Before the Europeans came, many Native American cultures existed in Mexico. The earliest was theOlmec culture in the south. The Olmecs are famous for the large stone heads they made. On theYucatán Peninsula lived theMayans. The Mayans lived incity states ruled by kings. The Mayans were most powerful between200 and900 A.D. Another powerful empire belonged toTeotihuacan. Teotihuacan was a very large city, one of the largest at that time. After Teotihuacan declined theToltecs became powerful. Things made by the Toltecs have been found from the southern parts of the U.S. all the way toCosta Rica. A famous Toltec god isQuetzalcoatl. The Toltec culture declined too, and it was succeeded by theAztecs. The Aztecs called their ownempire Mexico. A famous Aztec king wasMoctezuma II.
In1519 theSpanishexplorerHernán Cortés came to Mexico. The Aztecs thought he was the returned Quetzalcoatl, so they did not want to fight against him. Cortes allied himself with the enemies of the Aztecs. In1521 they conquered the Aztec capitalTenochtitlan. The Aztec Empire became part of Spain. It was calledNew Spain.
In1810 the Mexican priestMiguel Hidalgo started theMexican war of independence. In1821 the Spanish finally retreated and Mexico became independent. The first leader of independent Mexico wasAgustin de Iturbide. He set up theFirst Mexican Empire and became emperor. But theMexicans were not happy with him, and in1823 the country became arepublic.
A man who was very important in Mexico in the early19th century wasAntonio López de Santa Anna. He was the president of Mexico 11 times. When he became adictator,Texas declared independence (1836). TheBattle of the Alamo was part of thisTexas Revolution. Between 1846 and 1848 there waswar between Mexico and the United States. In this war Mexico lost its large northern areas, which became thesouthwestern United States. After this war Santa Anna wassent away toVenezuela.
Between1858 and1861 there was war again, betweenliberals andconservatives. The liberalBenito Juárez won the war and became president afterwards. Juarez stayed president untilFrance invaded Mexico and madeMaximilian of Habsburg emperor of the Second Mexican Empire. But Maximilian was very unpopular. Aftermore war he wasexecuted in1867, and Juarez became president again.
Conservatives thought Juarez had too much power. In1876 they ousted him, and madePorfirio Díaz, a general who had won a battle against the French, president. Porfirio Díaz made the country wealthier, but the poor people became poorer. Franciso I. Madero started theMexican Revolution in1910.
The next 10 years the country was in chaos. There were many presidents who ruled for a short time and all kinds of people fought against each other. Famous people from this period areEmiliano Zapata,Pancho Villa andFrancisco I. Madero. WhenÁlvaro Obregón became president in1920 the fighting calmed down.
In1929 PresidentPlutarco Elías Calles founded the National Mexican Party, PNM. The party was later renamedInstitutional Revolutionary Party, PRI. The party would rule for a very long time. Most PRI presidents were not popular, it was said that they were only president to become richer themselves. An exception was presidentLázaro Cárdenas. He was president between1934 and1940.
After several decades more and more people became unhappy with the PRI. In 1968 security forces shot at protesters, this caused several hundred deaths and became known as theTlatelolco massacre. Another uprising was in1994 whenZapatistas rebelled in the provinceChiapas.
Mainly through electionfraud, the PRI managed to stay into power until2000, whenVicente Fox of the National Action Party, PAN, was elected president. In total the PRI had governed Mexico for 71 years.
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