1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,910 8 US Sates are on land that used to 2 00:00:01,910 --> 00:00:03,370 belong to Mexico. 3 00:00:03,370 --> 00:00:05,800 Welcome to History Lists. Let's talk about 4 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:07,705 how things used to be south of Texas. 5 00:00:07,705 --> 00:00:10,435 The Mayans, these guys thrived in the 6 00:00:10,435 --> 00:00:12,775 Yucatan Peninsula for over 1000 years 7 00:00:13,242 --> 00:00:15,432 The Mayans are known for their advanced 8 00:00:15,432 --> 00:00:17,322 knowledge in astronomy and mathematics 9 00:00:17,392 --> 00:00:19,152 They understood the concept of zero 10 00:00:19,152 --> 00:00:20,989 centuries before Europeans did 11 00:00:20,989 --> 00:00:22,749 and developed the only writing system 12 00:00:22,749 --> 00:00:25,079 in the pre-Columbian Americas. 13 00:00:25,249 --> 00:00:27,379 Their cities were complex. Housing schools 14 00:00:27,379 --> 00:00:29,889 libraries, hospitals, and sport arenas. 15 00:00:30,159 --> 00:00:32,139 What makes this all even more impressive 16 00:00:32,139 --> 00:00:33,949 is that the Mayans didn't have lakes, 17 00:00:33,949 --> 00:00:35,939 springs or freshwater people needed 18 00:00:35,939 --> 00:00:37,999 They had to develop an intricate series of 19 00:00:37,999 --> 00:00:39,839 channels and chill dunes in order to 20 00:00:39,839 --> 00:00:42,021 redirect and store enough rain to keep 21 00:00:42,021 --> 00:00:42,921 things going. 22 00:00:42,921 --> 00:00:44,731 Weirdly enough though by the time the 23 00:00:44,731 --> 00:00:46,801 Spanish showed up in "new" world they were 24 00:00:46,801 --> 00:00:48,681 puzzled to find out that many of these 25 00:00:48,681 --> 00:00:50,541 great cities had already been abandoned 26 00:00:50,541 --> 00:00:52,371 even today we are still not sure what 27 00:00:52,371 --> 00:00:54,101 happened but it seems likely that 28 00:00:54,101 --> 00:00:56,141 disease coupled with drought and the abuse 29 00:00:56,141 --> 00:00:57,784 of their environment led to their 30 00:00:57,784 --> 00:00:58,944 civilizations collapse. 31 00:00:58,944 --> 00:01:00,879 Number 2 let's talk about some Aztecs. 32 00:01:00,879 --> 00:01:02,759 These people call themselves the Mexica 33 00:01:02,759 --> 00:01:04,559 which is where the country of Mexico 34 00:01:04,559 --> 00:01:06,049 would eventually get it's name. 35 00:01:06,049 --> 00:01:07,769 They built their society on top of 36 00:01:07,769 --> 00:01:09,679 chinampas which are manmade islands held 37 00:01:09,679 --> 00:01:11,719 together by roots, stakes, lake sediments, 38 00:01:11,719 --> 00:01:13,629 and probably feces like the Mayans they 39 00:01:13,629 --> 00:01:15,199 enjoyed developing chocolate, 40 00:01:15,199 --> 00:01:17,029 sacrificing humans to their gods and 41 00:01:17,029 --> 00:01:18,869 playing yulama which was a sport that 42 00:01:18,869 --> 00:01:20,759 often ended in injury or death and was 43 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:22,590 possibly even used to resolve between 44 00:01:22,590 --> 00:01:24,115 states rather than going to war. 45 00:01:24,115 --> 00:01:26,025 They ruled over five million people in 46 00:01:26,025 --> 00:01:27,605 their empire that stretched from 47 00:01:27,605 --> 00:01:29,485 coast to coast and they demanded a lot 48 00:01:29,485 --> 00:01:31,425 of tribute. They were not super beloved 49 00:01:31,425 --> 00:01:33,236 by all their subjects and when Cortez 50 00:01:33,236 --> 00:01:35,056 rolled in he was able to turn much of 51 00:01:35,056 --> 00:01:36,346 their empire against them. 52 00:01:36,346 --> 00:01:38,266 The Aztecs were hit with a civilization 53 00:01:38,266 --> 00:01:39,377 triple-whammy. 54 00:01:39,377 --> 00:01:41,337 Famine, smallpox, and being betrayed from 55 00:01:41,337 --> 00:01:42,295 the inside. 