Mexican History and Systems of

Empire

Day 1: The Conquest of Mexico

1. I can explain the systems the Spaniards put in place in New Spain and how they impacted Mexico over the long term.

2. I can use OPVL source analysis to critically examine a mural.

Mexico Before ColonizationMaya Aztecs

The Aztecs were known for...

● Largest empire in region● Complex city administration

The Mayas were known for...

● Stone pyramids, palaces, temples

● Developed calendar system

The Geography of Mexico

Exploration1492: Columbus lands in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and sets up a colony focused on making profit.

1517: Spanish Explorers travel to Mexican coasts looking for workers (slaves).

CONQUISTADORES

In 1512, Cortes and his men defeat the Aztec empire with assistance from thousands of native allies (Guns, Germs, & Steel!!)

The Purpose and Goal of the Spanish Empire was to bring riches and wealth back to Spain. Systems needed to be put in place in order for that to happen.

Cultural IntegrationEuropean and African cultures blended with Indigenous cultures to create a distinct, new culture. This led to new forms of musical styles, dances, and cultural and religious practices.

“On August 12, 1521, heroically defended by Cuauhteoc [emperor of the Aztecs], Tlatelolco fell into the hands of Hernan Cortes. It was neither a triumph nor a defeat: it was the

painful creation of the mestizo nation that is Mexico today.”

A Blend of Cultures in New Spain● European and African cultures blended with

Indigenous cultures to create a distinct new culture.● Music, Dance, Food, Language.● Plagues decimated the Indigenous populations from 12

million to 1 million in about 100 years. ● Intermarriage was common.

System #1: La CastaA System of racial identification that created a class structure within Mexico. Your skin color upon birth determined which caste you belonged to. This could not change.

Las CastasPeninsular: (Blancos) European Born Spaniards Living in Mexico.Creole: Mexican-Born Spaniards who were considered white.Mestizos: Mixed blood European-Mexicans.

Indios: Decedents of the Native populations of Mexico.Negros: African Slaves (10%) and their decedents.

Economic Development in New Spain ● The goal of the colonies was to make money

for Spain● Economic development focused on

gathering and exporting raw materials to Spain.○ Gold, Silver, Cocoa, ○ Limited Development of industry.

System of Empire #2: Hacienda

● A Hacienda is a large estate owned by a Spanish Owner. These lands arose with the seizure of Native land by Spanish Conquistadors.

● Goal: Take what was left of Indian lands and put it in the hands of Spanish landowners.

● Indians were paid very small wages to work on the Hacienda – which was always owned by a Spaniard.

The Problem for Indians

1. Spanish landowners bought or stole almost all the land in Mexico (link to today)

2. Indians were rounded up into small areas so they could be “Christianized.” But the real motive was often to take their land.

3. Indians that needed money (wedding, funeral, bad crop, etc.) borrowed from Spanish landowners…but now were in debt for the rest of their lives….Trapped.

The Catholic Church in New Spain● Spaniards aimed to

convert as many people as possible to Christianity.○ Indigenous communities

often accepted Christianity but also blended in some of their traditional beliefs.

○ The Church played a key role in banking, education, and land management. These all advantaged the Spanish settlers.

How does Rivera depict the systems of empire in this mural?

Day 2: The Creation of a Nation

• I can explain the events that led to Mexico gaining its Independence.

• I can define Conservative and Liberal.

• I can use quiz, quiz, trade to identify and sort key terms and ideas.

Conservative• Someone who wants the political, social & economic systems of

their country to either A) remain the way they are OR B) return to how they were at an earlier time.

Liberal

• Someone who wants the political, social & economic systems of their country to change.

Events in Europe• Spain was conquered by France in 1808 and the Spanish

King was arrested.

• Spain created a new constitution that called for popular voting rights and a representative government. They also called for more revenue from New Spain.

• This heightened tensions between the Creoles and Peninsulares.

• Mestizo citizens were struggling and also upset.

El Grito de Dolores• “The Cry of Dolores”: September 16, 1810

• Father Miguel Hidalgo, a creole priest, called for Independence and managed to gain thousands of followers.

• EL Grito de Dolores

Independence• In 1814, the Spanish King returned to power, only to be

forced to sign a new Liberal constitution in 1820 because of a popular uprising.

• In 1821, Conservative Peninsulares and Creoles who feared that they would lose their legal privileges in Mexico, called for independence.

• After a short war against Spain, Mexico gained its independence.

El Plan De Iguala• Mexico signed the Plan de Iguala (The Three Guarantees)

• Religion: Roman Catholic Church as the State Religion

• Social Equality: Creoles get the same rights as Peninsulares

• Independence: Constitutional Monarchy with a European Ruler

After Independence• Many Peninsulares left Mexico.

