MÉXICO

FLAG DESCRIPTION: The Mexican flag is a vertical “tricolor;” the green band is on the “hoist side; the national coat of arms is in the white middle band: an eagle with a serpent/snake in its beak is sitting on a prickly pear cactus; with some minor changes over time, this has been the Mexican national flag since independence in 1821; this design has existed as is since 1968; Mexican national law does not assign specific symbolic meaning to the colors.
NAME: Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (The United Status of México)

POPULATION: 120,400,000 (11th largest in world; 5% European, 5% Native America, 1% Black, 89% Mestizo); population growth rate: 1.9%/yr; 75% in urban areas

CAPITAL: México, Distrito Federal (20,500,000 in 2014; largest in world)

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Spanish; in addition, there are 40 native language groups

MAJOR MEXICAN AMERINDIANS:

Nahua (1,800,000)

Maya (800,000)

Zapoteca (450,000)

Mixteco (380,000)

PATRON SAINT: La Virgen de Guadalupe (Dec. 12, 1531; Juan Diego; Tepeyac visions)

CITIES: México 25,000,000; Guadalajara 8,300,000; Monterrey 4,300,000; Tijuana 2,600,000; Ciudad Juárez 1,900,000; Mexicali 1,900,000

FOREIGN DEBT: $110,000,000,000 (1990; second largest in world to Brazil)

MONEY: Peso (10.8 = 1 $US)

INDUSTRIES: Chemicals, petroleum, agriculture, mining, artisanry; 68% imports from USA.

HISTORY:

3000 BCE-400 CE Pre-Classical Mayan civilization
352 Mayan calendar
352-900 Classical Mayan civilization

People of Cuicuilco, south side of Mexico City, leave Cuicuilco after volcanic eruption destroys their settlement and all but pyramid to god of fire and go found Teotihuacán.

Teotihuacán civilization with pyramids of sun and moon and multi-etnic population of 200,000.

900-1200 Maya-Toltec civilization

968 Topiltzin-Quetzalcóatl (light-skinned, bearded demi-god-priest-king) arrived at Tula; Topiltzin was born (possibly) in Tepotzlán, near Cuernavaca.

1000 Quetzalcóatl exiled from Tula and Kulkukán (Mayan version of Quetzalcóatl) arrives at Chichén Itzá.

ca. 1025 Kulkulkán exiled from Chichén Itzá, leaves on boat to east, and vows to return.

1069 Aztecs start pilgrimage from mythical island of white herons in Aztlán near seven caves toward island in lake with eagle on nopal with dead serpent in its mouth.

1098 Toltecs conquer Chichén-Itzá.

1168 Tula falls to Chichimecas; Aztecs arrive nearby.

1325-1521 Aztec civilization at Tenochtitlán on Lake Texcoco.

1400 Chichén-Itzá abandoned; Maya-Toltecs move to fortified city of Mayapán; no further Mayan development; stagnation of Mayan civilization.

1428 Moctezuma Ilhuicamina (Moctezuma I) defeats Tepenacas at Azcapotzalco (current Mexico City industrial area).

1428-1521 Aztec empire and hegemony in much of Mesoamerica.

1492-1580 Bernal Díaz del Castillo, conquistador.

1507-1521 Moctezuma II, Aztec emperor (tlatoani)

1517 First official Spanish landing on Yucatán (Maya defeat and repulse the Spanish conquistadors).

1518 Second official Spanish expedition to México; this time to Cozumel and the coast near Veracruz.

1519-1521 Aztecs conquered by Hernán Cortés

1519: (a) Hernán Cortés lands at San Juan de Ulúa (near Veracruz) with conquistadors from Cuba; (b) Cortés founds Veracruz; (c) he sends treasure ship to king Carlos I (V) of Spain and asks for separate colony; (d) marches from coast to Valley of Mexico; (e) defeats Tlaxcalans; (f) defeats Cholula with infamous (“exemplary”) Massacre of Cholula; (g) enters Tenochtitlán; (h) arrests Moctezuma.

