WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.910 8 US Sates are on land that used to 00:00:01.910 --> 00:00:03.370 belong to Mexico. 00:00:03.370 --> 00:00:05.800 Welcome to History Lists. Let's talk about 00:00:05.800 --> 00:00:07.705 how things used to be south of Texas. 00:00:07.705 --> 00:00:10.435 The Mayans, these guys thrived in the 00:00:10.435 --> 00:00:12.775 Yucatan Peninsula for over 1000 years 00:00:13.242 --> 00:00:15.432 The Mayans are known for their advanced 00:00:15.432 --> 00:00:17.322 knowledge in astronomy and mathematics 00:00:17.392 --> 00:00:19.152 They understood the concept of zero 00:00:19.152 --> 00:00:20.989 centuries before Europeans did 00:00:20.989 --> 00:00:22.749 and developed the only writing system 00:00:22.749 --> 00:00:25.079 in the pre-Columbian Americas. 00:00:25.249 --> 00:00:27.379 Their cities were complex. Housing schools 00:00:27.379 --> 00:00:29.889 libraries, hospitals, and sport arenas. 00:00:30.159 --> 00:00:32.139 What makes this all even more impressive 00:00:32.139 --> 00:00:33.949 is that the Mayans didn't have lakes, 00:00:33.949 --> 00:00:35.939 springs or freshwater people needed 00:00:35.939 --> 00:00:37.999 They had to develop an intricate series of 00:00:37.999 --> 00:00:39.839 channels and chill dunes in order to 00:00:39.839 --> 00:00:42.021 redirect and store enough rain to keep 00:00:42.021 --> 00:00:42.921 things going. 00:00:42.921 --> 00:00:44.731 Weirdly enough though by the time the 00:00:44.731 --> 00:00:46.801 Spanish showed up in "new" world they were 00:00:46.801 --> 00:00:48.681 puzzled to find out that many of these 00:00:48.681 --> 00:00:50.541 great cities had already been abandoned 00:00:50.541 --> 00:00:52.371 even today we are still not sure what 00:00:52.371 --> 00:00:54.101 happened but it seems likely that 00:00:54.101 --> 00:00:56.141 disease coupled with drought and the abuse 00:00:56.141 --> 00:00:57.784 of their environment led to their 00:00:57.784 --> 00:00:58.944 civilizations collapse. 00:00:58.944 --> 00:01:00.879 Number 2 let's talk about some Aztecs. 00:01:00.879 --> 00:01:02.759 These people call themselves the Mexica 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:04.559 which is where the country of Mexico 00:01:04.559 --> 00:01:06.049 would eventually get it's name. 00:01:06.049 --> 00:01:07.769 They built their society on top of 00:01:07.769 --> 00:01:09.679 chinampas which are manmade islands held 00:01:09.679 --> 00:01:11.719 together by roots, stakes, lake sediments, 00:01:11.719 --> 00:01:13.629 and probably feces like the Mayans they 00:01:13.629 --> 00:01:15.199 enjoyed developing chocolate, 00:01:15.199 --> 00:01:17.029 sacrificing humans to their gods and 00:01:17.029 --> 00:01:18.869 playing yulama which was a sport that 00:01:18.869 --> 00:01:20.759 often ended in injury or death and was 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:22.590 possibly even used to resolve between 00:01:22.590 --> 00:01:24.115 states rather than going to war. 00:01:24.115 --> 00:01:26.025 They ruled over five million people in 00:01:26.025 --> 00:01:27.605 their empire that stretched from 00:01:27.605 --> 00:01:29.485 coast to coast and they demanded a lot 00:01:29.485 --> 00:01:31.425 of tribute. They were not super beloved 00:01:31.425 --> 00:01:33.236 by all their subjects and when Cortez 00:01:33.236 --> 00:01:35.056 rolled in he was able to turn much of 00:01:35.056 --> 00:01:36.346 their empire against them. 00:01:36.346 --> 00:01:38.266 The Aztecs were hit with a civilization 00:01:38.266 --> 00:01:39.377 triple-whammy. 00:01:39.377 --> 00:01:41.337 Famine, smallpox, and being betrayed from 00:01:41.337 --> 00:01:42.295 the inside. 00:01:42.295 --> 00:01:44.255 I'm just saying that like sacrificing 00:01:44.255 --> 00:01:46.355 people a lot might have backfired on them. 00:01:47.695 --> 00:01:49.375 and this paved the way for Spanish 00:01:49.375 --> 00:01:50.275 colonization. 