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History of Mexico

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The area occupied by today's Mexico was settled as early as 10000 BC, and many remains of ancient settlers (one of the most famous, the Tepexpan Man[?]) have been found and dated to that time.

Pre-Columbian Mexico

Today's Mexico covers the area where several advanced Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations like the Maya, Olmec, Toltec and Aztec cultures developed and flourished for centuries before first contact with Europeans. The modern name "Mexico" comes from either an Aztec god named Mextli or a name for ruling group of the Aztec people, the "Meshika".

Spanish Conquest

The native cultures were invaded and conquered by Spain starting in 1521. The most important of the early Conquistadores was Hernan Fernando Cortes, who entered the country in 1517 from a native coastal town which he renamed "Puerto de la Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz" (today's Veracruz). The Aztecs, the dominant native people in the country back then, believed (according to ancient myths) that the Spanish conquerors were people sent by the gods, so they offered little resistance initially to the advances of the conquerors, but, eventually, they opposed them when it became evident that they were not gods. After several battles where the Spanish forces were close to being defeated, the conquerors finally surrounded and laid siege to the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan, the then capital of the Aztec Empire, until their total defeat in 1521. (see: Hernan Cortes) The Spanish had superior military technology, including firearms, the crossbow, iron and steel weapons, and the horse; the Spanish were further aided in their conquest by the Old World diseases they brought with them which the natives had no immunity to, and became pandemic killing large portions of the native population.

With the conquest a new ethnic group was born: the mestizo, a result of the conquerors taking native women and beginning the mixing of both cultures.

During the colonial period, that lasted from 1521 to 1821, Mexico was known as "Nueva España" or "New Spain" whose territories included today's Mexico and a similar sized area located in most of what is today's southwestern United States.

Wars of Independence

The war for independence started in 1810, and was spearheaded by Miguel Hidalgo, a priest of Spanish descent and of progressive ideas. After Napoleon I invaded Spain and put his brother on the Spanish throne, Mexican conservatives and rich land-owners who supported Spain's Bourbon royal family objected to the comparatively more liberal Napoleonic policies. Thus an unlikely alliance was formed in Mexico: Liberales or Liberals who favored a democratic Mexico, and Conservativos or Conservatives who favored Mexico ruled by a Bourbon monarch who would restore the old status-quo. These two elements agreed only that Mexico must achieve independence and determine her own destiny.

Prominent figures in Mexico's war for independence were Father Jose Maria Morelos[?]; Vincente Guerrero[?]; General Augustin de Iturbide; and General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The war for independence lasted 11 years until the troops of the liberating army entered Mexico City in 1821. Thus although independence from Spain was first proclaimed in September 16, 1810, it was not achieved until 1821.

In 1821 Augustin de Iturbide, a former Spanish general who switched sides to fight for Mexican independence, proclamed himself emperor -- officially as a temporary measure until a member of European royalty could be persuaded to become monarch of Mexico. A revolt against Iturbide in 1823 established the Republic of Mexico. In 1824 "Guadalupe Victoria[?]" became the first president of the new country; his given name was actually Felix Fernández but he chose his new name for symbolic significance: Guadalupe to give thanks for the protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Victoria which means Victory.

Creole Conservatism and the Struggle for Liberal Refroms

Many presidents came and went, which brought a long period of instability that lasted most of the 19th century. The dominant figure of the second quarter of that century was the dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. During this period, many of the territories in the north were lost to the United States. Santa Anna was Mexico's leader during the conflict with Texas, which declared itself independent from Mexico in 1836, and during the Mexican-American War (1846-48). One of the memorable battles when the USA invaded Mexico in 1847 was when the young cadets of the Military College (now considered national heroes) fought to the death against a large army of experienced soldiers in the Battle of Chapultepec (September 13, 1847). Ever since this war many Mexicans have resented the loss of much Mexican territory, some by means of coercion, and more territory sold cheaply by the dictator Santa Anna to enrich himself.

