The Spanish first heard of Mexico during the Juan de Grijalva expedition of 1517, the natives kept “repeating: Colua, Colua, and Mexico, Mexico, but we did not know what Colua or Mexico meant”, until encountering Montezuma’s Governor at the mouth of the Rio de las Banderas.
The first European to visit Mexican territory was Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, who arrived in Yucatan from Cuba with three ships and about 100 men in early 1518. Cordoba’s reports on his return to Cuba prompted the Spanish governor there, Diego Velasquez, to send a larger force back to Mexico under the command of Hernan Cortes.
The territory became part of the Spanish Empire under the name of New Spain. Mexico City was systematically rebuilt by Cortés following the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521. Much of the identity, traditions and architecture of Mexico were created during the colonial period.
In March 1519, Cortes landed at the town of Tabasco, where he learned from the natives of the great Aztec civilization, then ruled by Montezuma II. Defying the authority of Velasquez, Cortes founded the city of Veracruz on the southeastern Mexican coast, where he trained his army into a disciplined fighting force.
Cortes and some 400 soldiers then marched into Mexico, aided by a native woman known as Malinche, who served as a translator. Thanks to instability within the Aztec empire, Cortes was able to form alliances with other native peoples, notably the Tlascalans, who were then at war with Montezuma.
In November 1519, Cortes and his men arrived in Tenochtitlan, where Montezuma and his people greeted them as honored guests according to Aztec custom (partially due to Cortes’ physical resemblance to the light-skinned Quetzalcoatl, whose return was prophesied in Aztec legend).
Though the Aztecs had superior numbers, their weapons were inferior, and Cortes was able to immediately take Montezuma, and his entourage of lords, hostage, gaining control of Tenochtitla. The Spaniards then murdered thousands of Aztec nobles during a ritual dance ceremony and Montezuma died under uncertain circumstances while in custody. The massacre in the Main Temple was a key incident in the Spanish conquest of Mexico which occurred on May 20, 1520.
Cuauhtémoc, his young nephew, took over as emperor, and the Aztecs drove the Spaniards from the city, but was among the first to fall from the smallpox epidemic a short time later. Unintentionally introduced by Spanish conquerors, smallpox ravaged Mesoamerica in the 1520s, killing more than 3 million Aztecs. Severely weakened, the Aztec empire was easily defeated by Cortés and his forces on his second return.
So, with the help of the Aztecs’ native rivals, Cortes mounted an offensive against Tenochtitlan, finally defeating Cuauhtémoc’s resistance on August 13, 1521. In all, some 240,000 people were believed to have died in the city’s conquest, which effectively ended the Aztec civilization. After his victory, Cortes razed Tenochtitla and built Mexico City on its ruins; it quickly became the premier European center in the New World.
Smallpox was a devastating and selective disease – it generally killed Aztecs but not Spaniards, who as Europeans had already been exposed to it for centuries and were therefore much more immune to it. The deaths caused by smallpox are believed to have triggered a rapid growth of Christianity in Mexico and the Americas.
At first, the Aztecs believed the epidemic was a punishment from an angry god, but they later accepted their fate and no longer resisted the Spanish rule. Many of the surviving Aztecs blamed the cause of smallpox to the superiority of the Christian god, which resulted in the acceptance of Catholicism and yielding to the Spanish rule throughout Mexico.
The Aztec language, Nahuatl, was the dominant language in central Mexico by the mid-1350s. Numerous Nahuatl words borrowed by the Spanish were later absorbed into English as well, including chili, avocado, chocolate, coyote, peyote, guacamole, ocelot and mescal.
Territories populated by nomadic peoples were harder to conquer, and though the Spanish did explore a good part of North America, seeking the fabled “El Dorado”, the “Lost City of Gold”, they made no concerted effort to settle the northern desert regions, in what is now the Southwest United States, until the end of the 16th Century, starting small settlements in what is now New Mexico. Modern day Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, California, Colorado and Wyoming were part of the Vice-royalty of New Spain and later formed part of the newly independent Mexican Republic.
“Colonial law with Spanish roots, but also with native originalities, was introduced, creating a balance between local jurisdiction (the Cabildos’) and the Crown’s, whereby upper administrative offices were closed to the natives, even those of pure Spanish blood. Administration was based on the racial separation of the population between the Republics of Spaniards, Indians and their combination – Mestizos, who are still looked down upon by Mexico’s ruling elite.
