WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Mexico is the 11th most populous country 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the world with 121 million people. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Mexico is among the worlds' 15 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 largest economies and is the second 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 largest economy in Latin America. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Welcome to our animated show of history. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This episode presents a brief 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 history of Mexico. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The earliest human artifacts in Mexico 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are chips of stone tools found near 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 campfire remains in the valley of Mexico 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 10,000 years ago. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Mexico is the site of the domestication 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of maiz, tomato, and beans. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Which produced an agricultural surplus, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this enabled the transition from 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Paleo-Indian hunter gatherers to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 sedentary agricultural villages 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 beginning around 5,000 B.C. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In the formative era villages became more 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 dense in terms of population and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 developing into chiefdoms. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The earliest complex civilization in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Mexico was the Olmec culture which 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 flourished on the Gulf Coast from around 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 1500 BC. Olmec cultural traits diffused 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 through Mexico into their formative era 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 cultures in Chiapas, Oaxaca, and the 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 valley of Mexico in the subsequent 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 preclassical period the Maya and Zapotecs 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 civilizations developed complex centers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at Calakmul and Monte Albán. Respectively 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 during this period the first true 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Mesoamerican writing systems were 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 developed in the EPI Olmec and the 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Zapotec cultures. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In Central Mexico the height of the 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 classic period saw the ascendancy of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Teotihuacán which formed a military and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 commercial empire who's political 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 influence stretched south into the Mayan 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 area as well as North. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 After the collapse of Teotihuacan in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 600 AD. Competition ensued between several 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 important political centers in central 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Mexico such as Xochil and Cholula 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 During the early post classic period 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 central Mexico was dominated by the 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Toltec culture.