History

Pre-Hispanic Civilizations

The earliest Mexicans were Stone Age hunter-gatherers from the north, descendants of a race that had probably crossed the Bering Strait and reached North America around 12,000 B.C. They arrived in what is now Mexico by 10,000 B.C. It is likely that Baja was inhabited by human populations well before mainland Mexico, as Baja was the logical termination point for the coastal migration route followed by Asian groups crossing the Bering Strait. The San Dieguito culture migrated south into Baja somewhere between 7000 and 5000 B.C. Sometime between 5200 and 1500 B.C., in what is known as the Archaic period, they began practicing agriculture and domesticating animals.

The Pre-Classic Period (1500 B.C.-A.D. 300) -- Eventually, agriculture improved to the point that it could support large communities and free some of the population from agricultural work. A civilization emerged that we call the Olmec -- an enigmatic people who settled the lower Gulf Coast in what is now Tabasco and Veracruz. Anthropologists regard them as the mother culture of Mesoamerica because they established a pattern for later civilizations in a wide area stretching from northern Mexico into Central America. The Olmec developed the basic calendar used throughout the region, established a 52-year cycle (which they used to schedule the construction of pyramids), established principles of urban layout and architecture, and originated the cult of the jaguar and the sanctity of jade. They may also have bequeathed the sacred ritual of "the ball game" -- a universal element of Mesoamerican culture.

One intriguing feature of the Olmec was the carving of colossal stone heads. We still don't know what purposes these heads served, but they were immense projects; the basalt from which they were sculpted was mined miles inland and transported to the coast, probably by river rafts. The heads share a rounded, baby-faced look, marked by a peculiar, high-arched lip -- a "jaguar mouth" -- that is an identifying mark of Olmec sculpture.

The Maya civilization began developing in the Yucatán during the late pre-Classic period, around 500 B.C. Our understanding of this period is sketchy, but Olmec influences are apparent everywhere. The Maya perfected the Olmec calendar and, somewhere along the way, developed an ornate system of hieroglyphic writing and early architectural concepts. Two other civilizations began the rise to prominence around this time: the people of Teotihuacán, just north of present-day Mexico City, and the Zapotec of Monte Albán in the valley of Oaxaca.

In Baja, the San Dieguito culture either developed into, or was superseded by, the Yumano culture, believed to be the creators of the rock paintings and petroglyphs found on the central interior of the peninsula. The Yumanos made use of more sophisticated hunting equipment as well as fishing nets, and also created ceramics. Paintings also indicate a fundamental knowledge of astronomy and depict solstice celebrations. Descendants of this culture were the Indians found living here by the Spanish in the 16th century.

The Classic Period (A.D. 300-900) -- The flourishing of these three civilizations marks the boundaries of this period -- the heyday of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artistic and cultural achievements. These include the pyramids and palaces in Teotihuacán; the ceremonial center of Monte Albán; and the stelae and temples of Palenque, Bonampak, and the Tikal site in Guatemala. Beyond their achievements in art and architecture, the Maya made significant discoveries in science, including the use of the zero in mathematics and a complex calendar with which the priests could predict eclipses and the movements of the stars for centuries to come.

The inhabitants of Teotihuacán (100 B.C.-A.D. 700), near present-day Mexico City, built a city that, at its zenith, is thought to have had 100,000 or more inhabitants. It was a well-organized city, covering 23 sq. km (9 sq. miles), built on a grid with streams channeled to follow the city's plan.

Farther south, the Zapotec, influenced by the Olmec, raised an impressive civilization in the region of Oaxaca. Their two principal cities were Monte Albán, inhabited by an elite community of merchants and artisans, and Mitla, reserved for the high priests.

The Post-Classic Period (A.D. 900-1521) -- Warfare was the most conspicuous activity of the civilizations that flourished in this period. Social development was impressive but not as cosmopolitan as the Maya, Teotihuacán, and Zapotec societies. In central Mexico, a people known as the Toltec established their capital at Tula in the 10th century. They revered a god known as Tezcatlipoca, or "smoking mirror," who later became an Aztec god. The Toltec maintained a large military class divided into orders symbolized by animals. At its height, Tula may have had 40,000 people, and its influence spread across Mesoamerica. By the 13th century, however, the Toltec had exhausted themselves, probably in civil wars and in battles with the invaders from the north.