By 1800, Spain had governed Mexico as a colony for almost 300 years. During the three centuries of colonial rule, less than 700,000 Spaniards, most of them men, settled in Mexico. The settlers intermarried with indigenous women, fathering the mixed race (mestizo) descendants who today constitute the majority of Mexico’s population, something that simply did not occur in the English colonies – [probably because of the warrior culture of the North American tribes and the non-military settlement of the land up until the “Trail of Tears”].
The northern sections of Mexico, especially the lands north of the Rio Grande, were lightly populated well into the 19th century. Mexican government officials, merchants, and a few trappers and hunters from the U.S. lived in small settlements, mostly around a series of Catholic mission churches founded by Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits. Mexicans (a classification to be discussed in depth later, but historically meaning Aztec-Nahuan) first arrived in present-day New Mexico in 1598 and founded the city of Santa Fe in 1610. This arrangement remained largely undisturbed after Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821.
When Mexico took over control from Spain after their revolution in 1821, the new government ignored and isolated the “norteños” [inhabitants of Mexico’s Northern provinces – much as the British had done to their East Coast colonists after the “Glorious Revolution” in England in 1688], except to break up the mission system in California. The systematic Navajo and Apache tribal raids on New Mexico villages and ranches were ignored, as was the vulnerability of California, as the [inept] central government pulled back its soldiers to use them in recurrent civil wars and factional battles in the south.
The Mexican name given to the northern state, including Texas, was Coahuila y Tejas. The Mexican government wanted the new settlers to maintain loyalty to Mexico, speak Spanish, and become practicing Roman Catholics. Beginning in the late 1820s, many immigrants from the U.S. and Europe settled in Texas (Tejas). After a decade, so many North Americans had settled into Texas, the Mexican government decided to do something to ensure the continued loyalty of the territory.
Starting in 1830, the Mexican government began implementing measures to restrict American immigration into the Texas territory. The government outright stopped American immigration to Texas, and it also raised tariffs on goods being imported from the U.S. [An interesting historical fact considering the early 21st Century issue of the illegal immigration of millions of Mexican citizens into the United States and the opposition of the Mexican government of any measures to restrict the flow.]
Perhaps most disturbing to Tejanos however, was that the Mexican government abolished slavery nationwide in 1831. Anglo and Hispanic Texans joined to fight Mexico in 1836, defeating an invading army after the famous standoff at the Alamo (in present day San Antonio) and declaring the independence of Texas. The Texas Republic included Tejanos as leading citizens, but Mexico refused to recognize its legal existence.”
In 1846, everything changed. War broke out between the U.S. and Mexico over the American annexation of Texas.
“Many of these Americans who had settled in Texas were from the American South, where slavery was a central institution that formed the basis of social, political, and economic life. There were several thousand slaves in Texas at this time. The abolition of slavery greatly angered these immigrants, as well as others [like Tejanos] in the Texas area.
The final straw came in 1835 when a Mexican president, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, formed a more centralist government and brought about a new constitution for the country. These new laws were seen as extremely strict and disliked by many throughout Mexico, and numerous efforts to rebel began. One of those, most notably, was in the Mexican state containing Texas.
Several hundred Mexican soldiers were sent to the Texas region to subdue the angry citizens. As a part of this crackdown, the Mexican government wanted a cannon returned to them that had been loaned out to the Mexican people of Texas. A Texas militia force [of local citizens serving the State] banded together to protect the cannon, not wanting to return it to the national government. In early October, there was a small battle fought near Gonzales because of this dispute.
Soon after the Texas victory at Gonzales, the Texas army that had formed moved against several hundred Mexican troops at Fort Lipantitlan. In early November, Mexican troops abandoned the fort to Texas forces, another significant victory in the growing revolution in Texas.
Around this same time, Texas leader, American Stephen A. Austin, worked to transform the various militia groups in Texas into coherent armies. That same month, leaders from across the Texas region gathered together to form a provisional government. Henry Smith was made the first governor, and Sam Houston, a former U.S. Congressman who had immigrated to Texas in the 1830s, became the commander-in-chief of the nascent Army of Texas.
Just as preparations for war were underway in Texas, Santa Anna, the Mexican president, decided to leave his post to command an army against the Texas forces. Santa Anna wanted to quell the rebellion with a strong hand, and he intended to oversee the effort himself. Santa Anna quickly raised a 6000-man army to put down the insurrection, despite the approaching winter. Numerous soldiers in Santa Anna’s army, dubbed the Army of Operations, were either drafted or were former convicts. Santa Anna lost hundreds of troops in the desert winter while on the march, but arrived in Texas earlier than expected.
