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8 US Sates are on land that used to

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belong to Mexico.

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Welcome to History Lists. Let's talk about

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how things used to be south of Texas.

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The Mayans, these guys thrived in the

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Yucatan Peninsula for over 1000 years

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The Mayans are known for their advanced

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knowledge in astronomy and mathematics

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They understood the concept of zero

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centuries before Europeans did

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and developed the only writing system

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in the pre-Columbian Americas.

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Their cities were complex. Housing schools

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libraries, hospitals, and sport arenas.

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What makes this all even more impressive

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is that the Mayans didn't have lakes,

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springs or freshwater people needed

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They had to develop an intricate series of

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channels and chill dunes in order to

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redirect and store enough rain to keep

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things going.

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Weirdly enough though by the time the

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Spanish showed up in "new" world they were

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puzzled to find out that many of these

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great cities had already been abandoned

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even today we are still not sure what

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happened but it seems likely that

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disease coupled with drought and the abuse

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of their environment led to their

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civilizations collapse.

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Number 2 let's talk about some Aztecs.

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These people call themselves the Mexica

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which is where the country of Mexico

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would eventually get it's name.

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They built their society on top of

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chinampas which are manmade islands held

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together by roots, stakes, lake sediments,

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and probably feces like the Mayans they

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enjoyed developing chocolate,

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sacrificing humans to their gods and

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playing yulama which was a sport that

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often ended in injury or death and was

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possibly even used to resolve between

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states rather than going to war.

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They ruled over five million people in

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their empire that stretched from

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coast to coast and they demanded a lot

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of tribute. They were not super beloved

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by all their subjects and when Cortez

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rolled in he was able to turn much of

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their empire against them.

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The Aztecs were hit with a civilization

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triple-whammy.

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Famine, smallpox, and being betrayed from

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the inside.

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I'm just saying that like sacrificing

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people a lot might have backfired on them.

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and this paved the way for Spanish

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colonization.

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Tenochtitlan was raised to the ground

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and built over it was Nueva España as

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new Captial. Mexico City.

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Since the Tenochtitlan were instrumental

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in defeating the Aztecs. They Spanish

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allowed them to keep their indigenous

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names and some of their traditional

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forms of government.

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Other tribes did not fare so well.

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Eventually a catholic priest named

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Migual Hidalgo y Costilla called the

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people of Nueva España to arms for their

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country's independence and he was

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captured and killed but hey even that

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didn't stop Mexico from becoming it's own

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constitutional monarchy in 1821.

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Time for some revolution.

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The country began to do pretty well

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economically a stable yet super corrupt

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dictatorship by Porfirio Diaz yet the

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Native Americans who have been assimilated

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into Mexican society became increasingly

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poor and angry.

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As they were forced to grow cash crops

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that they couldn't actually eat.

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The rising middle class were also kind of

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pissed that their government had become

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pay-to-play and both groups joined

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together to take the regime down.

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They established a liberal democracy after

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overthrowing their dictator and a wealthy

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idealist named Francisco Madero was

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elected president and I'm not going to

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sugarcoat it he was assassinated

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pretty quickly before he could do anything

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[singing tone] Mexican-American War

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In the 1840's US president Polk had his

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eye set on some Mexican territory.

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When they turned his offer down to buy

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them he moved troops into the disputed

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zone between the Rio Grande and Nueces

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River. Mexico thought that was less than

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chill, given our recent annexation of

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Texas.

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They responded by sending in a calvary

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and killing about 12 US soldiers.

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That obviously meant war and the

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United States proceeded to defeat Mexico

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along pretty much the same route that

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Cortez had taken when fighting the Aztecs

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and Mexico lost.

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They were forced to sell all of their

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land north of the Rio Grande 15 million

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dollars.