1520: (a) Pánfilo de Narváez lands at Veracruz in order to arrest Cortés; (b) Cortés leaves garrison of conquistadors in Tenochtitlán and marches to Veracruz where he defeats Narváez; (c) Pedro de Alvarado massacres thousands of Aztec nobles during May festival of Tóxcatl in Tenochtitlán; (d) Cortés with his men and Narváez’ men return to Tenochtitlán; (e) Spaniards trapped in Palace of Axayácatl and Cuitláhuac replaces Moctezuma as Aztec tlatoani; (f) Moctezuma killed by Aztec stones; (g) La Noche Triste (June 30)—Spaniards flee from Tenochtitlán to Tlaxcalan allies, lose treasure, hundreds of Spaniards killed; (h) Smallpox decimates Aztecs in Valley of Mexico; (i) Cortés plans reconquest of Tenochtitlán.

1521: (a) Cuauhtémoc becomes Aztec tlatoani; (b) May-August, Battle for Tenochtitlán (Sandoval, Alvarado, Olid are generals; aqueduct from Chapultepec to island destroyed; Battle of Tlatelolco; Cuauhtémoc captured; Aztecs surrender on August 13).

1522 Cuernavaca (city south of Mexico City) conquered from Aztecs and Spanish colonial city founded by Hernán Cortés.

1535-1551 First viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza

Mendoza founded monasteries

Mendoza founded Universidad de México

Mendoza brought printing press to México

1540 Mayas conquered by Francisco de Montejo in Yucatán.

1565 Bernal Díaz del Castillo writes: Verdadera historia de la conquista de Nueva España.

1568-1627 Bernardo de Balbuena, writer.

1604 Balbuena publishes epic poem about México: La grandeza mexicana.

1648-95 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (poet and nun).

1765-1815 José María Morelos y Pavón (born Morelia), priest and independence hero.

1810 (Sept. 16) Fr. Miguel Hidalgo y Costillas declares independence in the Grito de Dolores.

1810-1811 Hidalgo heroically leads the war of independence before being captured and executed by royalist forces.

1810-1815 José María Morelos heroically leads the war of independence before being captured, defrocked, and executed by royalist forces under Iturbide.

1810-1816 Agustín de Iturbide fights brilliantly against independence forces.

1821 Plan de Iguala (religion, independence, union) rejected by viceroy O’Donojú; Iturbide declared outlaw.

(Aug. 24) Iturbide’s forces capture Mexico City; viceroy accepts Plan de Iguala; Spain capitulates; and México is independent of Spain.

1821-1823 Agustín Iturbide rules as emperor Agustín I of México.

1823 Revolución de Casamata by gen. Santa Anna against Iturbide.

1823-1856 Gen. Santa Anna is elected dictatorial President 11 times.

1824 Iburbide shot as traitor by Santa Anna.

1853 Gen. Santa Anna elected President 11th time.

1854 Liberals publish Plan de Ayutla and form revolutionary junta and begin anti-Santa Anna revolution.

1855 Benito Juárez and liberals declare Ley Juárez, which separates Church and State, forbids claustered religious orders, and eliminates military fueros.

1856-1858 Comonfort is President of the Republic.

1858 Benito Juárez becomes President after Comonfort is deposed by liberals.

1858-1861 Civil War between liberals in favor of Benito Juárez and conservatives (monarchists and clerics); severe economic collapse in México

1861 Benito Juárez declares that México will not pay foreign debt for 2 years. France, England, and Spain form Triple Alliance against Juárez and México; Juárez negotiates England and Spain to withdraw.

1862 (January) France invades and seizes México City; Juárez’ government flees to San Luis Potosí.

1862-1867 Mexico ruled by Maximiliano and Carlota, while Juárez and liberals fight war against French-Austrian invaders.

1863 (May 5) President Benito Juárez’ forces defeat Maximiliano’s French and Austrian troops at Puebla; French-Austrian forces recapture Puebla.

1867 (May 15) Juárez’ forces defeat Maximiliano’s forces at Querétaro.

(June 19) Maximiliano executed.

1871 Benito Juárez reelected President; coup attempted against Juárez by forces favoring Porfirio Díaz (liberal); civil war starts.

1871-1872 Civil War

1872 Civil War ends when Benito Juárez dies.

1873-1952 Mariano Azuela: major novelist (Los de abajo)

1876-1910 Porfirio Díaz dictatorship of absolute President called the Porfiriato; Porfirio Díaz serves as absolutist President 1876-1880 and 1884-1910.

1886-1957 Diego Rivera.

1907-1954 Frida Kahlo.

