Cinco De Mayo: Mexican History

M EXICO CULTURE NAME On a smaller scale the Mexican nation has tradi- Mexican tionally been characterized by strong provincial and local cultural identities. People identify closely with their own state; stereotypes about people from ALTERNATIVE NAMES other places abound. Strong regional and local identities have given rise to the idea that there exist Cultura mexicana (sometimes referred to as mexi- ‘‘many Mexicos.’’ Nevertheless, even though Mexi- canidad) can culture is diverse, there is also a strong identification with the nation-state; nationalism is vigor- ous. ORIENTATION Identification. The word ‘‘Mexico’’ is derived Location and Geography. Mexico is situated in from Mexica (pronounced ‘‘Me-shee-ka’’), the North America, although culturally, it is identified name for the indigenous group that settled in cen- more closely with Central and South American tral Mexico in the early fourteenth century and is countries. It borders the United States in the north, best known as the Aztecs. Guatemala and Belize in the south, the Pacific Ocean Mexicans make several cultural subdivisions in the west, and the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The within the nation. The most common one identifies national territory measures more than 750,000 northern, central, and south or south-eastern Mex- square miles (nearly two million square kilometers) ico. The extensive and desertlike north was only and contains a wide range of physical environments sparsely populated until the middle of the twentieth and natural resources. Two huge mountain chains—the Western Sierra Madre and the Eastern century, except for some important cities such as Sierra Madre—run from north to south and meet in Monterrey. It has traditionally housed only small central Mexico. East and west of the mountain indigenous populations and is generally regarded as chains are strips of humid coastal plains. The a frontier culture. Densely populated central and entirely flat Yucatań peninsula in the southeast is western Mexico is the cradle of the nation. Highly an exception in mountainous Mexico. The possibili- developed Indian cultures populated this region in ties and limitations of this topographic and climatic pre-Columbian times and it was also the heart of system have had a strong influence on Mexico’s the colony of New Spain. Many prominent colonial social, economic, and cultural organization. cities are major urban and industrial centers today. Southern Mexico has a tropical or subtropical The national capital is Mexico City, situated in climate and some rain forest. It is characterized by a the heart of central Mexico. In pre-Columbian times strong indigenous heritage and is also the poorest it was the site of the capital of the Aztec Empire and part of the country. during the three centuries of colonial rule it was the seat of the viceroys of New Spain. Mexico City Another relevant cultural division is that be- today is the second largest city in the world with 17 tween the central template highlands (the altiplano) million inhabitants as of 1995. Most administrative and the much more humid mountainous regions and economic activities are concentrated in Mexico (the sierras) and coastal plains. In many parts of City. A ring of cities—Puebla, Cuernavaca, Toluca, Mexico this division parallels the relative presence of and Quere´taro—surrounds the capital. Other major indigenous populations, with the sierra regions be- cities are Guadalajara in the west and the industrial ing the most indigenous. city of Monterrey in the north. In the late twentieth 1447 MEXICO MEXICO UNITED STATES Tijuana 0 250 500 Miles Mexicali Tuscon 0 250 500 Kilometers Puerto Peñasco Ciudad Juárez G Nogales B u A l J f A o C Isla d s R San Antonio N A o i Cedros e h S ( o L Chihuahua c R n I ío G I o F i E r Eugenia u C B a O C S R n W E q r d Punta R a a I a R v e N l Y E o i R A ) I f Navojoa A o R Hidalgo r A del Parral S n M i Los M Loreto a A Mochis A D D Torreón R R Matamoros Culiacán E E Monterrey O O Gulf of Mexico La Paz C Concepción C del Oro R I ID E Freznillo N Cabo Falso San Lucas E Mazatlán N T T A Ciudad Madero Cancún A L L Tampico Mérida PACIFIC Islas Marías. San Luis Chichén Irapuato Potosí Bahía de Itzá Poza Rica Campeche Isla de de Hidalgo Cozumel Guadalajara Querétaró Yucatán OCEAN Peninsula Mexico City Ciudad Morelia Veracruz Islas Revillagigedo Puebla del Carmen Toluca Tecomán Iguala Pico de Orizaba Villahermosa B al 18,856 ft. SI sas 5747 m. Isthmus BELIZE Lázaro Cárdenas ER RA of M Tehuantepec ADR Tuxtla Gutiérrez Acapulco E DEL SUR Mexico Salina Cruz Puerto Escondido GUATEMALA Gulfo de HONDURAS Tehuantepec Mexico century, major urban centers developed along the million in 1995. The most significant groups are the border with the United States. Nahuas, Otomı´s, Mayas, Zapotecas, Mixtecos, Tzeltales, and