power industry was completely nationalized and a vast amount of land was distributed to peasants. The government moved farm families from the central plateau to largely unoccupied lands. In the territory of Quintana Roo, in the far southeast, a vast area of tropical jungle was cleared away to make room for farms.
Mexico's friendship with the United States was strengthened in 1963 when a small part of El Paso, Texas, was restored to Mexico. In 1970 an agreement was reached with the United States on the settlement of future border disputes caused by shifting of the Rio Grande channel.
In 1974 Mexico's last two territories—Quintana Roo and Baja California Sur—became states. In the late 1970's, Mexico developed into an important oil producer and, because of huge oil-export earnings, its economy boomed. With the prospect of greatly increased oil income, Mexico went heavily into debt to finance expanded agricultural and industrialization programs. Falling oil prices in the early 1980's brought on a major economic crisis. The government took several measures, including repayment of some of the foreign debt, to help stabilize the economy.
In the mid-1990's, two rebel groups began uprisings in southern Mexico; the Zapatista National Liberation Army demanded social reforms to help Indians in the state of Chiapas, and the Popular Revolutionary Army sought to overthrow the government and replace it with a Marxist regime. Also in the mid-1990's, the government's devaluation of the peso created an economic crisis. In 1996, the government instituted major political and electoral reforms to lessen the dominance of the P.R.I, over other political parties. The National Action Party ended the P.R.I.'s rule in 2000, when their candidate, Vicente Fox, won the presidential elections. He became the first non-P.R.I. candidate to be elected as Mexico's president in 71 years.
In 2006, Mexicans voted in a presidential election. The margin of Felipe Calderon's victory was small; in fact, he won only 1 per cent more of the votes than Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Following the announcement of the election results, protests by Obrador's supporters ensued in Mexico City. About 10 per cent of the votes were recounted, and an election court rejected nearly all of Obrador's fraud claims. Soon after, Calderón was declared the official winner.