A brief
overview of Mexico’s History:
Going as far back as
before Christ, Mexico has seen the times of the Olmecs, Classic Maya, the
Toltecs, and the Aztecs. All of these civilisations believed in many different
gods and they built their cities according to their beliefs. Living used to be
just about survival, then it was about religion and later, it became about
power.
The Mayans believed that they were at the centre of the
universe with the heavens having 13 layers and the underworld having 9. They
thought the earth was a giant reptile floating in a pond. Their main gods were
of fire (also their creator), rain, corn & vegetation, life &
fertility, and death. Rulers were believed to be descended from the gods. They
built the 3rd largest pyramid in the world (70m high) – Teotihuacan.
(The first is in Cairo, Egypt and the second is also in Mexico, although it is
no longer as impressive as it once was due to poor maintenance.)
Teotihuacan is 50km from Mexico City. Building commenced in
the 1st century AD and continued over 600 years as the city grew to
have a population of 125,000 people. The
main fixtures were the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon with many
large alters, palaces and temples. This was the centre of the biggest pre-Hispanic
Mexican empire. Unfortunately in the 8th century, the area was
abandoned. We visited this magnificent place during our stay in the city. The
pyramids are now just blocks of stone but it is still spectacular.
A lot of you may know about the Mayans prediction that the
world will end on December 21st, 2012 (there was a movie based on
it). But this is actually incorrect. The Mayan calendar followed the cycle of
bak’tun which is roughly cycles of 400 years, in which there are 13 in each
creation. They believed there were 3 creations before the one we are currently
living in and that 2012 is the end of the 13th buk’tan for this
fourth creation. After that, the calendar resets. They believe that the end of
each major cycle were signs of renewal and transformation, not the end of the
world.
The Aztecs were originally nomads until they came across an
eagle standing on a cactus devouring a snake, which was the sign that they were
at the centre of the universe and should build a city there. That city became
Tenochtitlan and some of the ruins remain in the heart of Mexico City today. The
symbol of the eagle and snake is still the emblem on Mexico’s flag.
Tenochtitlan and an adjoining Aztec city named Tlatelolco grew to a population
of 200,000 inhabitants. Most of what is now Mexico City was actually then
completely under water except for these 2 small cities. By 1910 the water was
gone and Mexico City continued to grow to the size it is today.
The Aztecs were different from the Mayan’s, they believed
that we were living in the fifth world and that the four predecessors were
destroyed by the death of the sun. Human sacrifices were designed to keep the
sun alive. They did however, believe in 13 layers of heaven and 9 hells. Those
who died from being sacrificed, fighting in battle, merchants travelling and
women giving birth to their first child went to heaven to be companions of the
sun. Everyone else went to hell.
Mexican civilisation, nearly 3000 years old, was shattered
in 2 short years by the Spanish. In 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered the
Bahamas and Cuba. In 1519, Hernan Cortes makes his way to Mexico. He happened to arrive at a time that a
previous Toltec leader was meant to return so he was welcomed with open arms
but later was attacked and driven out. In 1521 the Spanish captured
Tenochtitlan and rebuilt it as Nueva Espana (New Spain) and introduced the
church. Bit by bit, they took over the whole of Mexico and now, their native
languages are almost extinct. Mexico’s indigenous population was estimated to
be around 25 million, but the Spanish brought new diseases with them in which
only a little over a million survived.
In 1810 a War of Independence is launched and 11 years later
their independence was granted. In 1824, 19 states and 4 territories in Mexico
were established and the first president was created. During 1821 to the mid
1860’s, Mexico was invaded by 3 countries and went through a change of 50 heads
of state. 1845-48 was the period of the Mexican-American war in which America
captured California, Texas, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. Profirio Diaz ruled from
1876-9011. In 1910 Mexico raises the Revolution to over throw him. 10 years of
violence ended up killing 2 million people and shattering the economy. From
1920 to 2000, one political party ruled. In 1968, 400 protesters were killed at
the Mexico City’s Olympic Games.
Even now there are constant protests in Mexico City against
the government. It is corrupt and poorly run, even after coming such a long
way. We stumbled across a protest of literally thousands of people and decided
to march with them for a while!! They all had banners and were chanting along
the roads that inevitably had to be closed from the city’s already congested
traffic.
In 1985 a massive earthquake, 8.1 on the Richter scale, hit
the city and killed 10,000 people. Even though you can’t see evidence of the
damage today, certain areas have never recovered.
The drug culture is the biggest issue in Mexico today. The
government launched a war against the drug cartels which resulted in 2000
people a year dying by 2006. This being inter gang related, police, children, journalists
and anyone who got in the way. In 2007 it increased to 14,000. In 2009 the number
of deaths was 2300. Most of this is congested around the American border as all
drugs from South America come through Mexico to the States. Because of the
deaths of journalists, not much about the on-going war is published in the
papers. However, they don’t hold back on publishing grotesque and insensitive photos
of other murders and car accident’s!