Tzotziles. Demography. The preliminary results of the 2000 population census calculated the total number of Linguistic Affiliation. Spoken by more than 95 Mexicans as 97,361,711. In 1950, the total popula- percent of the population, Spanish is the official tion amounted to approximately 25 million, with language of Mexico and was introduced through the figure reaching nearly 50 million in 1970. These conquest and colonization. Mexican Spanish has its numbers demonstrate the rapid rate of demo- graphic growth that was so characteristic of Mexico roots in the Spanish of Spain. In terms of grammar, during the second half of the twentieth century. The syntax, and spelling there are no important differ- growth rate has slowed, but the population is still ences between the two, but the pronunciation and very young. The average life expectancy in 1999 sound are different. Certain words from the princi- was estimated at sixty-nine years for men and a pal Indian language (Nahuatl) are incorporated into little over seventy-five years for women; the infant Mexican Spanish, especially in the domains of food mortality rate was almost twenty-five per one and household. Some of these words have also been thousand. In the late twentieth century, emigration incorporated into other languages such as the En- to the United States (mainly of the illegal variety) glish ‘chocolate’ from the Nahuatl ‘chocolatl’. The became a significant phenomenon. national culture of Mexico boasts sixty-two indige- Mexico’s population still contains many Indian nous languages. In 1995 at least 5.5 million people groups. Depending on the definition used, the total spoke an indigenous language. The level of bi- number of Indians varied from 6.7 million to 10 linguism, however, was high at 85 percent. 1448 MEXICO Symbolism. The most prominent symbols that ex- nia, and New Mexico to the United States and re- press and reinforce national culture belong to the duced Mexico’s territory by half. Despite this tragic domains of state, religion, and popular culture. As a loss, the war did contribute to the development of a product of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1917), genuine nationalism for the first time. In 1853, in a the Mexican state has been an important point of contradictory decision, the Mexican government convergence for national identity. Because it was a sold present-day southern New Mexico and Arizona widely shared process that profoundly refashioned to the United States in order to solve budgetary the country’s social, political, economic, and cul- problems. The relationship between Mexico and the tural characteristics, the revolution itself has be- United States has remained difficult and ambivalent come an important source of national identity. The ever since. postrevolutionary state has been very active and Mexico was invaded again in 1862, this time by effective in nurturing national symbols and heroes. the French, who installed a monarchy in coalition Children who attend public schools honor the na- with conservative Mexican elites. Civil war ensued tional flag and sing the national anthem every until the French were defeated by Mexican liberals in Monday morning. The flag consists of three vertical 1867, which inaugurated a new republic that was strips in the colors green (representing ‘‘hope’’), finally becoming a nation-state. These were years of white (‘‘purity’’) and red (‘‘blood’’). In the central nascent economic, infrastructural, and political white strip is the image of an eagle standing on a modernization. Political stabilization and economic cactus plant and eating a snake. This image repre- development were also the hallmarks of the regime sents the myth of the foundation of Tenochtitlań, of Porfirio Dıáz (1876–1910). The years of the Dıáz the capital of the Aztec Empire. regime were also the time when Mexico became The most important icon of Mexican national increasingly connected in a railroad network. These culture is the Virgin of Guadalupe, which illustrates processes fostered the political, economic, and social the pervasive influence of Roman Catholicism in the integration of different groups and regions within national culture. She is viewed as the ‘‘mother’’ of the nation and strengthened state and nation build- all Mexicans. The dark-skinned Virgin is the Mexi- ing. These profound transformations, however, can version of the Virgin Mary and as such repre- also created many tensions and conflicts between sents national identity as the product of the mixing rich and poor, peasants and large landowners, In- of European and Meso-American religions and peo- dians and non-Indians, and the politically influen- ples. Her image was used in the struggle for inde- tial and the aspiring middle classes. This instablility pendence against the Spanish.

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