• Infrastructure was destroyed during the war.

• Mexico lacked roads and bridges and struggled to build any because they could not collect taxes.

• The Presidency was a revolving door of rich landowners who controlled their own armies.

• Instability throughout the country.

• Little impact on the lives of the Mestizos…Still lacked rights and economic opportunities.

The War of North American Intervention

• Antonio Lopez Santa Ana was President of 11 different Governments

• Kept Central Government Weak and Taxes Low

• United States saw opportunity and expanded into Mexico’s Territory North of the Rio Grande (Arizona, Texas, New Mexico)

Loss of Land and Pride

Conservative and Liberal

Antonio Lopez Santa AnaBentio Juarez

Liberals & ConservativesLiberals

• In Mexico in the 19th century (1800s), liberals were mainly educated, middle class professionals like teachers, & lawyers who lived in cities or urban areas.

• Liberals generally wanted to distribute the ownership of land more broadly & to change the political & economic systems of Mexico to give every Mexican more political rights & power rather than the systems being dominated by an elite few.

Conservatives• In Mexico in the 19th century

(1800s), conservatives were mainly wealthy landowners, Creoles, who wanted a political system that would preserve their wealth & privilege.

• Conservatives generally did NOT want to share land in Mexico with mestizo or indigenous Mexicans.

Rise of the Liberals: La Reforma

• La Reforma: A Liberal group who called for the lessening of the power of the Catholic Church and Military Leaders in Mexico.

• Benito Juarez: Mestizo Lawyer who rose to power from nothing.

Juarez as President• Juarez wrote the Constitution of 1857

• Created a government run Education System.

• Limited the Power of the Catholic Church. Forced them to sell much of their land.

• Broke up Tribal Lands into Individually Owned Lands→ Didn’t Work because Rich landowners bought them instead.

• Encouraged foreign investment to build infrastructure.

• Juarez died in 1872 of a heart attack

Diaz’s Rule• Porfirio Diaz rose to power (through a coup) as

President following Juarez’s death and stayed in power for over 30 years. During his rule…

• The Rich continued to buy land…

• 30 families owned half of Mexico by 1900 → More Poverty

• Mexico engaged in foreign trade → More Foreigners…90% of all industry and 25% of land owned by foreigners.

• Oil and Coal were discovered → Controlled by Foreigners

• Pan, o Palo (Bread or Stick): Created a large police force to maintain his rule (stick) and rewarded his supporters with benefits (bread).

Mexican Revolution• A major armed struggle between 1910-1920 that reshaped Mexican

Social, Political, Environmental, Cultural, and Economic landscape.

• Main goal was to end Diaz’s 30 year rule and to solve inequality within society.

• A variety of factions rose up to fight against Diaz’s government.

Zapatistas (Southern Mexico)

● Led by Emiliana Zapata

● Called for land reform and redistribution of Hacienda Land to the peasants.

Villistas (Northern Mexico)

Constitutionalists

● Called for the democracy established by the 1857 constitution

● Supported by the United States

This revolutionary faction’s goal was to solve inequality within society .

A. ConstitutionalistsB. ZapatistasC. VillistasD. All of the above

The Mexican Revolution• 1912-1914: The various rebel armies fought battles all around Mexico against

the national Army.

• Leaders such as Zapata and Villa rose to international fame.

• 1914: The Constitutionalists (with help from the U.S.) took power of the presidency.

• Arranged a meeting between the three factions to bring peace to Mexico.

• The meeting broke into violence between the major armies and led to a continued struggle.

A Continuing Struggle• Villa & Zapata made an alliance to overthrow the

Constitutional Government and fighting increased.

• Villa: “Those are men who have always slept on soft pillows. How could they ever be friends of the people who have spent their whole lives in nothing but suffering?”

• The Villa-Zapata army was crushed after attempting to occupy Mexico City and the Constitutionalist took control of the country.

The Constitution of 1917• The Constitutionalist Government crafted the 1917

Constitution.

• The Constitution Increased the role of the Mexican Government in the lives of Mexicans with policies such as…

• Redistributed land to rural farmers

• Allowed for the creation of Labor Unions

• Took control of oil and mineral deposits

• Created a separation of Church & State

Results of the Mexican Revolution

• While not all accepted the Constitution, it did mark the end of the Revolution.

• Diaz’s Government ended

• The Hacienda System Ended

• Kicked out Foreign Investors and the Mexican Government took control of the Oil Business.

• Increased Nationalism among Mexicans.

• Eventual Rise of the PRI (Held power from 1930’s to 1990’s).

• Between 1.5-2 Million Mexicans died during these conflicts and much of the Mexican infrastructure was destroyed.

