The History of Mexico

Mexico has one of the most layered and dramatic histories of any country in the world. Long before Europeans arrived, the region was home to civilizations that built vast cities, developed complex calendars, and shaped cultures that still influence Mexican life today. What followed over the next several centuries, from conquest and colonization to independence and revolution, is a story of struggle, survival, and remarkable transformation. This book takes a clear, chronological look at Mexico's past, starting with the great pre-Columbian civilizations and continuing through the Spanish colonial era, the wars of independence, the turbulent 19th century, the Revolution of 1910, and the country's development into the nation it is today. The rise and fall of the Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan, and Aztec civilizations, and what made each of them remarkable. The Spanish conquest under Hernan Cortes and three centuries of colonial rule that reshaped the land and its people. The War of Independence and the long, difficult process of building a Mexican national identity. The Reform War, the French Intervention, and the decades of upheaval that preceded the 1910 Revolution.