The presidential terms of Benito Juarez (1858-71) were interrupted by the Habsburg monarchy's rule of Mexico (1864-67). Conservatives tried to institute a monarchy when they helped to bring to Mexico an archduke from the Royal House of Austria, known as Maximilian of Habsburg (wife Carlota of Habsburg) with the military support of France, which was interested in exploiting the rich mines in the north-west of the country.

Although the French, then considered one of the most efficient armies of the world, suffered an initial defeat in the Battle of Puebla on (May 5, 1862 (now commemorated as the Cinco de Mayo holiday) they eventually defeated the Mexican government forces led by the general Ignacio Zaragoza and enthroned Maximilian as Emperor of Mexico. Maximilian of Habsburg favored the establishment of a limited monarchy sharing powers with a democratically elected congress. This was too liberal to please Mexico's conservatives, while the liberals refused to accept a monarch, leaving Maximilian with few enthusiastic allies within Mexico. Maximilian was eventually captured and executed in the Cerro de las Campanas, Queretaro by the forces loyal to President Benito Juarez, who kept the Federal government functioning during the French intervention that put Maximilian in power. In 1867, the republic was restored, and a new constitution was written that, amongst other things, confiscated the vast land-holdings of the Catholic church (which had been acting as landlord over half the country), established civil marriages and forbade the participation of priests in politics (separation of Church and State).

After the victory, there was resentment by conservatives against President Juarez (who they thought concentrated too much power and wanted to be re-elected) so one of the army's generals, named Porfirio Diaz rebelled against the government with the proclamation of the Plan de Tuxtepec[?] in 1876.

Order, Progress and the Diaz Dictatorship

Porfirio Diaz became the new president. During a period of more than 30 years (1876 - 1911) while he was the strong man in Mexico, the country's infrastructure improved a lot thanks to the investments of other countries. This period of relative prosperity and peace is known as the Porfiriato[?]. But the people were not happy with the form of government during the Porfiriato: It was attracting investors because the pay for workers was very low, which made a very steep social division: only a small bunch of investors (national and international) were getting rich, but the vast majority of the people remained in abject poverty. Democracy was completely suppressed, dissent was dealt in repressive, often brutal ways.

The Revolutionary Era

In 1910 the 80-year-old Diaz decided to hold an election for him to serve another term as president. He thought he had long since eliminated any serious opposition in Mexico; however, Francisco I. Madero, an accademic from a rich family, decided to run against him and quickly gathered popular support, despite Diaz's putting Madero in jail. When the official election results were announced, it was declared that Diaz had won reelection almost unanimously, with Madero receiving only a few hundred votes in the entire country. This fraud by the Porfiriato was too blatant for the public to swallow, and riots broke out. Madero prepared a document known as the Plan de San Luis[?], in which he called the Mexican people to take their weapons and fight against the government of Porfirio Diaz on November 20, 1910. This started what is known as the Mexican Revolution (Revolucion Mexicana). Madero was incarcerated in San Antonio, Texas, but his plan took effect in spite of him being in jail. The Federal Army was defeated by the revolutionary forces which were led amongst others by Emiliano Zapata, in the South, Pancho Villa and Pascual Orozco[?] in the North, and Venustiano Carranza[?]. Porfirio Diaz resigned in 1911 for the "sake of the peace of the nation" and went to exile in France where he died in 1915.

The revolutionary leaders had many different objectives; revolutionary figures varied from liberals such as Madero to radicals such as Emilano Zapata and Pancho Villa. As a consequence, it proved very difficult to reach agreement on how to organize the government that emanated from the triumphant revolutionary groups. The result of this was a struggle for the control of Mexico's government in a conflict that lasted more than 20 years. This period of struggle is usually referred to as part of the Mexican Revolution, although it might also be looked on as a civil war. Presidents Francisco I. Madero (1911), Venustiano Carranza[?] (1920) and former revolutionary leaders Emiliano Zapata (1919) and Pancho Villa (1923) were assassinated during this time, amongst many others.

