Mexico is the 11th most populous country in the world with 121 million people.
Mexico is among the world's 15 largest economies
and is the second economy in Latin America.
Welcome to our animated show of history.
This episode presents a brief history of Mexico.
The earliest human artifacts in Mexico are chips of stone tools
found near campfire remains in the valley of Mexico,
10,000 years ago.
Mexico is the site of the domestication of maize, tomato, and beans
which produced an agricultural surplus.
This enabled the transition from Paleo-Indian hunter gatherers
to sedentary agricultural villages
beginning around 5,000 B.C.
In the formative era, villages became more dense in terms of population
and developing into chiefdoms.
The earliest complex civilization in Mexico was the Olmec culture
which flourished on the Gulf Coast from around 1500 BC.
Olmec cultural traits diffused through Mexico
into their formative era cultures
in Chiapas, Oaxaca, and the valley of Mexico.
In the subsequent preclassical period
the Maya and Zapotec civilizations
developed complex centers at Calakmul and Monte Albán respectively.
During this period the first true Mesoamerican writing systems
were developed in the EPI-Olmec and the Zapotec cultures.
In Central Mexico, the height of the classic period
saw the ascendancy of Teotihuacán
which formed a military and commercial empire
whose influence stretched South into the Mayan area as well as North.
After the collapse of Teotihuacan in 600 AD,
competition ensued between several important political centers
in central Mexico, such as Xochicalco and Cholula.
During the early post classic period
central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture.
Oaxaca by the Mixtec and the lowland Maya area
had important centers and Chichén Itza and Mayapán.
The Aztecs, the last of pre-Colombian Mexico's great native civilizations
rose to prominence in the central valley of Mexico around 1427
by partnering with the Toltecs and Mayans.
This triple alliance conquered smaller cultures to the east and west
until the Aztec empire spanned Mexico from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf Coast.
The Spanish first learned of Mexico
during the Juan de Grijalva expedition of 1518.
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire began in February 1519
when Hernan Cortés arrived at the port of Veracruz.
After taking control of that city he moved on to the Aztec capital.
In his search for gold and other riches,
Cortés decided to invade and conquer the Aztec empire.
The territory became part of the Spanish empire
under the name of New Spain in 1535.
Much of the identity, traditions and architecture of Mexico
developed during the 286-year colonial period.
Cortés then colonized the area and named it Nueva Espana, New Spain.
By 1574, Spain controlled a large portion of the Aztec empire
and had enslaved most of the indigenous population.
Worse, the diseases brought into the society by the Spaniards
devastated the indigenous population of Nueva Espana,
killing an estimated 24 million people
between 1521 and 1605.
As a result of its trade links with Asia,
the West of the Americas, Africa and Europe
and the profound effect of new world silver,
Central Mexico was one of the first regions
to be incorporated into a globalized economy.
Being at the crossroads of trade, people and cultures,
Mexico City has been called the First World City.
The Catholic church's influence was felt in the region
when missionaries began arriving in 1523.
The missionaries built many monasteries
and converted millions of people to Catholicism.
Concerned about the Catholic church's ever-growing power,
King Carlos III of Spain expelled the Jesuits from Nueva Espana
in the late 1700s.
Inspired by the American and French revolutions,
Mexican insurgence saw an opportunity, in 1808,
as the King abdicated in Madrid in Spain
and was overwhelmed by war and occupation.
The rebellion began as an idealistic peasants and miners' movement
led by a local priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
who issued the Cry of Dolores on the 16th of September 1810.
The day is celebrated as Independence Day.
Mexico's short recovery after the war of independence
was soon cut short again by the civil wars
and institutional instability of the 1850s
which lasted until the government of Porfirio Diaz reestablished conditions
that paved the way for economic growth.
Agustin de Iturbide became constitutional emperor
of the first Mexican Empire in 1822.
A revolt against him established the United Mexican States.
Later a Republican Constitution is drafted
and Guadalupe Victoria became the first president
of the newly- born country.
During this time, people had difficulty meeting tax payments
and resented the central government's actions
in collecting customs due to limited trade.
The United States' annexation of the Republic of Texas
and subsequent American military incursion
into territory that was part of Coahuila
instigated the Mexican-American war.
The war was settled in 1848 via the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Mexico was forced to give up more than one third of its land to the US
including Alta California, New Mexico and the territory claimed by Texas.
In the 1860s, Mexico was occupied by France
which established the second Mexican Empire
under the rule of Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria
with the support of the Roman Catholic clergy
and the Conservatives.
France never made a profit in Mexico
and its Mexican expedition grew increasingly unpopular.
Finally, in the spring of 1865, after the US Civil War was over,
the US demanded the withdraw of French troops from Mexico.
Porfirio Diaz was elected the 29th president in the late 19th century
the period known as the Porfiriato was characterized
by economic stability and growth,
significant foreign investment and influence.
The Mexican Revolution began
when Madero issued the Plan of San Luis Potosi
and declared war on the Diaz regime.
By 1911, Diaz is forced to step aside
and Madero was elected president
but conflict and violence continue for the better part of the next decade.
World War II further stimulated the nation's development
through the development of roads, the building of factories
and the establishment of irrigation systems.
Until the 80s, Mexico remained a poor country
but experienced substantial economic growth
that some historians call The Mexican Miracle.
In recent years, the Mexican economy
has had an unprecedented macroeconomic stability.
Its economy has integrated with that of US and also Canada
after the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Thank you for watching.
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