By late February, this force had reached San Antonio. Sam Houston, a former governor of Tennessee, had been gathering volunteers to face Santa Anna. The Texas soldiers in San Antonio were forced to retire into an old Spanish mission, known as The Alamo, which had been hastily barricaded into an impromptu fort.With Houston’s forces still in disarray and the Mexicans realizing that they had an opportunity for a notable victory, Santa Anna and his forces began a nearly two-week long siege of the Alamo, resulting in an attack that overran the fort on March 6, 1836.
In all, 187 Texans famously held out for thirteen days despite knowing they would not be able to live through the 6,000-man assault. All 187 Texans were killed, including their commander William Travis, and other notable persons such as David Crockett and Jim Bowie. The Mexican army suffered up to 1000 casualties.While the Texas forces lost heavily there, “Remember the Alamo” became a rallying cry for Texans to gather to the cause for independence. Santa Ana retired his army back into Mexico proper.
Just before the Alamo fell, Texas leaders had drafted and signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, making their cause official in their eyes and in the eyes of the world. Texas had declared its independence from Mexico. [Now, they needed to hold it.]
A short while later, at the Battle of Goliad , a force of 300 Texans was surrounded by elements of the retiring Mexican army. After three costly charges, the Mexicans called in cannons and reinforcements, and surrounded the Texans in the night. The Texans surrendered the following day. At the Goliad Massacre, General Santa Anna ordered the execution of all prisoners.
Despite the deaths of up to 400 Texans in these two battles, these two occurrences were vital to the Texas Revolution. These two strategically unimportant locations delayed the Mexican advance for several weeks, allowing Houston to gather much-need support in eastern Texas. Also, the martyrdom of those who willingly gave their lives at the Alamo, as well as the butchery at Goliad, galvanized the Texan cause.
Soon, Santa Anna, now unhindered, marched into the heart of Texas in pursuit of Houston. Houston, who knew his small but ever-growing army still could not hope to meet the Mexicans in battle, performed a classic strategic retreat eastward towards the border with the United States. Much of the Texan support was coming from the western frontier of the U.S. and as Houston retreated, his supply lines shortened. The Mexicans, who had limited food and supplies, were lengthening their supply lines from Mexico City every day. Houston also burned the towns and fields he passed through, so as to deny the Mexican army the ability to plunder and re-supply.
Then, an unexpected split of the Mexican army occurred, in which over half of Santa Anna’s forces, under the command of General Urrea (the general who had called for reinforcements on the first day at Goliad), turned south towards Galveston [on the coast], the temporary capital of Texas. Houston, at the demands of his 900 weary men, turned to face his enemy while he was only slightly outnumbered, with the Mexican forces now only numbering 1200.
Santa Anna, who believed that the Texans would again retreat upon realizing that they were still outnumbered, ordered his men to set up camp along the banks of the San Jacinto River. Houston’s men however, [with the Alamo and Goliad on their minds] were eager to fight. Houston ordered an attack the following morning, unwittingly catching the Mexicans during their siesta hour. The unprepared Mexicans were massacred, with all soldiers being either killed or captured, including Santa Ana himself. The Texans lost nine.
The captured Santa Anna ordered General Urrea to return to Mexico City, and granted the Texans their independence. American President Andrew Jackson, as well as Great Britain, soon recognized the Republic of Texas as an independent nation. The newly-formed Republic lasted for several years, before finally petitioning the United States for statehood. It was granted in 1845, just before the outbreak of the Mexican-American War.
The Tejanos in Texas joined the revolution and supported the new Republic of Texas; the Hispanics in New Mexico and California were localistic and did not identify with the Tejanos or the regime in Mexico City. The “norteños” played a minor role in the Mexican-American War of 1846-48, and when offered the choice of repatriating to Mexico or remaining and becoming full citizens of the United States, the great majority remained.
Only when large numbers of Americans arrived in Texas did the norteños develop a sense of “lo mexicano,” that is of “being Mexican,” and that new identification had little to do with far-off Mexico City. American entrepreneurs often cultivated alliances and partnerships with the Mexican propertied elites in the states of Texas and California, and the territories of New Mexico and Arizona. The Californios – who only numbered 10,000 in 1848, remained in California but were soon overwhelmed by the immigration of hundreds of thousands of newcomers looking for gold in California after 1849, and largely became invisible to European-Americans.