The Conquest

In 1517, the first Spaniards arrived in what is today known as Mexico and skirmished with Maya Indians off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. One of the fledgling expeditions ended in shipwreck, leaving several Spaniards stranded as prisoners of the Maya. The Spanish sent out another expedition, under the command of Hernán Cortez, which landed on Cozumel in February 1519. Cortez inquired about the gold and riches of the interior, and the coastal Maya were happy to describe the wealth and splendor of the Aztec empire in central Mexico. Cortez promptly disobeyed all orders of his superior, the governor of Cuba, and sailed to the mainland.

Cortez arrived when the Aztec empire was at the height of its wealth and power. Moctezuma II ruled over the central and southern highlands and extracted tribute from lowland peoples. His greatest temples were literally plated with gold and encrusted with the blood of sacrificial captives. Moctezuma was a fool, a mystic, and something of a coward. Despite his wealth and military power, he dithered in his capital at Tenochtitlán, sending messengers with gifts and suggestions that Cortez leave. Meanwhile, Cortez blustered and negotiated his way into the highlands, always cloaking his real intentions. Moctezuma, terrified by the military tactics and technology of the Spaniard, convinced himself that Cortez was, in fact, the god Quetzalcoatl making his long-awaited return. By the time the Spaniards arrived in the Aztec capital, Cortez had gained some ascendancy over the lesser Indian states that were resentful tributaries to the Aztec. In November 1519, Cortez confronted Moctezuma and took him hostage in an effort to leverage control of the empire.

In the middle of Cortez's dangerous game of manipulation, another Spanish expedition arrived with orders to end Cortez's authority over the mission. Cortez hastened to meet the rival's force and persuade them to join his own. In the meantime, the Aztec chased the garrison out of Tenochtitlán, and either they or the Spaniards killed Moctezuma. For the next year and a half, Cortez laid siege to Tenochtitlán, with the help of rival Indians and a decimating epidemic of smallpox, to which the Indians had no resistance. In the end, the Aztec capital fell, and when it did, all of central Mexico lay at the feet of the conquistadors.

Cortez began his explorations of Baja California in 1532. Looking across from western Mexico, the Spanish believed Baja to be an island, and so declared the sea the Mar de Cortez (Sea of Cortez). The first explorations failed, succumbing to pirates. The first Spanish ship recorded to have reached Baja was in 1534 when the Concepción, under the leadership of a mutinous crew, landed at present-day La Paz, only to be attacked by indigenous inhabitants while refilling their water stocks. A few members of the crew returned to the ship and sailed back to the mainland, where they told Cortez of an island rich with black pearls, fueling his desires for further explorations. In 1539, one expedition, under the direction of Capt. Francisco de Ulloa, explored the entire perimeter of the Sea of Cortez, establishing the fact that Baja was not an island, but was a peninsula.

The Spanish Conquest started as a pirate expedition by Cortez and his men, unauthorized by the Spanish crown or its governor in Cuba. The Spanish king legitimized Cortez following his victory over the Aztec and ordered the forced conversion to Christianity of this new colony, to be called New Spain. Guatemala and Honduras were explored and conquered, and by 1540, the territory of New Spain included possessions from Vancouver to Panama. In the 2 centuries that followed, Franciscan and Augustinian friars converted millions of Indians to Christianity, and the Spanish lords built huge feudal estates on which the Indian farmers were little more than serfs. The silver and gold that Cortez looted made Spain the richest country in Europe.

The Mission Period

Among the subsequent expeditions sent by the Spanish crown, many included Catholic priests seeking to establish missions for converting the native cultures to Christianity. Padre Juan Maria Salvatierra was the first to succeed in establishing a permanent settlement on the Baja peninsula, when he founded the mission Nuestra Señora de Loreto in 1697, at the site of present-day Loreto. This began the Jesuit Mission period in Baja, which lasted until 1767, during which 20 missions were established, stretching from the southern tip of Baja into central Baja near present-day Cataviña. The mission system worked by offering protection to the natives by the Church and the Spanish crown, in exchange for submitting to religious instruction. If they were not in agreement, they were generally punished or massacred. Those who did agree assisted in the building of the mission, which became a place of refuge. In addition to religious instruction, natives also learned European farming techniques and other trades. Unlike their counterparts on the mainland, none of the Jesuit priests operating in Baja ever produced a text recording the indigenous languages. During the mission years, repeated epidemics of smallpox, syphilis, and measles, combined with those who lost their lives in rebellions, decimated the local populations, leaving Baja primarily to the new European settlers. The Jesuit missions were followed by missions established by the Franciscans and Dominicans, leading to a more diverse population of European cultures. By the end of the 18th century, it was estimated that the native population in Baja numbered fewer than 5,000.

