MESOAMERICA: HISTORY
l325 Aztec founding of Tenochtitlan, their capital (they had entered the Valley of Mexico
some 8O years earlier).
l5l7 Spaniard
Cordoba, sails to Mexico from Cuba base -- history in the Western
sense
begins here.
l5l9 Cortez lands
on Cozumel, claims New Spain. Picks up
Geronimo de Aguilar
(Guerrero stays on
mainland).
Cortez continues around to Veracruz, looking for gold
and new lands to explore
and conquer.
April 2l, Good Friday, l5l9 -- Hernan Cortes
lands on the Gulf coast of Mexico,
names it
Veracruz. Brought 555 men, l6 horses,
several dogs,
small pox, flu, measles.
l52l Tenochtitlán
(and Mexico) falls to Spaniards.
Missionary orders begin
religious conversion of Indians.
Soldiers are sent exploring,
conquering, and consolidating territory
(essentially Mexico and
Guatemala).
l535 The
viceroyalty of New Spain, under Antonio de Mendoza was established,
and this was to be followed during the next 3OO years
by 6O
more
viceroys. The Colonial Period,
following the Conquest, lasting
3OO
years, until l82l,
l82l Independence was finally achieved in l82l, with the establishment
of a short-lived empire (included was Guatemala) under Agustin de Iturbide.
--the empire lasted only 2 years.
l836 - Texas successfully revolts against Mexico (though they lost at the Alamo early in the year),
and in l845, when the U.S. accepted Texas as a state (to keep England from it)
the Mexican War followed.
l838 Yucatan unsuccessfully revolts. - basically a Maya revolt
l846 The Mexican War began in l846. In l847 Z. Taylor defeated Santa Anna near Saltillo.
The next month, on March 7, l847, lO,OOO American troops were landed on the beaches
south of Veracruz, under the command of General Winfield Scott. In Sept. the Marines,
after several battles along the way, made it to the main square in Mexico City.
With
Scott and his men having arrived in Mexico City, Mexico capitulated, and for
l5,OOO,OOO dollars, gave the U.S. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
l857 - A
democratic reform movement led by Benito Juarez (Zapotec heritage),
resulted in the constitution of l857.
The conservatives, happy neither with Juarez’ leadership, nor the new constitution,
sought help
abroad, and with the help French soldiers, were
able to make a Hapsburg,
Maximilian, emperor of Mexico (l864-l867). Juarez opposed the empire, and after its fall
again ruled Mexico, but was unable
to put his reforms into effect.
l876 - Porfirio Diaz (Mixtec heritage)
stages a coup d'etat, continued in
office as president/dictator of Mexico until l9lO.
l9lO - 1917. The Mexican Revolution, led at
first by Francisco I. Madero.
1930's post
revolution land redistribution programs had distributed control of about
half
of Mexico's farmland to some 15,000 villages in the form of inalienable
communal
properties called ejidos (by 1940).
lands.
l. Period of Conquest
- l524-l6OO - violent changes in the Indian cultures.
2. Encomienda Period
- l6OO-l72O - development of encomienda
systems and forced labor through repartimiento.
Indian traits
suppressed or entirely changed. Indian traits replaced by Spanish
3. Relaxation -
l72O-l8OO - Encomiendas are abolished; Indians tried to
revive some aboriginal ways.
4. Readjustment -
l8OO-l88O - Indian and Spanish traits integrated and the
blend evolves further.
5. Renewal of conflict
- l88O-l9lO - New type of economy has evolved
with the
development of large coffee plantations.
communal lands
abolished (l877 in Guatemala - under Rufino Barrios;
l89O-l894
in Mexico, under Diaz).
Ladinos begin to spread out into the
more isolated areas where previously only Indians had
lived.
There is increasing Ladino-Indian conflict.
6. Faster acculturation
- l9lO --- present. Acculturation has
had
faster development.
government intervention, building of roads,
dams, schools,
administrators.
1) Reduction in Indian Population - Smallpox (and to a
lesser degree measles
and some disease that makes the nose bleed) started
decimating the
native population just before Cortez arrived.
2) Language Changes -
Spanish terms adopted for many new items and
concepts. Nahuatl
terms came into Spanish and spread with the Spaniards.
3) Biological and Cultural hybridization - cf. the Mestizaje
chart for colonial definitions.
4) Changes in Settlement Patterns - reducción / concentration /
nucleation
of settlements.
5) Changes in Political Structure - governance of Indian polities no longer
in the hands of Indian leaders (Kings and lords), as
caciques emerged,
Indian "middlemen", buffers between the
Spaniards and the Indians,
whose loyalties were divided.
6) Vegetation Loss to charcoal, sheep, cattle
7) Architectural Changes (primarily in urban areas) - The mediterranean style adapted
to city life ( high walls around a central courtyard w/
rooms around the perimeter).
8) New technologies introduced:
distillation of alcohol
mining and smelting technologies,
sugar cane juice extraction
9) New Plants
- sugar cane, coffee, mangos,
bananas
1O) New Animals - cattle,
sheep, horses, chickens, cats
11) Religious "Conversion" - along with
Adoption of new Indian names (often Saints' names)
Adoption of new names (Saints' names) for their deities.
12) Change in Clothing - sumptuary laws relaxed when the
original
nobility are
replaced.
the common man starts to wear cotton.
Many village "costumes" derive from Monastery
dress.
13) Large scale Mining of metals. gold, silver, mercury, copper, among others
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