Following the resignation of Diaz and a brief reactionary interlude, Madero was elected President in 1911. He was ousted and killed in 1913. Venustiano Carranza[?], a former revolutionary general who became one of the several presidents during this turbulent period, promulgated a new Constitution on February 5, 1917. This is the constitution that still guides Mexico.

In 1920, Alvaro Obregon[?] became president. He accommodated all elements of Mexican society except the most reactionary clergy and landlords, and successfully catalyzed social liberalization, particularly in curbing the role of the Catholic Church, improving education and trends toward female equality.

Among the civil war aspects in the 1920s and 1930s were battles between those favoring a secular society with separation of Church & State and those favoring supremecy of the Roman Catholic Church. This fight is sometimes called "la Guerra Cristera".

Stabilization and the Revolution Institutionalized

In 1929 the National Mexican Party, PNM, was formed by then President, General Plutarco Elias Calles[?]. (It would later became the PRI or Partido Revolucionario Institucional that ruled the country for the rest of the 20th century.) The PNM succeeded at convincing most of the remaining revolutionary generals to dissolve their personal armies to create the Mexican Army, and so its foundation is considered by some the real end of the Mexican Revolution.

President Lazaro Cardenas came to power in 1934 and transformed Mexico from its foundations: he exiled the last general with dictatorial ambitions, managed to unite the different forces in the PRI and set the rules that allowed this party to rule unchallenged for decades to come without internal fights. He nationalized the oil industry on March 18, 1938, the electricity industry, created the National Politechnic Institute, granted asylum to Spanish expatriates fleeing the Spanish Civil War, started land reform, started the distribution of free textbooks for children, and, in general, pursued policies that for good or ill have marked the development of Mexico until the present day.

Avila Camacho[?], Cardenas' successor, presided over a “bridge” between the revolutionary era and the era of machine politics under PRI that would last until 2000. Camacho, moving away from nationalistic autarky, proposed to create a favorable climate for international investment, favored nearly two generations ago by Madero. Camacho's regime froze wages, repressed strikes, and persecuted dissidents with a law prohibiting the “crime of social dissolution.” During this period, the PRI regime thus betrayed the legacy of land reform. Aleman, Camacho's successor, even had Article 27 amended to protect elite landowners.

Although PRI regimes achieved economic growth and relative prosperity for almost three decades after World War II, the management of the economy collapsed several times, and political unrest grew in the late sixties, culminating in the Tlatelolco massacre in 1968. In the 1970s, things started to look not-so-bright, and economic crisis affected the country in 1976 and 1982 after which the banks were nationalized, having been blamed for the economic problems. On both occasions the Mexican peso was devalued, and ever since, it has been normal to expect a big devaluation and a recessionary period after each presidential term has ended (every 6 years). The crisis that came after a devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering the worst recession in over half a century.

Fall of the PRI

After the 1988 election, which was strongly disputed and arguably lost by the government party, the IFE (Instituto Federal Electoral - Federal Electoral Institute) was created in the early 90s. It is run by normal citizens, and it oversees that elections are conducted legally and fairly. As a result of this, the presidential candidate of the PAN (Partido Accion Nacional, National Action Party) Vicente Fox Quezada won the federal election of July 2, 2000, and both chambers of congress are now composed of members of several different parties of all political persuasions.

Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, resistance to democratic change in old PRI strongholds, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states even though the Mexican government has made efforts to improve these problems.

Mexican Presidents and rulers included (list currently incomplete During the revolutionary, period there were sometimes more than one president at the same time. So the list has to be corrected):

Further Reading

Great River, The Rio Grande in North American History, Paul Horgan, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, reprint, 1977, in one hardback volume, ISBN: 0-03-029305-7

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