00:01:50.805 --> 00:01:52.645 Tenochtitlan was raised to the ground 00:01:52.645 --> 00:01:55.225 and built over it was Nueva España as 00:01:55.225 --> 00:01:57.071 new Captial. Mexico City. 00:01:57.071 --> 00:01:59.131 Since the Tenochtitlan were instrumental 00:01:59.131 --> 00:02:00.981 in defeating the Aztecs. They Spanish 00:02:00.981 --> 00:02:02.881 allowed them to keep their indigenous 00:02:02.881 --> 00:02:04.661 names and some of their traditional 00:02:04.661 --> 00:02:06.191 forms of government. 00:02:06.191 --> 00:02:07.921 Other tribes did not fare so well. 00:02:07.921 --> 00:02:09.611 Eventually a catholic priest named 00:02:09.611 --> 00:02:11.481 Migual Hidalgo y Costilla called the 00:02:11.481 --> 00:02:13.511 people of Nueva España to arms for their 00:02:13.511 --> 00:02:15.321 country's independence and he was 00:02:15.321 --> 00:02:17.181 captured and killed but hey even that 00:02:17.181 --> 00:02:19.201 didn't stop Mexico from becoming it's own 00:02:19.201 --> 00:02:20.851 constitutional monarchy in 1821. 00:02:20.851 --> 00:02:22.581 Time for some revolution. 00:02:22.581 --> 00:02:24.351 The country began to do pretty well 00:02:24.351 --> 00:02:26.261 economically a stable yet super corrupt 00:02:26.261 --> 00:02:28.450 dictatorship by Porfirio Diaz yet the 00:02:28.450 --> 00:02:30.480 Native Americans who have been assimilated 00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:32.460 into Mexican society became increasingly 00:02:32.460 --> 00:02:33.620 poor and angry. 00:02:33.620 --> 00:02:35.480 As they were forced to grow cash crops 00:02:35.480 --> 00:02:37.010 that they couldn't actually eat. 00:02:37.010 --> 00:02:39.030 The rising middle class were also kind of 00:02:39.030 --> 00:02:40.980 pissed that their government had become 00:02:40.980 --> 00:02:42.630 pay-to-play and both groups joined 00:02:42.630 --> 00:02:44.230 together to take the regime down. 00:02:44.230 --> 00:02:46.260 They established a liberal democracy after 00:02:46.260 --> 00:02:48.430 overthrowing their dictator and a wealthy 00:02:48.430 --> 00:02:50.189 idealist named Francisco Madero was 00:02:50.189 --> 00:02:52.009 elected president and I'm not going to 00:02:52.009 --> 00:02:53.619 sugarcoat it he was assassinated 00:02:53.619 --> 00:02:55.669 pretty quickly before he could do anything 00:02:55.669 --> 00:02:57.389 [singing tone] Mexican-American War 00:02:57.389 --> 00:02:59.329 In the 1840's US president Polk had his 00:02:59.329 --> 00:03:01.059 eye set on some Mexican territory. 00:03:01.059 --> 00:03:03.039 When they turned his offer down to buy 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:04.939 them he moved troops into the disputed 00:03:04.939 --> 00:03:06.799 zone between the Rio Grande and Nueces 00:03:06.799 --> 00:03:08.749 River. Mexico thought that was less than 00:03:08.749 --> 00:03:10.609 chill, given our recent annexation of 00:03:10.609 --> 00:03:11.409 Texas. 00:03:11.409 --> 00:03:13.289 They responded by sending in a calvary 00:03:13.289 --> 00:03:14.979 and killing about 12 US soldiers. 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:16.599 That obviously meant war and the 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:18.619 United States proceeded to defeat Mexico 00:03:18.619 --> 00:03:20.549 along pretty much the same route that 00:03:20.549 --> 00:03:22.579 Cortez had taken when fighting the Aztecs 00:03:22.579 --> 00:03:23.639 and Mexico lost. 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:25.419 They were forced to sell all of their 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:27.689 land north of the Rio Grande 15 million 00:03:27.689 --> 00:03:28.409 dollars.