The Colonial Period

Back on the mainland, Hernán Cortez set about building a new city upon the ruins of the old Aztec capital. To do this he collected from the Indians the tributes once paid to the Aztec emperor, many of these rendered in labor. This arrangement, in one form or another, became the basis for the construction of the new colony. But diseases brought by the Spaniards decimated the native population over the next century and drastically reduced the pool of labor.

Cortez soon returned to Spain and was replaced by a governing council, and, later, the office of viceroy. Over the 3 centuries of the colonial period, 61 viceroys governed Mexico while Spain became rich from New World gold and silver -- chiseled out by Indian labor. The colonial elite built lavish homes in Mexico City and in the countryside. They filled their homes with ornate furniture, had many servants, and adorned themselves in imported velvets, satins, and jewels.

A new class system developed. Those born in Spain considered themselves superior to the criollos (Spaniards born in Mexico). Those of other races and the castas (mixtures of Spanish and Indian, Spanish and African, or Indian and African) occupied the bottom rungs of society. It took great cunning to stay a step ahead of the avaricious Crown, which demanded increasing taxes and contributions from its fabled foreign conquests. Still, wealthy colonists prospered enough to develop an extravagant society.

However, discontent with the mother country simmered for years over social and political issues: taxes, royal monopolies, the bureaucracy, Spanish-born citizens' advantages over Mexican-born subjects, and restrictions on commerce with Spain and other countries. In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain and crowned his brother Joseph king in place of Charles IV. To many in Mexico, allegiance to France was out of the question; discontent reached the level of revolt.

Independence

The rebellion began in 1810, when Father Miguel Hidalgo gave the grito, a cry for independence, from his church in the town of Dolores, Guanajuato. The uprising soon became a full-fledged revolution, as Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende gathered an "army" of citizens and threatened Mexico City. Although Hidalgo ultimately failed and was executed, he is honored as the Father of Mexican Independence. Another priest, José María Morelos, kept the revolt alive with several successful campaigns through 1815, when he, too, was captured and executed.

After the death of Morelos, prospects for independence were rather dim until the Spanish king who replaced Joseph Bonaparte decided to make social reforms in the colonies. This convinced the conservative powers in Mexico that they didn't need Spain after all. With their tacit approval, Agustín de Iturbide, then commander of royalist forces, changed sides and declared Mexico independent and himself emperor. (Spain, already losing its imperial power due to conflicts in Europe, could no longer hang onto Mexico, nor could the new king afford to wage war.) Before long, however, internal dissension brought about the fall of the new emperor, and Mexico was proclaimed a republic.

Political instability engulfed the young republic and Mexico waged a disastrous war with the United States and lost half its territory. A central figure was Antonio López de Santa Anna, who assumed the leadership of his country no fewer than 11 times and was flexible enough in those volatile days to portray himself variously as a liberal, a conservative, a federalist, and a centralist. He probably holds the record for frequency of exile; by 1855 he was finally left without a political comeback and ended his days in Venezuela.

Political instability persisted, and the conservative forces, with some encouragement from Napoleon III, hit upon the idea of inviting in a Habsburg to regain control (as if that strategy had ever worked for Spain). They found a willing volunteer in Archduke Maximilian of Austria, who accepted the position of Mexican emperor with the support of French troops. The ragtag Mexican forces defeated the French force -- a modern, well-equipped army -- in a battle near Puebla (now celebrated annually as Cinco de Mayo). A second attempt was more successful, and Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of Habsburg became emperor. After 3 years of civil war, the French were finally induced to abandon the emperor's cause; Maximilian was captured and executed by a firing squad near Querétaro in 1867. His adversary and successor (as president of Mexico) was Benito Juárez, a Zapotec Indian lawyer and one of the great heroes of Mexican history. Juárez did his best to unify and strengthen his country before dying of a heart attack in 1872; his impact on Mexico's future was profound, and his plans and visions bore fruit for decades.

