Here is a brief history on Mexico.  If you come to an underlined word hold the mouse over the word for the definition or click on the link to go to our glossary.

Ancient Times

The first people to live in Mexico, the Indians, arrived before 8000 BC. These Indians were from unknown tribes that came from the north. They followed large herds of animals until they died out because the climate. By 7000 BC they figured out how to farm the land to survive. These Indians continued to develop their ways of life, and by 1000 BC they were building flat-topped pyramids with temples on them. Places like what is now Mexico City became religious centers where gods that represented nature like rain and the sun were worshipped. The Olmec Indians were so advanced that they developed a calendar and counting system.

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The Classic Period

This is the period where Indian civilizations thrived, between A.D. 250 and 900. They continued to build huge pyramids dedicated to the sun and moon. The Maya Indians built beautiful homes, pyramids and temples from limestone. They even recorded dates, and wrote using picture symbols.

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There were many wars after the Classic Period. The Toltec got more powerful and their ideas spread throughout many of the nearby regions. However, their empire was destroyed around 1200 by invading Chichimec tribes.

The Aztecs were another very powerful group of Indians. Their empire was the last and greatest Indian Empire in Mexico. Their capital, Tenochtitlan was located where Mexico City is today. It was founded in 1325 according to the legends, but scientists now think it might have been later. The Aztecs lost power shortly after the arrival of the Spaniards in 1519, which can be surprising. The Aztecs were known for being fierce warriors, sacrificing thousands of captured war prisoners every year for religious reasons. They were also very rich; they had a lot of gold, silver and other valuable things that they got from conquered cities and tribes. They were also good at making medicines, music and poetry.

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The Spaniards

The Spaniards led by Hernan Cortes in 1519, on a third trip to Mexico, were greeted by the Aztec in a good way. The Aztec Indians who had never seen Europeans, horses or guns before may have made the leader of the Aztec empire, Montezuma II fear them, thinking they were gods. Therefore Montezuma sent them rich gifts, but he also ordered them to leave. Cortes didn’t leave though. Instead, he got together with the many enemies of the Aztecs, the people that feared them, and marched toward the capitol, Tenochtitlan. Montezuma was still scared that he might be a god and allowed them to enter the capital. Montezuma was captured by Cortes, to make sure that his people, the Spaniards would be safe from the thousands of Aztecs. In 1520 the Aztecs had enough, and revolted, killing hundreds of Spaniards- this is known as la noche triste, the sad night. However, Cortes and the other Spaniards were saved by the Aztecs’ Indian empires. Cortes escaped and came back six months later with many more people, surrounding the city, and stopping them from getting food and water. As a result of battles, sicknesses from the Europeans and lack of food and water, Cortes was soon able to take over the Aztec empire.

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Independence

In 1820 there was a revolt in Spain, and the King’s power weakened, which gave Mexicans the perfect chance to revolt. The creoles selected Vicente Guerrero to lead their revolt. He met with the leader of the Spanish army, Iturbide and they came to a peaceful agreement to make Mexico independent. By 1821 all of the Spanish officials were out of Mexico and it was really independent.

There were still many problems after independence was won. The conservative Creoles wanted a monarchy, like in Spain, but the liberals wanted a republic. The majority was made up of conservatives, and they made Iturbide become the Emperor Augustin I in 1822. However he was a bad ruler, and there was another revolt in 1823.