Mexican History
and Murals
Aztec Society, 1345-1521
• 1345- Aztecs founded city of
Tenochtitlán on Lake Texcoco
• 1502- Moctezuma II come to power
• A city with palaces, bridges, temples,
canals, and a marketplace
• A tribute to the greatness of the
Aztecs & their imperial dominoation.
Spanish Conquest of the
Aztecs, 1521
• Hernán Cortés- Arrived in
Tenochtitlán in 1519 and
conquered the powerful Aztec
empire within 2 yrs.
…con’t
• Cortes was able to conquer the Aztecs
for several reasons:
– He resembled the god-king Quetzalcóatl
– Allied with nations conquered by the Aztecs
– Brought smallpox & other disease from Spain,
which killed thousands of Indians
– Used horses, metal armor, muskets, cannons
– Starved the Aztecs by taking control of the city
• The Aztecs surrendered in August 1521
Creation of the Mestizo, 1500s
• The indigenous population was decimated
by disease & forever changed by forced
racial mixing.
– The mixing of Spanish & Indigenous peoples
created the mestizos.
Spanish Treatment of Indians
1500s-1800s
• Spanish colonists were cruel &
oppressive
• The Catholic Church believed the
indigenous people were heathens
& considered it their God-given
mission to “educate” &
“Christianize” them.
Spanish Build Up Their Colony, Using the Indigenous People ,
1500-1800s
• The Spanish colony was built with indigenous
people’s labor.
• The King of Spain gave large land grants to
Spanish colonists, along with the right to
force labor from the indigenous population
living on the land.
– Indigenous people built churches, roads, buildings &
worked the mines.
• Disease, inhumane conditions, & brutal
working conditions reduced the Indigenous
population from 25 million in 1521, to 1
million by 1700.
Mexican Independence,
1810-1821
• Before their Independence:
– Mexican society was divided according to
skin color & heritage:
• Peninsulares: Spaniards born in Spain; held top
positions in government, church, and military.
• Criollos/Creoles: Pure Spanish blood born in
Mexico; wealthy upper class, owned haciendas,
ranches, & mines.
• Mestizos- Mix of Spanish & indigenous blood;
lived in poverty, worked hard, had few rights.
• Indigenous people (Indians)- pure indigenous
people, lowest class, mistreated by colonists,
and church, had little or no rights.
Mexican Independence
Declared, 1810
– September 16, 1810 Father Miguel
Hidalgo declares Mexican
independence from Spain.
• Father Hidalgo was mainly supported by
the criollos, who were prevented from
governing their country by peninsulares.
The majority reclaim the power
– Feeling like the majorities needs are not
met: The indigenous and Mestizo masses
revolt against Hidalgo.
– Father Hidalgo & other revolutionaries
were killed by 1811 but the indigenous
people & mestizos continued the fight.
– Jose Maria Morelos becomes leader and
pointed out the social inequality. However,
he was killed soon after.
– Agustin Iturbide, a criolle eventually lead
Mexico to gain independence in 1821.
Benito Juárez Leads 1861-1872
• Juárez was a Zapotec from Oaxaca.
• 1861- was elected president of Mexico
after leading the liberals (people who
want to change society) during a
bloody civil war against conservatives
(people who wanted to keep things the
same).
• He supported freedom, the previous
leader’s ideas of freedom of speech
and press, and some government
control over the Church.
France Conquers Mexico, 1862-1867
• Mexico was conquered by French
emperor Louis Napoleon Bonaparte III
and Juarez’s term was interrupted.
• Archduke Maximilian of Austria was
made emperor of Mexico
• Juárez returned to take back Mexico,
Maximilian was executed, & Juárez
was able to continue making Mexico
more democratic and just.
Dictatorship of Porfirio
Diaz/Repression
(1876-1910)
• 1876- Porfirio Diaz overthrows weak
government established after Juarez’s
death.
• Mexico had social & economic
problems, was in debt to foreign
governments.
• Diaz, a dictator, ruled with an iron fist
for 34 years.
– He used rurales, or government forces to
enforce “peace” in the countryside so the
peasants wouldn’t rise up against him.
• Diaz focused on business & industry,
invited foreign investors, built
railroads, improved mining, ports,
farming, manufacturing, and mining.
• His reforms modernized Mexico, but
benefited only a few wealthy people.
• During his time the campesinos, or peasants
lived in virtual slavery. Unlike before, the
campesinos did not own their own land but
were wage earners on other people’s land.
• Life for the poor was worse that before
independence: peasants lost their land, were
illiterate, malnourished, and life expectancy
was 30 years.
The Mexican Revolution
(1910-1920)
• 1910- Unhappy peasants revolted.
– Francisco Madera took charge.
• Was for were for the people because he was the
son of a landowner who was jailed for revolting
against Diaz.
– “Viva la Revolucion!” was heard
everywhere.
• After 6 months of fighting, Diaz
resigned and fled to Europe & Madero
became preFsident.
• Madero soon faced revolts; was
overthrown& killed by his own general
Victoriano Huerta (with the support of
the US).
• Huerta became president; faced
revolts from Emiliano Zapata (in the
south) & Pancho Villa (in the north).
• Venustiano Carranza became president
of Mexico; he turned against Zapata &
Villa, & later had them killed.
• Alvaro Obregon became president in
1920; he brought peace and 70 years
of rule by the PRI (Institutional
Revolutionary Party).
The Legacy of the
Mexican Revolution
• Redistribution of land to peasants
• Constitution of 1917- return of
land, rights factory workers,
protection of democratic
freedoms.
• Zapata & Villa are viewed as
heroes.