Pre-Columbian civilizations The
prehispanic civilizations of what now is known as Mexico are often divided into two regions:
Mesoamerica, the cultural area where several complex civilizations developed before the arrival of the
Spanish in the sixteenth century, and
Aridoamerica (or simply "The North"), the arid region north of the
Tropic of Cancer which was less densely populated. Despite the conditions, the
Mogollon culture and peoples established urban population centers at
Casas Grandes and
Cuarenta Casas in a vast territory that encompassed northern
Chihuahua state and parts of
Arizona and
New Mexico in the United States. Mesoamerica was densely populated by diverse Indigenous ethnic groups which, although sharing common cultural characteristics, spoke different languages and developed unique civilizations. One of the most influential civilizations in Mesoamerica was the
Olmec civilization, sometimes referred to as the "
Mother Culture of Mesoamerica." The
Maya civilization, influenced by other Mesoamerican civilizations, developed a vast cultural region in southeast Mexico and northern Central America. In contrast, the
Zapotec and
Mixtec cultures dominated the
valley of Oaxaca and the
Purépecha in western Mexico.
Trade Scholars agree that significant systems of trading existed between the cultures of
Mesoamerica,
Aridoamerica, and the
American Southwest, and the architectural remains and artifacts share a commonality of knowledge attributed to this trade network. The routes stretched far into Mesoamerica and reached as far north as ancient communities that included such population centers in the United States such as
Snaketown,
Chaco Canyon, and Ridge Ruin near
Flagstaff (considered some of the finest artifacts ever located).
Colonial era By the time of the arrival of the Spanish in central Mexico, many peoples of Mesoamerica (with the notable exception of the
Tlaxcaltecs and the
Purépecha Kingdom of
Michoacán) were loosely joined under the
Aztec Empire, the last
Nahua civilization to flourish in Central Mexico. The capital of the empire,
Tenochtitlan, became one of the largest urban centers in the world, with an estimated population of 350,000 inhabitants. and often rebelled, the paternalistic structure of colonial rule supported the continued existence and structure of Indigenous communities. The Spanish crown protected the land holdings of Indigenous communities. Communities and individuals had access to the Spanish legal system. However, these codes were often ignored in practice, and racial discrimination was prevalent in New Spain. In the religious sphere, Indigenous men were banned from Christian priesthood following an early Franciscan attempt that included fray
Bernardino de Sahagún to train an Indigenous group. Mendicants of the
Franciscan,
Dominican, and Augustinian orders initially evangelized Indigenous in their communities in what is often called the "spiritual conquest." On the northern frontiers, the Spanish created missions and settled Indigenous populations in these complexes, which prompted raids from those who resisted settlement (given the name
Indios Bárbaros). The
Jesuits were prominent in this enterprise until their expulsion from Spanish America in 1767. Catholicism, often with local characteristics, was the only permissible religion in the colonial era.
Indigenous land , dwellings of the
Mogollon culture.|alt= .|alt= During the early colonial era in central Mexico, Indigenous communities faced the imposition of Spanish rule, which prioritized exploiting their labor over seizing their land. The institution of the
encomienda, a crown grant of the labor of Indigenous communities to conquerors, was a key element of the imposition of Spanish rule. The Spanish crown initially maintained the Indigenous sociopolitical system of local rulers and land tenure, with the
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire eliminating the superstructure of rule and replacing it with Spanish. The crown had several concerns about the encomienda. First was that the holders of encomiendas called
encomenderos, were becoming too powerful, essentially a seigneurial group that might challenge crown power (as shown in the conspiracy by conqueror
Hernán Cortés's legitimate son and heir). The second was that the encomenderos monopolized Indigenous labor, excluding newly arriving Spaniards. Third, the crown was concerned about the damage done to the Indigenous vassals and their communities by the institution. Through the
New Laws of 1542, the crown sought to phase out the
encomienda and replace it with another crown mechanism of forced Indigenous labor, the
repartimiento. Indigenous labor was no longer monopolized by a small group of conquerors and their descendants but apportioned to a larger group of Spaniards. Through the
repartimiento, Indigenous peoples were obligated to perform low-paid labor for a certain number of weeks or months on Spanish enterprises, notably silver mining. The land of Indigenous peoples is used for material and spiritual reasons. Religious, cultural, social, spiritual, and other events relating to their identity are also tied to the land. Indigenous people use collective property so that the services as mentioned earlier that the land provides are available to the entire community and future generations. When Mexico gained independence in 1821, the casta designations were eliminated as a legal structure, but racial divides remained.
White Mexicans argued about what the solution was to the "Indian Problem," that is, Indigenous who continued to live in communities and were not integrated politically or socially as citizens of the new republic. The
Mexican Constitution of 1824 has several articles pertaining to Indigenous peoples.
Independence to the Mexican Revolution The
Mexican War of Independence was a decade-long struggle ending in 1821, in which Indigenous peoples participated for their motivations. The new country was named after its capital city,
Mexico City. The
new flag had a symbol of the Aztecs at its center, an eagle perched on a nopal cactus. Mexico declared the
abolition of slavery in 1829 and the
equality of all citizens before the law in 1857. Indigenous communities continued to have rights as corporations to maintain land holdings until the liberal
Reforma. Some Indigenous individuals integrated into Mexican society, like
Benito Juárez of
Zapotec ethnicity, the first Indigenous president in the Americas. Juárez supported the removal of provisions protecting Indigenous communal land holdings through the
Lerdo law. In the North of Mexico, Indigenous peoples, such as the
Comanche and
Apache, who had acquired the horse, waged a
successful warfare against the Mexican state. The Comanche controlled considerable territory, called the
Comancheria. The
Yaqui also had a long tradition of resistance, with the late nineteenth-century leader
Cajemé being prominent during the
Yaqui Wars. The
Mayo joined their Yaqui neighbors in rebellion after 1867. In Yucatán,
Mayas waged a protracted war against local Mexican control in the
Caste War of Yucatán, which was most intensely fought in 1847 and lasted until 1915.
20th century Civilization," a mural by
Diego Rivera in the
National Palace celebrates Mexico's Indigenous history. The
Mexican Revolution, a violent social and cultural movement that defined 20th-century Mexico, produced a nationalist sentiment that the Indigenous peoples were the foundation of Mexican society in a movement known as
indigenismo. Several prominent artists promoted the "Indigenous Sentiment" (
sentimiento indigenista) of the country, including
Frida Kahlo and
Diego Rivera. Throughout the twentieth century, the government established bilingual education in some Indigenous communities and published free bilingual textbooks. Some states of the federation appropriated an Indigenous inheritance to reinforce their identity. . Despite the official recognition of Indigenous peoples, the economic underdevelopment of their communities, accentuated by the crises of the 1980s and 1990s, has not allowed for the development of most Indigenous communities. Thousands of Indigenous Mexicans have emigrated to urban centers in Mexico and the United States. In Los Angeles, for example, the Mexican government has established electronic access to some of the consular services provided in Spanish as well as
Zapotec and
Mixe. Some of the Maya peoples of
Chiapas have revolted, demanding better social and economic opportunities, requests voiced by the
EZLN. The
Chiapas conflict of 1994 led to collaboration between the Mexican government and the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation, a
libertarian socialist Indigenous political group. This movement generated international media attention and united many Indigenous groups. In 1996, the
San Andrés Larráinzar Accords were negotiated between the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and the Mexican government. ==Rights==