Quiz, Quiz, Trade

1. After receiving a slip of paper, create one question based off the information we have learned so far on one side of the paper.

2. On the other side, write the answer to the question.3. Stand Up/Hand Up/Pair Up4. Partner A holds up the slip of paper to show Partner B the question.

Partner B answers. Partner A praises or coaches if incorrect. Partners switch roles, and Partner B asks Partner A the next question.

5. After thanking each other and trading cards, Partner A and Partner B raise their hands to find a new partner and repeat the process until the timer sounds.

Example Card - Level 1

FRONT

Who is Benito Juarez?

BACK

A liberal Mestizo lawyer who rose to power from nothing. He led the liberal government and battled against the conservative government for control of the country. He wrote the Constitution of 1857.

Example Card - Level 2

FRONT

Why did the Constitution of 1857 hurt indigenous land owners?

BACK

They were forced to sell ejidos (traditional communal land). As a result 6 million indigenous Mexicans were forced off their land and wealthy landowners ended up buying their land instead.

Revolutionary Corridos• Hidalgo: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Miguel-Hidalgo-y-Costilla

• Santa Ana: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antonio-Lopez-de-Santa-Anna

• Juarez: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benito-Juarez

• Diaz: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Porfirio-Diaz

• Zapata: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emiliano-Zapata

• Villa: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pancho-Villa-Mexican-revolutionary

• Obergon: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alvaro-Obregon

Lecture 3: The Economics

of MexicoEssential Question: How did

Mexico's economy modernize and who/what are the winners and

losers from this process?

Key Terms● Import: Bringing goods or services in from other countries for

purchase.● Export: Sending goods or services to other countries for sale.

SubsidiesSubsidy: money that is paid usually by a government to keep the price of a product or service low or to help a business or organization to continue to function.

Nationalization & Privatization• Nationalization: the process

of transforming private assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state

Privatization: the process of transferring an enterprise or industry from the public sector to the private sector. The public sector is the part of the economic system that is run by government agencies.

Mexico’s Economy Following the Revolution

• Mexico remained dependent on trade with the U.S. to support its economy. This became a problem when the Great Depression hit.

• To combat this, the Mexican Government created a program called the Import Substitution Industry (IPI).

Import Substitution Industry

● This program was designed to create factories in Mexico that would increase domestic production and limit the need to trade with outside nations.

● ISI created a trade surplus and helped the Mexican economy.

Mexico Nationalizes Business• During the 1930’s Mexico was the 3rd largest oil producer in the

world.

• In 1938, workers went on strike against British & U.S. owned oil companies to raise wages.

• The foreign companies refused, so the Mexican Government seized control of the companies and their land and took control of them.

• This process is called nationalizing resources.

• This move was widely popular in Mexico.

Mexico During WWII• When war broke out in

Europe, Mexico became a perfect place to buy goods from because they were not impacted by the conflict.

• An economic boom led to a rise in population (from 20 million to 70 million) and the rise of cities.

• Mexico’s ISI policy and natural resources were largely to thank for this growth.

Impacts of Mexico’s Rise• The cities in Mexico were not

able to support the increase of people living in them and there grew a rising lower class.

• A middle class developed who became conservative in their economic decision making because they wanted to keep what they had gained during the Economic Boom.

Mexico’s Foreign Debt• Mexico’s agriculture struggled

to feed its growing population in the 1960s & 1970’s. As a result, they were forced to import food from the U.S. to feed its population.

• Even though it made huge amounts of money from oil, the Government’s debt quickly rose during this period and threatened the stability of the Mexican economy.

Mexico Privatizes • A global recession in the 1980’s hurt Mexico’s profits

from exporting oil.

• The Mexican Government was forced to cut social services that helped the urban poor survive.

• In order to try to save the economy, the Government decided to sell the nationally owned companies and limited government influence in the economy.

NAFTA

• In 1992, Mexico, the United States, & Canada signed a trade agreement known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

• NAFTA lowered taxes on imports and exports so that imports from Canada and the US were cheap for Mexicans and exports from Mexico were cheaper for Canadians and Americans.

The Benefits of NAFTA

• Mexico exports more than it imports.

• Industries such as steel and glass manufacturing has made billions for Mexico.

• Foreign companies invested in Mexican infrastructure and factories.

The Negative Effects of NAFTA1. Huge factories called Maquiladoras were created by foreign

companies in Northern Mexico.

a. American companies moved factories to Mexico to take advantage of only having to pay a fraction of the price of wages to Mexican workers ($2.50/hour vs. $20/hour).

b. Large amounts of pollution.

2. Cheap agriculture products like corn from the U.S. have crippled Mexican agriculture.

3. Inequality has risen with the wealthy becoming richer and the poor remaining poor.