The land of County, Liberty, Work and Culture.
Pre-Spanish Arrival 1519 AD
Northern Mexico was mostly inhabited by a diverse mix of Indian groups that were mostly hunter-gathers. The rest of the country contained a a diverse mix of farmers, dispersed sporadicly. When the Spanish arrived in 1519, the Aztec empire had conquered much of Central Mexico. The Aztec empire was based around its centere and capital city, Tenochtitlan, the location on which the modern capital, Mexico City stands. Mexico, known as New Spain, up until it got independence, gets its name from the Aztec War God, Mexitli.
Spanish Conquest
In 1519 Hernando Cortez led 200 Spanish soldiers and large armies of Indians, mostly made up of Enemies of the Aztec Empire, and sacked Tenochtitlan. After being driven out, they returned in 1521 to conquer all of Mexico. They then usurped the Indians land, and Mexico became a province of Spain until 1821.
Mexican Independence
In 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang his church bells beckoning for Indians to retake their land. This led to a war and series of Mexican leaderships until Mexico achieved its independence in 1821. The newly formed Mexican Empire collapsed in 1822, and General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna became Mexico’s leader for more than 30 years.
Juarez Years and Revolution
In 1858 Benito Juarez became president. He separated church and state, absolving the Roman Catholic church of the 50% of Mexico’s land. However, the elite quickly bought this land. Following an economic collapse and French occupation, Porfirio Diaz became dictator of Mexico until 1910. Diaz attempted to modernise the nation, building railways and expanding Mexico’s GDP five-fold. However, by the end of his reign in 1910 around 95% of the country’s peasants were landless.
From 1910 to 1934 there was a series of violent coups and uprisings that led to political unrest and strife until the election of Gen. Lazaro Cardenas in 1934.
Recent Years and Modern Day Mexico
After settling land dispute with the USA in 1963, Mexico has taken greater and morge significant stepts to modernisation. The North American Trade Agreement has made northern Mexico a manufacturing powerhouse. Despite some issues with cartels and poverty in some of its states , Mexico is the number one destination for foreign tourists within the Latin America region and number two destination in the Americas, ranking worldwide in the tenth place in terms of the international tourist arrivals, with more than 22.6 million visitors in 2008.