The History of Mexico | History Lists | History

Eight US States exist on land that used to belong to Mexico. Learn more about Mexico's history!

Newsletter: https://www.history.com/newsletter
Website - http://www.history.com
/posts
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/History
Twitter - https://twitter.com/history

HISTORY Topical Video
Season 1
Episode 1

Whether you're looking for more on American Revolution battles, WWII generals, architectural wonders, secrets of the ancient world, U.S. presidents, Civil War leaders, famous explorers or the stories behind your favorite holidays, get the best of HISTORY with exclusive videos on our most popular topics.

HISTORY®, now reaching more than 98 million homes, is the leading destination for award-winning original series and specials that connect viewers with history in an informative, immersive, and entertaining manner across all platforms. The network’s all-original programming slate features a roster of hit series, epic miniseries, and scripted event programming. Visit us at HISTORY.com for more info.

Eight US Sates are on land

that used to belong to Mexico.

Welcome to History Lists.

Let's talk about things
used to be south of Texas.

The Mayans.

These guys thrived
in the Yucatan Peninsula

for over 1000 years

The Mayans are known
for their advanced knowledge

in astronomy and mathematics

They understood the concept of zero
centuries before Europeans did

and developed the only writing system

in the pre-Columbian Americas.

Their cities were complex.

Housing, schools, libraries,
hospitals, and even sport arenas.

What makes this all even more impressive

is that the Mayans didn't have
rivers, lakes or natural springs

providing the freshwater
the people needed.

They had to develop
an intricate series of channels

and chill dunes in order
to redirect and store enough rain

to keep things going.

Weirdly enough, by the time
the Spanish showed up in "new" world

they were puzzled to find out
that many of these great cities

had already been abandoned.

Even today we are still not sure
what happened

but it seems likely that disease
coupled with drought

and the abuse of their environment

led to their civilizations's collapse.

Number 2: let's talk about some Aztecs.

These people call themselves the Mexica

which is where the country of Mexico

would eventually get it's name.

They built their society on top of chinampas

which are manmade islands
held together by roots,

stakes, lake sediments
and probably feces.

Like the Mayans they enjoyed
developing chocolate,

sacrificing humans to their gods
and playing yulama

which was a sport that often
ended in injury or death

and was possibly even used
to resolveconflits

instead rather than going to war.

They ruled over five million people
in their empire

that stretched from coast to coast

and they demanded a lot of tribute.

They were not super beloved
by all their subjects

and when Cortez rolled in

he was able to turn much
of their empire against them.

The Aztecs were hit
with a civilization triple-whammy:

famine, smallpox,
and being betrayed from the inside.

I'm just saying that
sacrificing people a lot

might have backfired on them
— just a possibility.

and this paved the way
for Spanish colonization.

Tenochtitlan was raised to the ground

and built over it was Nueva España
as new Captial.

Mexico City.

Since the Tenochtitlan were instrumental
in defeating the Aztecs,

the Spanish allowed them
to keep their indigenous names

and some of their traditional
forms of government

Other tribes did not fare so well.

Eventually a catholic priest named
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla

called the people of Nueva España to arms

for their country's independence

and he was cptured and killed

but even that didn't stop Mexico

from becoming it's own constitutional monarchy in 1821.

Time for some revolution.

The country began to do pretty well

economically under a stable
yet super corrupt dictatorship

by Porfirio Diaz.

Yet, native Americans
who have been assimilated

into Mexican society

became increasingly poor and angry,

as they were forced to grow cash crops

that they couldn't actually eat.

The rising middle class were also kind of pissed

that their government had become pay-to-play

and both groups joined together
to take the regime down.

They established a liberal democracy
after overthrowing the dictator

and a wealthy idealist
named Francisco Madero

was elected president

and I'm not going to sugarcoat

he was assassinated pretty quickly

before he could do anything.

Mexican-American War

In the 1840's US president Polk

had his eyes set on some Mexican territory.

When they turned his offer down to buy them,

he moved troops into the disputed zone

between the Rio Grande and Nueces River.

Mexico thought that was less than chill,

given our recent annexation of Texas.

And they responded by sending in a calvary

and killing about 12 US soldiers.

That obviously meant war and the

And the US Army proceeded
to defeat Mexico

along pretty much the same route
that Cortez had taken

when fighting the Aztecs,

And Mexico lost.

They were forced to sell all of their land
and north of the Rio Grande

for 15 million dollars,