History

Pre-Hispanic Civilizations

The earliest "Mexicans" might have been Stone Age hunter-gatherers from the north, descendants of a race that had crossed the Bering Strait and reached North America around 12,000 B.C. A more recent theory points to an earlier crossing of peoples from Asia to the New World. What we do know is that Mexico was populated by 10,000 B.C. Sometime between 5200 and 1500 B.C., these early people began practicing agriculture and domesticating animals.

The Olmecs & Maya: The Pre-Classic Period (1500 B.C.-A.D. 300) -- Agriculture eventually provided enough food to support large communities, with enough surplus to free some people from agricultural work. A civilization emerged that we call the Olmec -- an enigmatic people who settled the lower Gulf Coast, today's Tabasco and Veracruz states. Anthropologists regard them as the mother culture of Mesoamerica because they established a pattern for later civilizations ranging from northern Mexico to Central America. The Olmec developed a basic calendar, established principles of urban layout and architecture, and originated the cult of the jaguar and the sacredness of jade. They probably also bequeathed the sacred ball game common to all Mesoamerican culture.

A defining feature of the Olmec was its colossal carved stone heads, several of which reside today in the Parque Museo La Venta in Villahermosa, Tabasco. Their purpose and meaning remain a mystery, but they were immense projects, sculpted from basalt mined miles inland and transported to the coast, probably by river rafts. Their rounded, baby-faced look, marked by a peculiar, high-arched lip -- a "jaguar mouth" -- is an identifying mark of Olmec sculpture.

The Maya civilization began developing in the pre-Classic period, around 500 B.C. Understanding of this period is sketchy, but Olmec influences show up everywhere. The Maya perfected the Olmec calendar and developed their ornate system of hieroglyphic writing and the early architecture. The people of Teotihuacán, north of present-day Mexico City, and the Zapotec of Monte Albán, in the valley of Oaxaca, also emerged around this time.

It's All in the Game -- The ancient Maya played a game with a solid rubber ball of such importance that ball courts appear in virtually every Maya city (Bonampak is a rare exception). They were laid out in an I shape with sloping walls in the center. Similar ball courts have been found as far south as Nicaragua and as far north as Arizona.

We know little about this sacred game or its rules. What we do know from ancient depictions of the game, early accounts by the Spanish, and the Maya "bible," the Popol Vuh, is that the ball was heavy and could inflict injury. Wearing thick padding and protective gear, players formed teams of 2 to 10 members, the object being to propel the ball through a stone ring or other goal using mainly the hips.

We also know the ball game was part sport and part religious ritual based on the Maya's cosmological belief system. It sometimes involved sacrifice, though we're not sure whether the winners, the losers, or perhaps prisoners of war were sacrificed. In the Popol Vuh, the hero twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, challenge the lords of the underworld to a ball game, playing part of the game with the head of one twin. Eventually the twins win and are allowed to return to the world of the living. Playing the ball game, then, might have been one way to cheat the underworld.

Teotihuacan, Monte Alban & Palenque: The Classic Period (A.D. 300-900) -- The rise and fall of these three city-states are bookends to the Classic Period, the height of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican art and culture. Achievements include the pyramids and palaces of Teotihuacán; the ceremonial center of Monte Albán; and the stelae and temples of Palenque, Bonampak, and Calakmul. The Maya also made significant discoveries in science, including the concept of zero in mathematics and a complex calendar with which priests predicted eclipses and the movements of the stars.

Teotihuacán (100 B.C.-A.D. 700 -- near present-day Mexico City), a well-organized city built on a grid, is thought to have had 100,000 or more inhabitants at its zenith, led by an industrious, literate, and cosmopolitan ruling class. The city exerted tremendous influence as far away as Guatemala and the Yucatán Peninsula. Its feathered serpent god, Quetzalcóatl, joined the pantheon of many succeeding cultures, including the Toltecs, who brought the cult to the Yucatán. Teotihuacán's refined aesthetics, seen in its beautiful, highly stylized sculpture and ceramics, show up in Maya and Zapotec objects. Around the 7th century, the city was abandoned for unknown reasons. Who these people were and where they went remains a mystery.

Toltecs & Aztec Invasions: The Post-Classic Period (A.D. 900-1521) -- Warfare became more pervasive during this period, and these later civilizations were less sophisticated than those of the Classic period. The Toltec of central Mexico established their capital at Tula in the 10th century. Originally one of the barbarous hordes that periodically migrated from the north, they were influenced by remnants of Teotihuacán culture at some point and adopted the feathered-serpent god Quetzalcóatl. The Toltec maintained a large military class, and Tula spread its influence across Mesoamerica. But their might was played out by the 13th century, probably because of civil war and battles with invaders from the north.