1910-1920 LA REVOLUCION MEXICANA

Mexican Revolution led or contended by:

Francisco I. Madero (1873-1913)

Victoriano Huerta (1845-1916)

Emiliano Zapata (1883-1919)

Venustiano Carranza (1859-1920)

Francisco Villa (1876-1923)

Alvaro Obregón (1880-1928)

1910 Francisco I Madero declares opposition to fraudulent election of Porfirio Díaz in Plan de San Luis, thus beginning Mexican Revolution.

(May 31) Porfirio Díaz flees to France with his family.

1910-1913 Francisco I. Madero: President of Republic.

1910-1912 Huerta commands Madero’s federal forces in order to fight against Villa and Zapata.

1911 Carranza allies with Madero.

1913 Huerta concludes conspiracy with golpe de estado against Madero

(Feb. 12) Madero is executed under Huerta’s orders.

Carranza fights against Huerta as leader of the Ejército Constitucionalista (federal, constitutional army); Carranza is leader of revolutionary government in Chihuahua.

1914 USA declares boycott of México and American marines land in Veracruz; USA breaks off diplomatic relations.

Obregón commands revolutionary División del Noroeste vs. Huerta.

Villa commands revolutionary División del Norte under Carranza’s revolutionary government vs. Huerta’s federal troops.

Zapata commands División del Sur against Huerta’s federal troops.

(Aug) Carranza enters Mexico City; Carranza named Poder Ejecutivo de la Unión, not president; Carranza seeks reconciliation with Villa and Zapata, but these two reject peace without social revolution.

Huerta flees México; arrested in New México; dies in Fort Bliss prison of cyrhosis of liver (1916).

(Nov.) Carranza’s federal government moves to Veracruz.

1914-1998 Octavio Paz (major poet and modern intellectual)

1915 Carranza promulgates very liberal laws.

Obregón sides with Carranza.

Military victory by Carranza’s army; government returns to México City.

1916 Carranza calls Constitutional Congress.

1917 Mexican Constitution adopted.

1917-1920 Carranza elected and serves as President.

Carranza and Obregón turn fight against Zapatistas under Gen. Pablo González.

1918-1919 Zapata’s forces suffer severe defeats; Zapata flees to mountains near Cuernavaca.

1919 Emiliano Zapata assassinated in Chinameca, Veracruz, by a traitorous spy among his troops.

1920 The leadership and military of the State of Sonora reject the constitution and Carranza’s candidacy for President in 1920 elections; many generals rise to oppose Carranza.

(April) Carranza escapes on horseback toward Puebla; he’s assassinated by soldiers who are guarding him.

1920 End of Mexican Revolution

Adolfo de la Huerta interim President.

(December) Obregón elected President.

1920-1924 Obregón reconstitutes México.

1923 Manifesto of Mexican Artists.

Creation of Secretaría de Educación Pública under José Vasconcelos (La raza cósmica).

José Vasconcelos (major intellectual) commissions Diego Rivera and others to recreate Mexican muralist art.

Many generals and other segments of society rebel against Obregón.

1924-1928 Plutarco Elías Calles (1877-1945) is President.

1926-1929 Cristero revolt (cry of “Viva Cristo Rey”/Long Live Christ the King). President Calles forced through anti-Catholic legislation that expropriated Church lands (except for the churches themselves), forbade men and women clerics to wear religious clothing in public, etc. Many Catholics engaged in armed rebellion against the government.

1928-2012 Carlos Fuentes (major Mexican and international writer, public intellectual, essayiswt, screenwriter, short story writer, novelist; of La generación del «Boom»)

1928 President-elect Obregón assassinated; replaced by former President Calles; Calles forms National Revolutionary Party (1929; later changed to PRI: Partido Revolucionario Institucional); Calles is strong man behind Presidents from 1928-1938.

1938-1944 President Lázaro Cárdenas (PRI).

1938 Cárdenas nationalized many industries in Mexico including the oil industry (Pemex: Petróleos Mexicanos).

1940-present Carlos Slim Helú: Mexican businessman and philanthropist. He has major interests in^. telecommunications companies Telmex and América Móvil. In 2011 he is known to be the richest man in the world (US $74 billion).

1957-present Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (“El Chapo” / “Shorty”) runs the Sinaloa (drug) Cartel. According to Patrick Radden Keefe (“Cocaine: How the world’s most powerful drug traffickers run their business,” New York Times, June 17, 2012), El Chapo runs the Sinaloa Cartel like the CEO of a major international corporation. According to the United State Department of the Treasury he is “the most powerful drug trafficker in the world.” According to Forbes Magazine, he is the 10^th richest person in Mexico.