56 00:01:42,295 --> 00:01:44,255 I'm just saying that like sacrificing 57 00:01:44,255 --> 00:01:46,355 people a lot might have backfired on them. 58 00:01:47,695 --> 00:01:49,375 and this paved the way for Spanish 59 00:01:49,375 --> 00:01:50,275 colonization. 60 00:01:50,805 --> 00:01:52,645 Tenochtitlan was raised to the ground 61 00:01:52,645 --> 00:01:55,225 and built over it was Nueva España as 62 00:01:55,225 --> 00:01:57,071 new Captial. Mexico City. 63 00:01:57,071 --> 00:01:59,131 Since the Tenochtitlan were instrumental 64 00:01:59,131 --> 00:02:00,981 in defeating the Aztecs. They Spanish 65 00:02:00,981 --> 00:02:02,881 allowed them to keep their indigenous 66 00:02:02,881 --> 00:02:04,661 names and some of their traditional 67 00:02:04,661 --> 00:02:06,191 forms of government. 68 00:02:06,191 --> 00:02:07,921 Other tribes did not fare so well. 69 00:02:07,921 --> 00:02:09,611 Eventually a catholic priest named 70 00:02:09,611 --> 00:02:11,481 Migual Hidalgo y Costilla called the 71 00:02:11,481 --> 00:02:13,511 people of Nueva España to arms for their 72 00:02:13,511 --> 00:02:15,321 country's independence and he was 73 00:02:15,321 --> 00:02:17,181 captured and killed but hey even that 74 00:02:17,181 --> 00:02:19,201 didn't stop Mexico from becoming it's own 75 00:02:19,201 --> 00:02:20,851 constitutional monarchy in 1821. 76 00:02:20,851 --> 00:02:22,581 Time for some revolution. 77 00:02:22,581 --> 00:02:24,351 The country began to do pretty well 78 00:02:24,351 --> 00:02:26,261 economically a stable yet super corrupt 79 00:02:26,261 --> 00:02:28,450 dictatorship by Porfirio Diaz yet the 80 00:02:28,450 --> 00:02:30,480 Native Americans who have been assimilated 81 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,460 into Mexican society became increasingly 82 00:02:32,460 --> 00:02:33,620 poor and angry. 83 00:02:33,620 --> 00:02:35,480 As they were forced to grow cash crops 84 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:37,010 that they couldn't actually eat. 85 00:02:37,010 --> 00:02:39,030 The rising middle class were also kind of 86 00:02:39,030 --> 00:02:40,980 pissed that their government had become 87 00:02:40,980 --> 00:02:42,630 pay-to-play and both groups joined 88 00:02:42,630 --> 00:02:44,230 together to take the regime down. 89 00:02:44,230 --> 00:02:46,260 They established a liberal democracy after 90 00:02:46,260 --> 00:02:48,430 overthrowing their dictator and a wealthy 91 00:02:48,430 --> 00:02:50,189 idealist named Francisco Madero was 92 00:02:50,189 --> 00:02:52,009 elected president and I'm not going to 93 00:02:52,009 --> 00:02:53,619 sugarcoat it he was assassinated 94 00:02:53,619 --> 00:02:55,669 pretty quickly before he could do anything 95 00:02:55,669 --> 00:02:57,389 [singing tone] Mexican-American War 96 00:02:57,389 --> 00:02:59,329 In the 1840's US president Polk had his 97 00:02:59,329 --> 00:03:01,059 eye set on some Mexican territory. 98 00:03:01,059 --> 00:03:03,039 When they turned his offer down to buy 99 00:03:03,039 --> 00:03:04,939 them he moved troops into the disputed 100 00:03:04,939 --> 00:03:06,799 zone between the Rio Grande and Nueces 101 00:03:06,799 --> 00:03:08,749 River. Mexico thought that was less than 102 00:03:08,749 --> 00:03:10,609 chill, given our recent annexation of 103 00:03:10,609 --> 00:03:11,409 Texas. 104 00:03:11,409 --> 00:03:13,289 They responded by sending in a calvary 105 00:03:13,289 --> 00:03:14,979 and killing about 12 US soldiers. 106 00:03:14,979 --> 00:03:16,599 That obviously meant war and the 107 00:03:16,599 --> 00:03:18,619 United States proceeded to defeat Mexico 108 00:03:18,619 --> 00:03:20,549 along pretty much the same route that 109 00:03:20,549 --> 00:03:22,579 Cortez had taken when fighting the Aztecs 110 00:03:22,579 --> 00:03:23,639 and Mexico lost. 111 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:25,419 They were forced to sell all of their 112 00:03:25,419 --> 00:03:27,689 land north of the Rio Grande 15 million 113 00:03:27,689 --> 00:03:28,409 dollars.