The Maya of the Yucatán, especially the Xiu and Itzáes, might have departed from the norm with their broad trading networks and multiple influences from the outside world. They built beautiful cities in and around the Yucatán's Puuc hills, south of Mérida, their architecture characterized by elaborate exterior stonework above door frames and extending to the roofline. Impressive examples include the Codz Poop at Kabah and the palaces at Uxmal, Sayil, and Labná. Chichén Itzá, also ruled by Itzáes, was associated with the Puuc cities but shows strong Toltec influence in its architectural style and its cult of Quetzalcóatl, renamed Kukulkán.

The exact nature of the Toltec influence on the Maya is a subject of debate, but an intriguing myth in central Mexico tells how Quetzalcóatl quarrels with Tezcatlipoca and is tricked into leaving Tula. Quetzalcóatl heads east toward the morning star, vowing someday to return. In the language of myth, this could be a metaphor for a civil war between two factions in Tula, each led by the priesthood of a particular god. Could the losing faction have migrated to the Yucatán and later ruled Chichén Itzá? Perhaps. What we do know is that this myth of Quetzalcóatl's eventual return became, in the hands of the Spanish, a powerful weapon of conquest.

Cortez, Moctezuma & the Spanish Conquest

In 1517, the first Spaniards arrived in Mexico and skirmished with Maya Indians off the coast of Campeche. A shipwreck left several Spaniards stranded as prisoners of the Maya. Another Spanish expedition, under Hernán Cortez, landed on Cozumel in February 1519. The coastal Maya were happy to tell Cortez about the gold and riches of the Aztec empire in central Mexico. Disobeying all orders from his superior, the governor of Cuba, Cortez promptly sailed to the mainland and embarked on one of history's most bizarre culture clashes.

He sailed with his army to Tabasco, established a settlement in Veracruz, and worked his way up the Gulf Coast during the height of the Aztec empire's 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. A fool, a mystic, and something of a coward, Moctezuma dithered in Tenochtitlán while Cortez blustered and negotiated his way into the highlands. Moctezuma, terrified, was convinced that Cortez was the returning Quetzalcóatl. By the time he arrived in the Aztec capital, Cortez had accumulated 6,000 indigenous allies who resented paying tribute to the Aztec. In November 1519, he took Moctezuma hostage in an effort to leverage control of the empire.

In the middle of Cortez's manipulations, another Spanish expedition arrived with orders to end Cortez's unauthorized mission. Cortez hastened to the coast, routed the rival force, and persuaded the vanquished to join him on his return to Tenochtitlán. The capital had erupted in his absence, and the Aztec chased his garrison out of the city. Moctezuma was killed during the attack, whether by the Aztec or the Spaniards is not clear. For the next year and a half, Cortez laid siege to Tenochtitlán, aided by rival Indians and a devastating smallpox epidemic. When the Aztec capital fell, all of central Mexico lay at the conquerors' feet, vastly expanding the Spanish empire. The king legitimized Cortez after his victory and ordered the forced conversion to Christianity of the new colony, to be called New Spain. By 1540, New Spain's territory 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 Indian farmers served as serfs. The silver and gold that Cortez looted made Spain the richest country in Europe.

The Rise of Mexico City & Spanish Colonialism

Cortez set about building a new city upon the ruins of the Aztec capital, collecting tributes the Indians once paid to Moctezuma. Many paid in labor. This became the model for building the new colony.

Over the 3 centuries of the colonial period, Spain became rich from New World gold and silver chiseled out by Indian labor. The colonial elite built lavish homes filled with ornate furniture and draped themselves in imported velvets, satins, and jewels. Under the new class system, those born in Spain considered themselves superior to the criollos (Spaniards born in Mexico). People of other races and the castas (Spanish-Indian, Spanish-African, or Indian-African mixes) occupied the bottom rungs of society. Wealthy colonists lived extravagantly despite the Crown's insatiable demand for taxes and contributions.

Criollo discontent with Spanish rule following the 1767 expulsion of the Jesuits simmered for years. In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain, deposed Charles IV and crowned his brother Joseph Bonaparte. To many in Mexico, allegiance to France was unthinkable. The next logical step was revolt.

Hidalgo, Juarez & Mexico's Independence

In 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo set off the rebellion with his grito, the fabled cry for independence, in the town of Dolores, Guanajuato. With Ignacio Allende and a citizen army, Hidalgo marched toward Mexico City. Although he ultimately failed and was executed, Hidalgo is honored as "the Father of Mexican Independence." Another priest, José María Morelos, kept the revolt alive with several successful campaigns until 1815, when he, too, was captured and executed.

When the Spanish king who replaced Joseph Bonaparte decided to make social reforms in the colonies, conservative powers in Mexico decided they didn't need Spain after all. Royalist Agustín de Iturbide defected in 1821 and conspired with the rebels to declare independence from Spain, with himself as emperor. However, internal dissension soon brought Iturbide down, and Mexico was proclaimed a republic.

