0:00:00.000,0:00:02.010
Eight US Sates are on land

0:00:02.030,0:00:03.624
that used to belong to Mexico.

0:00:04.084,0:00:05.800
Welcome to History Lists.

0:00:05.800,0:00:08.205
Let's talk about things [br]used to be south of Texas.

0:00:08.345,0:00:09.390
The Mayans.

0:00:10.142,0:00:12.242
These guys thrived[br]in the Yucatan Peninsula

0:00:12.252,0:00:13.991
for over 1000 years

0:00:13.991,0:00:16.287
The Mayans are known[br]for their advanced knowledge

0:00:16.297,0:00:17.988
in astronomy and mathematics

0:00:17.988,0:00:21.162
They understood the concept of zero[br]centuries before Europeans did

0:00:21.162,0:00:23.092
and developed the only writing system

0:00:23.109,0:00:25.269
in the pre-Columbian Americas.

0:00:25.299,0:00:27.039
Their cities were complex.

0:00:27.039,0:00:30.189
Housing, schools, libraries,[br]hospitals, and even sport arenas.

0:00:30.189,0:00:32.104
What makes this all even more impressive

0:00:32.104,0:00:34.923
is that the Mayans didn't have[br]rivers, lakes or natural springs

0:00:34.923,0:00:36.924
providing the freshwater[br]the people needed.

0:00:36.924,0:00:39.189
They had to develop[br]an intricate series of channels

0:00:39.189,0:00:42.059
and chill dunes in order[br]to redirect and store enough rain

0:00:42.059,0:00:43.141
to keep things going.

0:00:43.141,0:00:46.273
Weirdly enough, by the time[br]the Spanish showed up in "new" world

0:00:46.273,0:00:48.151
they were puzzled to find out[br]that many of these great cities

0:00:48.151,0:00:49.355
had already been abandoned.

0:00:49.371,0:00:51.377
Even today we are still not sure[br]what happened

0:00:51.395,0:00:53.784
but it seems likely that disease[br]coupled with drought

0:00:53.784,0:00:55.244
and the abuse of their environment

0:00:55.244,0:00:57.036
led to their civilizations's collapse.

0:00:57.036,0:00:58.891
Number 2: let's talk about some Aztecs.

0:00:58.909,0:01:00.859
These people call themselves the Mexica

0:01:00.859,0:01:02.659
which is where the country of Mexico

0:01:02.669,0:01:04.159
would eventually get it's name.

0:01:04.159,0:01:06.189
They built their society on top of chinampas

0:01:06.189,0:01:08.400
which are manmade islands[br]held together by roots,

0:01:08.400,0:01:11.611
stakes, lake sediments[br]and probably feces.

0:01:11.721,0:01:14.401
Like the Mayans they enjoyed[br]developing chocolate,

0:01:14.409,0:01:16.728
sacrificing humans to their gods[br]and playing yulama

0:01:16.728,0:01:19.507
which was a sport that often[br]ended in injury or death

0:01:19.507,0:01:21.890
and was possibly even used[br]to resolveconflits

0:01:21.890,0:01:23.925
instead rather than going to war.

0:01:23.925,0:01:26.347
They ruled over five million people[br]in their empire

0:01:26.347,0:01:27.855
that stretched from coast to coast

0:01:27.885,0:01:29.865
and they demanded a lot of tribute.

0:01:29.925,0:01:31.925
They were not super beloved[br]by all their subjects

0:01:31.925,0:01:33.336
and when Cortez rolled in

0:01:33.336,0:01:35.746
he was able to turn much[br]of their empire against them.

0:01:35.776,0:01:38.946
The Aztecs were hit [br]with a civilization triple-whammy:

0:01:39.193,0:01:42.105
famine, smallpox, [br]and being betrayed from the inside.

0:01:42.355,0:01:45.175
I'm just saying that [br]sacrificing people a lot

0:01:45.185,0:01:47.895
might have backfired on them[br]— just a possibility.

0:01:47.895,0:01:50.655
and this paved the way[br]for Spanish colonization.

0:01:50.865,0:01:52.915
Tenochtitlan was raised to the ground

0:01:52.925,0:01:55.399
and built over it was Nueva España[br]as new Captial.

0:01:55.399,0:01:56.856
Mexico City.

0:01:56.856,0:01:59.859
Since the Tenochtitlan were instrumental[br]in defeating the Aztecs,

0:01:59.881,0:02:02.291
the Spanish allowed them[br]to keep their indigenous names

0:02:02.291,0:02:04.661
and some of their traditional[br]forms of government

0:02:04.661,0:02:06.811
Other tribes did not fare so well.

0:02:06.821,0:02:09.829
Eventually a catholic priest named[br]Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla

0:02:09.829,0:02:11.547
called the people of Nueva España to arms

0:02:11.547,0:02:13.396
for their country's independence

0:02:13.396,0:02:15.007
and he was cptured and killed

0:02:15.007,0:02:16.696
but even that didn't stop Mexico

0:02:16.696,0:02:19.946
from becoming it's own constitutional monarchy in 1821.

0:02:20.381,0:02:21.856
Time for some revolution.

0:02:21.856,0:02:24.351
The country began to do pretty well

0:02:24.351,0:02:26.261
economically under a stable[br]yet super corrupt dictatorship

0:02:26.261,0:02:27.635
by Porfirio Diaz.

0:02:27.640,0:02:30.080
Yet, native Americans[br]who have been assimilated

0:02:30.080,0:02:31.690
into Mexican society

0:02:31.690,0:02:33.330
became increasingly poor and angry,

0:02:33.330,0:02:34.960
as they were forced to grow cash crops

0:02:35.000,0:02:36.226
that they couldn't actually eat.

0:02:36.226,0:02:38.210
The rising middle class were also kind of pissed

0:02:38.210,0:02:39.897
that their government had become pay-to-play

0:02:39.897,0:02:42.497
and both groups joined together[br]to take the regime down.

0:02:42.590,0:02:45.930
They established a liberal democracy[br]after overthrowing the dictator

0:02:45.930,0:02:48.100
and a wealthy idealist[br]named Francisco Madero

0:02:48.100,0:02:49.250
was elected president

0:02:49.260,0:02:50.460
and I'm not going to sugarcoat

0:02:50.460,0:02:52.490
he was assassinated pretty quickly

0:02:52.490,0:02:54.149
before he could do anything.

0:02:54.209,0:02:56.049
Mexican-American War

0:02:56.059,0:02:58.185
In the 1840's US president Polk

0:02:58.185,0:03:00.152
had his eyes set on some Mexican territory.

0:03:00.152,0:03:02.260
When they turned his offer down to buy them,

0:03:02.260,0:03:03.949
he moved troops into the disputed zone

0:03:03.949,0:03:05.539
between the Rio Grande and Nueces River.

0:03:05.539,0:03:07.549
Mexico thought that was less than chill,

0:03:07.621,0:03:09.419
given our recent annexation of Texas.

0:03:09.419,0:03:11.380
And they responded by sending in a calvary

0:03:11.380,0:03:13.240
and killing about 12 US soldiers.

0:03:13.240,0:03:14.860
That obviously meant war and the

0:03:14.860,0:03:16.500
And the US Army proceeded [br]to defeat Mexico

0:03:16.529,0:03:18.759
along pretty much the same route[br]that Cortez had taken

0:03:18.762,0:03:20.199
when fighting the Aztecs,

0:03:20.199,0:03:21.769
And Mexico lost.

0:03:21.769,0:03:24.245
They were forced to sell all of their land[br]and north of the Rio Grande

0:03:24.245,0:03:26.685
for 15 million dollars,