The Porfiriato & The Revolution

A few years after Juárez's death, one of his generals, Porfirio Díaz, assumed power in a coup. He ruled Mexico from 1877 to 1911, a period now called the Porfiriato. He stayed in power by imposing repressive measures and courting the favor of powerful nations. Generous in his dealings with foreign investors, Díaz became, in the eyes of most Mexicans, the archetypal entreguista (one who sells out his country for private gain). With foreign investment came the concentration of great wealth in few hands, and social conditions worsened.

In 1910, Francisco Madero called for an armed rebellion that became the Mexican revolution (La Revolución in Mexico; the revolution against Spain is the Guerra de Independencia). Díaz was sent into exile; while in London, he became a celebrity at the age of 81, when he jumped into the Thames to save a drowning boy. He is buried in Paris. Madero became president but was promptly betrayed and executed by Victoriano Huerta. Those who had answered Madero's call responded again -- to the great peasant hero Emiliano Zapata in the south, and to the seemingly invincible Pancho Villa in the central north, flanked by Alvaro Obregón and Venustiano Carranza. They eventually put Huerta to flight and began hashing out a new constitution.

For the next few years, the revolutionaries Carranza, Obregón, and Villa fought among themselves; Zapata did not seek national power, though he fought tenaciously for land for the peasants. Carranza, who was president at the time, betrayed and assassinated Zapata. Obregón finally consolidated power and probably had Carranza assassinated. He, in turn, was assassinated when he tried to break one of the tenets of the Revolution -- no reelection. His successor, Plutarco Elias Calles, learned this lesson well, installing one puppet president after another, until Lázaro Cárdenas severed the puppeteer's strings and banished him to exile.

Until Cárdenas's election in 1934, the outcome of the revolution remained in doubt. There had been some land redistribution, but other measures took a back seat to political expediency. Cárdenas changed all that. He implemented massive redistribution of land and nationalized the oil industry. He instituted many reforms and gave shape to the ruling political party (now the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI) by bringing a broad representation of Mexican society under its banner and establishing mechanisms for consensus building. Most Mexicans practically canonize Cárdenas.

Modern Mexico

The presidents who followed were noted more for graft than for leadership. The party's base narrowed as many of the reform-minded elements were marginalized. Economic progress, a lot of it in the form of large development projects, became the PRI's main basis for legitimacy. In 1968, the government violently repressed a democratic student movement. Police forces shot and killed an unknown number of civilians in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City. Though the PRI maintained its grip on power, it lost all semblance of being a progressive party. In 1985, a devastating earthquake in Mexico City brought down many of the government's new, supposedly earthquake-proof buildings, exposing shoddy construction and the widespread government corruption that fostered it. The government's handling of the relief efforts also drew heavy criticism. In 1994, a political and military uprising in Chiapas focused world attention on Mexico's great social problems. A new political force, the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, or EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army), has skillfully publicized the plight of the peasant. Adding to the troubles of that year, Luis Donaldo Colosio, the PRI's popular presidential candidate, was shot to death while campaigning in Tijuana in March 1994. In the ensuing investigation, top-ranking party officials, including standing president Carlos Salinas's brother, Raul, were implicated, bringing to light the extent of interparty power struggles within the PRI.

In the years that followed, opposition political parties grew in power and legitimacy. Facing pressure and scrutiny from national and international organizations, and widespread public discontent, the PRI had to concede defeat in state and congressional elections throughout the '90s. The party began choosing its candidates through primaries instead of through appointment. But in the presidential elections of 2000, Vicente Fox, candidate for the opposition party PAN, won by a landslide. In hindsight, there was no way that the PRI could have won in a fair election. For most Mexicans, a government under the PRI was all that they had ever known.

Since then, Mexico has been sailing into the uncharted waters of coalition politics. The three main parties, PRI, PAN, and PRD, have grown into their new roles within a more open, more transparent political system. To their credit, the sailing has been much smoother than many observers predicted. In 2006, the PAN party again took the vote with Felipe Calderón, but the process was not as smooth. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, former Mexico City mayor and working-party favorite, and his supporters challenged the results with marches, protests, and acts of civil disobedience so zealous that, among other things, they led President Fox to relocate to Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, for the annual Independence Day "grito," which usually takes place in the capital. Although election results were initially contested (and heavily protested), a September 5, 2006, tribunal declared the election fair and Calderón assumed the presidency on December 1 of the same year.