The young, politically unstable republic ran through 36 presidents in 22 years, in the midst of which it lost half its territory in the disastrous Mexican-American War (1846-48). The central figure, Antonio López de Santa Anna, assumed the presidency no fewer than 11 times and just might hold the record for frequency of exile. He was ousted for good in 1855 and finished his days in Venezuela.

Amid continuing political turmoil after ragtag Mexican troops defeated the well-equipped French force in a battle near Puebla in 1862 (now celebrated as Cinco de Mayo), conservatives hit upon the idea of bringing in a Habsburg to regain control. Archduke Maximilian of Austria, with the backing of the French, stepped in as emperor in 1864. After 3 years of civil war, the French finally abandoned the emperor's cause, and Maximilian was captured and executed in 1867. His adversary and successor as president was Benito Juárez, a Zapotec Indian lawyer and one of Mexico's greatest heroes. Juárez did his best to unify and strengthen his country before dying of a heart attack in 1872, and his plans and visions bore fruit for decades.

Of Henequén & Haciendas -- Commercial production of henequén, the thorny agave that yields the rope fiber we know as sisal, began in 1830. Demand became almost insatiable during World War I and, with a virtual monopoly on the oro verde ("green gold"), Yucatán went from one of Mexico's poorest states to one of its richest. In addition to their baronial homes along Mérida's Paseo de Montejo, landowners built plantations to meet their every comfort when they traveled to the countryside. Their haciendas were small, self-contained cities supporting hundreds of workers, and each had its own school, infirmary, store, church, cemetery, and even a jail.

Invention of synthetic fibers during World War II devastated the henequén industry; abandoned haciendas became grand derelicts until a new generation of wealthy Mexicans began turning them into hotels in the early 1990s.

Yucatecan Independence & the Caste War

In 1845, with Mexico unable to establish a stable government, the Yucatán's landed oligarchy decided to declare independence. They armed the populace -- including Indians who had slaved their entire lives on the haciendas -- to defend the territory from invasion. Resentful of their serfdom, the Indians realized it wasn't so important to them whether their oppressors lived in Mexico City or Mérida. They raised their arms against the landowners, igniting the War of the Castes. The slaughter would continue, off and on, for 60 years.

The peasants soon controlled most of the countryside, capturing several towns and the city of Valladolid. Mérida, too, was on the verge of surrender when planting season arrived. Rather than press their advantage and take the capital, the Maya inexplicably laid down their weapons to return to their corn fields. Yucatecan troops quickly regrouped, swore fealty to Mexico and called for a government army. Eventually the Maya rebels were driven back into what is now Quintana Roo, where they were largely left on their own, virtually a nation within a nation, until a Mexican army with modern weaponry finally penetrated the region at the turn of the 20th century.

Díaz, Zapata, Pancho Villa & the Mexican Revolution

A few years after Juárez's death, one of his generals, Porfirio Díaz, seized power in a coup. He ruled Mexico from 1877 to 1911, a period now called the "Porfiriato," maintaining power through repression and by courting the favor of powerful nations. With foreign investment came the concentration of great wealth in few hands, and discontent deepened.

In 1910, Francisco Madero led an armed rebellion that became the Mexican revolution ("La Revolución" in Mexico; the revolution against Spain is the "Guerra de Independencia"). Díaz was exiled and is buried in Paris. Madero became president, but Victoriano Huerta, in collusion with U.S. ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, betrayed and executed him in 1913. Those who had answered Madero's call rose up again -- the great peasant hero Emiliano Zapata in the south, and 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, 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 re-election. Not until Lázaro Cárdenas was elected in 1934 did the Revolution appear to have a chance. He implemented massive land redistribution, nationalized the oil industry, instituted many reforms and gave shape to the ruling political party (precursor to today's Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI). Cárdenas is practically canonized by most Mexicans.

Modern Mexico

The presidents who followed were noted more for graft than leadership, and the party's reform principles were abandoned. In 1968, the government quashed a democratic student demonstration in Mexico City, killing several hundred people. Though the PRI maintained its grip on power, it lost its image as a progressive party.

Economic progress, particularly in the form of large development projects, became the PRI's sole basis for legitimacy. In 1974 the government decided to build a new coastal megaresort. To determine the ideal location, data crunchers loaded all the variables into a computer. Out popped Cancún, and Mexico's economy was forever changed.

The government weathered several bouts of social unrest caused by periodic devaluations of the peso. But in 1985, the devastating Mexico City earthquake brought down many of its new, supposedly earthquake-proof buildings, exposing the widespread corruption that had fostered the shoddy construction, and triggering criticism of the government's relief efforts.