1968 400 people killed in La Plaza de Tlatelolco; Olympic Games held in Mexico City.

1968 Beginning of Generation of 68 (Elena Poniatowska, prose writer).

1970-1976 Luis Echeverría, president (PRI).

1976-1982 José López Portillo, president (PRI).

1982 Banks nationalized.

1982-1988 Miguel de la Madrid, president (PRI).

1987-2009 Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara (FIL; Guadalajara International Book Fair): it is sponsored by the Universidad de Guadalajara and it has been held annually for nine days starting the last Saturday of November. It is the second largest book fair in the world. In 2008 it attracted 600,000 visitors.

1988 (July 2) Carlos Salinas de Gortari (PRI) elected president (49%) against Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (leftist coalition, 29%) and Manuel Clouthier (PAN, 21 %).

(October 22) Cárdenas forms new leftist party: Partido Revolucionario Democrático.

1988-1994 Carlos Salinas de Gortari, president of México.

1992 Cal Poly México Study Program created in Cuernavaca

1993 Cal Poly México Study Program studies in Cuernavaca

1994 Luis Donaldo Colosio, PRI presidential candidate assassinated.

NAFTA (El Tratado de Libre Comercio).

Cal Poly México Study Program studies in Cuernavaca

1994 Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (PRI, born 1951) won presidential election.

1994-2000 Zedillo, president of México.

1995 Cal Poly México Study Program studies in Cuernavaca

1996 Cal Poly México Study Program studies in Cuernavaca

1997 (July 6) National elections in which PRI loses majority control of Congreso de Diputados and loses the mayor (regente) of México City (D.F.) to PRD and Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas.

Cal Poly México Study Program studies in Cuernavaca.

1998 Cal Poly México Study Program studies in Cuernavaca.

2000-2006 Vicente Fox elected President of México: political party PAN

2006-2012 Felipe de Jesus Calderón Hinojosa elected president: political party PAN

2008 The FIL (see 1987 above) honored Carlos Fuentes (see: 1928 above):

2012 Enrique Peña Nieto (b. 1966; governor of State of México 2005-2011) elected president (PRI party returns to presidency after 12 years out of power).

2016 El Chapo (“Shorty”) Guzmán (Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, b. either 1954 or 1957), the richest and most powerful drug lord and head of the Sinaloa (México) Cartel, was captured on January 8, 2016, by the Special Forces of the Mexican Marine Corps, the Mexican Army, and the Mexican Federal Police at El Chapo’s home in Los Mochis, which is on the Pacific Coast. Apparently, the American actor Sean Penn, was helpful in locating this notorious criminal because El Chapo was exploring major people in the film industry who could create a film about El Chapo, who is a folk hero akin to Billy the Kid among local people in the western mountains of México.

GOVERNMENT: Constitutional Republic, representative democracy under one party rule and “presidentialist” system (until July 6, 1997 when multi-party rule started creating a new democratic alignment in México; PAN leader first elected President in 2000).

PRESIDENT: Calderón (2006-2012; PAN)

ARMED FORCES:

Military: 175,000 (30th in world)

National Police: 30,000

PRINCIPAL PARTIES:

Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI)

Partido de Acción Nacional (PAN): founded 1939, conservative, Catholic, lead by Vicente Fox

Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD), lead by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas

MAJOR MEMBERS OF INTELLIGENTSIA IN HISTORY:

POETRY: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695), Primero sueño

Amado Nervo

Octavio Paz

NOVEL: Fernández y Lizardi, El periquillo sarniento (1816)

Mariano Azuela, Los de abajo (1925)

Agustín Yáñez (1904-1980): Al filo del agua (1947)

José Rubén Romero (1890-1952): La vida inútil de Pito Pérez (1938)

Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo (1955)

Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012), La muerte de Artemio Cruz (1962),

Terra Nostra (1975),

Cristóbal nonato (1987)

El gringo viejo (1988)

El gringo viejo (film by Luis Puenzo, Argentina (1989; Prod. & Acted by Jane Fonda with Gregory Peck and Jimmy Smits)

La silla del águila (2007)

Vlad (2010)

Laura Esquivel (b. 1950), Como agua para chocolate (1993)

