Posts tagged Spanish Invaders
Mexico’s Culture of Today
Sep 24th
The land of Mexico shines from its political and physical heart in the valley of Mexico (Valle De Anahuac), which crowds more than one fifth of the nations population. Was built from the remains of the ancient Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, in the year 1521, Mexico city was surrounded by the most fertile farming lands in the nation producing most of Mexico’s wheat, corn, cacao, coffee, fruits and vegetables.
This is a country that is geographically diverse, consisting of various mountains (La Sierra Madre). The mountains dominate below the southern United States border to the most southern parts of Mexico, which is about 700 miles. The mountains (La Sierra Madre) have a wide range going to the north of Chihuahua to the Sonora Desert. Surrounded by the Sea of Cortez and the pacific ocean.
The Peninsula of Baja California is equal parts mountains and deserts, which has various mountain ranges, dozens of islands and has a combined coastline of about 4,800 kilometers. Mexico is rich in silver, lead, copper, and salt which are very important sources of revenue. Mexico is also rich in Mahogany trees, walnut and rosewood which are harvested from the central and northwestern forests.
Most people in Mexico have a mixture of mestizaje (combination of European and indigenous blood) and indigenous people. Only thirty percent of people in Mexico are indigenous, and twice the people are mestizajes. It is calculated than more than seven million of Mexico’s population speak indigenous languages like Zapotec, Otomi, Mayan, Purepecha and Nahuatl. Whites make up nine percent of Mexico’s elite exclusivity.
The Indians and mestizos compose about forty percent of Mexico’s poor population. Spanish invaders who came to Mexico in the sixteenth century, brought animals, the wheel and religious zeal which were not native to Mexico. The Spanish eventually conquered dozens of unique and independent Mexican cultures. Many Mexican natives escaped the Spanish by fleeing into the tropical forests and many of them retained their religious and indigenous identities.
Most indigenous people have combined their religious beliefs with Catholicism which was introduced to them by the Spanish conquistadors. It is calculated that about eighty eight percent of Mexico’s population now only practices Catholicism exclusively. Mexico stands as a predominant catholic country, which celebrates the saints and religious holidays with elaborate festivities. Mexico’s people are big admires of fire works and incorporate them into almost all their holidays, they create artificial towers with fireworks and shooting sparks which are lighted at midnight, lasting about 30 minuets.
History of Mexico – Spanish Invasion and Post Colonial Period
Dec 24th
Mexican History
Mexico is a country that has a very interesting and rich history. The region that is now known as the Mexican Republic was the home of many developing cultures since the 1800s BC. A considerable number of these cultures have matured into Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations like Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan, Toltec and Aztec.
These civilizations had developed on this land for thousands of years before the Spanish conquistadores had come there. These peoples had come up with a lot of inventions in various areas, such as building pyramids, astronomy, medicine and they are famous for inventing the wheel. However, the use of the wheel didn’t serve them too many useful applications as they didn’t use animals for labor.
Most applications of the wheel in this area have been used for art and toys. These civilizations are also known for using metallurgy, the major metals being copper, gold and silver. Astronomy was a very important factor for these civilizations and it can be observed that most of the cities had been carefully build according to major astronomical events.
This science was a central factor in developing other manifestations of these cultures, such as religious systems, writing systems, art and even architecture. The civilizations that developed on the Mexican land had quite a consolidated power and successfully managed to co-exist by distributing their influence in matters of trade, politics and technology. Throughout the centuries there have been a lot of other civilizations that competed with these Mexican peoples and at times there was the case of alliances or of war.
The Spanish Invasion
At the beginning of the 16th century, in 1519, the Mexican civilizations were invaded by the Spaniards. The Spanish invaders managed to successively conquer the civilizations by allying themselves with their main enemies. Thus, in 1521 the Aztec capital city, Tenochtitlan, was conquered with the help of their enemies, the Tlaxcaltecs.
The most important of the early Spanish conquistadores was Hernan Cortes, who invaded the region in 1519 from the coastal city that is today known as Vera Cruz. However, this event does not coincide with the complete conquest of Mexico. There were continuous attacks and wars between the Spanish and the natives that lasted early 2 centuries till Mexico had been entirely conquered. One of the major factors that contributed to the conquest of the Aztec Empire was due to their religious beliefs.
The Aztecs stronglt believed that the universe will fall apart if they didn’t constantly sacrifice thousands of people to their gods. The Aztecs used to get people for the sacrifices from wars with some other smaller civilizations who in at a point in time decided that they didn’t want to be a source of human sacrifice any longer and thus allied with the Spanish troops. At this point the Spanish army has become extremely powerful and succeeded to conquer not only the Aztecs but also the other civilizations.
Another factor that made it easier for the Spanish to conquer Mexico is represented by the plagues and epidemics that had been brought along by the Spaniards. Some of the most lethal diseases that decimated the indigenous populations were smallpox, influenza, bubonic plague, measles and syphilis. It is believed that these deadly diseases took the lives of about 8 million natives in only a few years.
The Post Colonial Period
After the 1521 conquest Mexico became a Spanish colony known as the New Spain. The colonization period lasted till 1810 and the subjugated territories included besides the today Mexican land also territories, such as the Spanish Caribbean islands, the southern part of Central America as far as Costa Rica, the Philippine Islands and a considerable area of what is now a part of the southwestern United States.
In 1807 the French emperor Napoleon I has invaded Spain and put his brother on the throne. This event has considerably weakened the Spanish forces, thus the people in the colonies started to catch a glimpse of the possibility of becoming an independent entity. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was the man who finally declared the Mexican colony’s independence on September 16th 1810 and in the year 1821 the first Mexican Empire was created.
After this important event in Mexico’s history the government encouraged people from other regions to settle in the areas that were scarcely populated under the condition that these people would convert to Catholicism and become Mexican citizens. Another measure that was taken by the new Mexican government was to forbid the slave import.
The first Mexican Republic was formed under the presidency of Guadalupe Victoria and the constitution was very similar to the one in the US. There had been numerous rebellions through out the following decades as some regions wanted to become independent themselves.
The biggest problems appeared in the northern area where some territories had been successively possessed by either Mexico or the US. Texas had been one of the most important territories that wanted to become independent and it finally lead to the Mexican-American War (1846-48) when Mexico was defeated and forced to sell some of the northern territories to the US.