Meanwhile, opposition parties were gaining strength. The two largest were the PRD (Partido de la Revolución Democrática) on the left and the PAN (Partido Acción National) on the right. To ensure its candidate, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, would win the 1988 presidential election over the PRD's Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (formerly of the PRI and son of former President Lázaro Cárdenas), the government simply unplugged election computers and declared a system failure.

Under pressure at home and abroad, the government moved to demonstrate a new commitment to democracy and even began to concede electoral defeats for state governorships and legislative seats. Power struggles between factions of reformists and hardliners within the party led to several political assassinations, most notably of the PRI's next candidate, Luis Colosio. After that assassination and the crippling economic crisis of 1994, his successor, Ernesto Zedillo, spent his 6 years in office trying to stabilize the economy and bring transparency to government.

In 2000 he shepherded the first true elections in 70 years of one-party rule. The winner was PAN candidate Vicente Fox, a former businessman who ran on a platform of economic liberalization and anti-corruption. Many Mexicans voted for him to see if the PRI would relinquish power more than for any other reason. It did, but Fox didn't prove to be the master politician that the situation required. His efforts to build a coalition with segments of the PRI failed, and he accomplished little during his last 3 years in office.

The extremely close and bitterly disputed presidential election of 2006 tested Mexico's nascent pluralism. The ruling of the elections tribunal, declaring PAN's Felipe Calderón the winner while denying the PRD's request for a recount, was profoundly unpopular. Losing candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not take defeat gracefully and provoked a constitutional crisis that only time has managed to heal. President Calderón, recognizing the PRD campaign's resonance with the poor, announced programs to boost employment, alleviate poverty, and stabilize the skyrocketing price of tortillas.

His biggest challenge, however, has proved to be the alarming escalation of drug-related violence -- a conflagration widely attributed to his policy of cracking down on traffickers who ferry the contraband through Mexico on its way to the United States. The violence, directed at government and law enforcement officials, is concentrated along the U.S.-Mexico border and several specific areas of northern and central Mexico. It hasn't touched southern Mexico much, and the region's tourist areas are the safest places in Mexico, but the blaring headlines have scared travelers away in droves.

A Tale of Two Hurricanes -- By 1988, when Hurricane Gilbert swept through, Cancún had more than 200,000 residents, with more than 12,000 hotel rooms and 11,000 more on the drawing boards. The storm's destruction barely slowed the explosive growth; existing resorts were promptly remodeled and reopened, followed by dozens of new ones. But the decision to slash hotel rates to lure tourists back, combined with the drinking age of 18, had the unintended effect of making Cancún the spring-break capital of North America. Images of binge-drinking college hordes replaced idyllic scenes of couples and families playing tag with impossibly turquoise waves.

Ironically, another -- and far more destructive -- hurricane was the occasion for turning this image around. On Oct. 18, 2005, Hurricane Wilma parked on top of the region, battering it with 240kmph (150mph) winds. The bridges linking the Hotel Zone with the island collapsed, electricity and water were out for 10 days, and the world's most celebrated beaches were scoured down to rock. Tens of thousands of tourists were stranded in shelters for as much as a week by the most destructive natural disaster in Mexican history, surpassing even the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.

The government, insurance companies, and major resort hotel chains mobilized a massive recovery effort. Restoration of more than 11km (7 miles) of white-powder beach with sand pumped 35km (22 miles) from the ocean bottom grabbed all the attention, but a more important transformation was in the works. Within 3 months, 18,000 of the 22,000 hotel rooms were ready for guests. Crews built new roads, installed better street lamps, planted thousands of palms, and installed modern sculptures. In rebuilding, in some cases from the ground up, resorts took pains to distance themselves from the spring-break crowd, going bigger, better, and more luxurious than ever, with price hikes to match.

A Sticky Habit -- Cigar smoking and gum chewing are two pleasures that we have the Maya to thank for, and, of the two, the latter is the more innocuous. Gum comes from the sap of a species of zapote tree that grows in the Yucatán and Guatemala. Chewing causes it to release natural sugars and a mild, agreeable taste. From the Maya, the habit of chewing gum spread to other cultures and eventually to the non-Indian population. In the second half of the 19th century, a Mexican (said to have been General Santa Anna) introduced gum to the American Thomas Adams, who realized that it could be sweetened further and given other flavors. He brought the idea to the U.S. and marketed chewing gum with great success. Chemists have since figured out how to synthesize the gum, but the sap is still collected in parts of the Yucatán and Guatemala for making natural chewing gum. Chicle is the Spanish word originally from the Nahuatl (Aztec) tzictli, and those who live in the forest and collect the sap are called chicleros. Because the tree takes so long to produce more sap, there is no way to cultivate the tree commercially, so it is still collected in the wild.