Jorge Volpi (1968 -), En busca de Klingsor (2008), No será la tierra (2006); Leer la mente (essay, 2011)

ESSAY/PHILOSOPHY: José Vasconcelos, La raza cósmica (1925)

Alfonso Reyes

Octavio Paz, El laberinto de la soledad (1952)

PAINTING: Diego Rivera (1890-1962)

José Orozco

David Alfaro Siqueiros

Frida Kahlo

Rufino Tamayo (1899-present)

MUSIC (Classical): Carlos Chávez

MUSIC (Popular): Lucha Villa, Jorge Negrete

CINEMA: Luis Buñuel (1902-1986; from Spain; exiled in Mexico): Los olvidados (1950), and many more films.

Emilio Fernández Romo (1904-1986): María Candelaria (1944), and many more films.

Dolores del Río (actress; María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete; 1905-1983): Journey into Fear (1942 by Orson Welles) and many more films.

Jorge Negrete (actor; Jorge Alberto Negrete Moreno; 1911-1953): El Rapto; The Kidnapping) (1953), and many more films.

Cantinflas (comedian and actor; Fortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes; 1911-1993): Un Quijote sin mancha (1969) and many more films.

María Félix (actress; 1914-2002): Doña Bárbara (1943).

Pedro Infante (actor; José Pedro Infante Cruz; 1917-1957): También De Dolor Se Canta (Singing Also From Pain); 1950) and many more films.

Alfonso Cuarón Orozco (b. 1961): Children of Men (2006).

Alejandro González Iñárritu (b. 1963): Amores Perros (2000); 21 Grams (2003); Babel (2006; nominated for two Academy Awards); Biutiful (2010)

Guillermo del Toro (b. 1964): Hellboy (2004); El laberinto del fauno (2006; Pan’s Labyrinth in mistranslated English title); The Hobbit (2011).

THEATER:

Vicente Leñero, Nadie sabe nada (1988)

Rodolfo Usigli (1905-1979): El gesticulador (1937)

Javier Villaurrutia (1903-1950): Parece mentira (1933)

Cuernavaca

State: Morelos

• Second smallest “estado” in México

• Agriculture: maize, wheat, fruits, bees, flowers

• Name: José Mª Morelos y Pavón (1810-1811: revolucionary colleague of Hidalgo; 1811: Morelos became leader of government; 1815 executed by Spanish)

• State Capital: Cuernavaca

• Tepotzlán: mountain village with Tepozteco pyramid and Convento Dominico de la Natividad

• History

* 1200 BC: Olmeca

* 700 AD: Xochicalco (Mayan ? pyramid)

* 1521: conquered by conquistadores

* birthplace of Emiliano Zapata (San Miguel anenecuilco, 1883-1919)

Nickname: “City of Eternal Spring”

Rainy days averages: in May: 6; in June: 11; in July: 12
Temperature averages (low/high) in Centigrade: May, 14/27; June, 14/26; July, 13/25

Early pre-Columbian ethnic group: Tlahuica

Dominant indigenous native ethnicity now: Aztec/Náhuatl

Pre-Columbian city: Tlahuica tribe’s name: Guahnahuac (Place at Edge of Forest)

1521: Cortés burned city to ground and renamed it Cuernavaca

Cortés razed Cuernavaca pyramid to build his fortress

18th century: José de la Borda built his mansion in Cuernavaca

Cuernavaca: site of Malcolm Lowry’s novel, Under the Volcano

Population of metropolitan region: 1,000,000

San Antonio falls (120-foot drop; 1 mile from Cuernavaca)

Volcano to east: Popocatépetl (Popo; active; “smoking mountain”; 5,452 m.)

Major attractions:

• La Selva Park: food for homeless

• Palacio Municipal (1883)

• Jardín Borda: José de la Borda’s 18th century mansion; Maximiliano and Carlota lived in it in 1866

• Catedral de la Asunción (1526; Franciscan fortress-church)

• Museo Casa Robert Brady (Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo, etc.)

• Museo de Cuahnahuac/Palacio de Cortés (1522; Diego Rivera mural)

• Ruins of pyramid on SE end of Plaza de Armas

• Jardín Juárez (kiosko designed by Georges Eiffel)

• Museo de la Herbolaría/La Casa del Olvido (Maximiliano’s house and museum of Indian folk medicine)

• Teopanzolco Archeological Site (Tlahuica pyramid, then Aztec pyramid)