The Latino culture of the rest of the Southwest, especially New Mexico and southern Texas, called itself “Spanish” (rather than “Mexican”) to distinguish themselves from “los norteamericanos”. The Latinos emphasized their own religion, language, customs and kinship ties, and drew into enclaves, rural colonies and urban barrios, which los norteamericanos seldom entered. Intermarriage rates were low. Assimilation was essentially non-existent, foreshadowing current Hispanic-immigrant issues.
The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, who believed – along with most Americans since Jefferson – the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean.
Initially, after Texas had gained its independence from Mexico in 1836, the United States declined to incorporate it into the Union, largely because northern political interests were against the addition of a new slave state. The Mexican government was also encouraging border raids and warning that any attempt at annexation would lead to war.
Annexation procedures were quickly initiated after the 1844 election of Polk, who campaigned that Texas should be “re-annexed” and that the Oregon Territory should be “re-occupied.” Polk also had his eyes on California, New Mexico and the rest of what is today the U.S. Southwest in order to “complete” the United States. [With this initiative, the often overlooked Polk became as significant as Jefferson in helping Americans realize their “Manifest Destiny”.]
When his offer to purchase those lands was rejected by Mexico, he instigated a fight by moving troops into a disputed zone between the Rio Grande and Nueces River that both countries had previously recognized as part of the Mexican state of Coahuila.
The resulting border skirmish along the Rio Grande started off the fighting and was followed by a series of U.S. victories. When the dust cleared, Mexico had lost about one-third of its territory, including nearly all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico because, in keeping with the character of the Epoch of Conquest, it was unable to hold them and lacked the sine quo non for any nation-state – no capable allies willing to help with the effort.
On April 25, 1846, Mexican cavalry attacked a group of U.S. soldiers in the disputed zone under the command of General Zachary Taylor, killing about a dozen. They then laid siege to an American fort along the Rio Grande. Taylor called in reinforcements, and, with the help of superior rifles and artillery, was able to defeat the Mexicans in several battles.
Following those battles, Polk told the U.S. Congress that the “… cup of forbearance has been exhausted, even before Mexico passed the boundary of the United States, invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon American soil.” Two days later, on May 13, Congress declared war, despite opposition from some northern lawmakers. No official declaration of war ever came from Mexico.
At that time, only about 75,000 Mexican citizens lived north of the Rio Grande. Thus, U.S. forces led by Col. Stephen W. Kearny and Commodore Robert F. Stockton were able to conquer those lands with minimal resistance. Taylor likewise had little trouble advancing, and he captured Monterrey, Mexico in September.
With the losses adding up, Mexico turned to old standby General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the charismatic strongman who had been living in exile in Cuba. Santa Anna convinced Polk that, if allowed to return to Mexico, he would end the war on terms favorable to the United States. But when he arrived, he immediately double-crossed Polk by taking control of the Mexican army and leading it into battle. At the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, Santa Anna suffered heavy casualties and was forced to withdraw. Despite the loss, he assumed the Mexican presidency, again, the following month.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops led by Gen. Winfield Scott landed in Veracruz and took over the city. They then began marching toward Mexico City, essentially following the same route that Hernán Cortés followed when he invaded the Aztec empire over 300 years before. The Mexicans resisted at Cerro Gordo and elsewhere, but were bested each time. In September 1847, Scott successfully laid siege to Mexico City’s Chapultepec Castle. During that clash, a group of military school cadets – the so-called niños héroes (child heroes) – purportedly committed suicide rather than surrender.
Guerilla attacks against U.S. supply lines continued, but for all intents and purposes the war had ended. Santa Anna resigned, and the United States waited for a new government capable of negotiations to form. Finally, on Feb. 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed, establishing the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River as the U.S.-Mexican border. Under the treaty, Mexico also recognized the U.S. annexation of Texas, and agreed to sell California and the rest of its territory north of the Rio Grande for $15 million – precisely what Polk had proposed two-years earlier – plus the assumption of certain damages claims.
In California, Spanish Franciscan friars, [led by Father Junipero Serra, recently canonized a Saint of the Catholic Church] beginning in San Diego in 1769, had formed a string of mission churches [21 in all], designed to convert the indigenous people to Christianity. Along with the system of forts and land grants to favored associates of the king, the missions enabled small-scale Spanish settlements along coastal California by a few hundred Spanish immigrants. Very small Spanish-speaking settlements also were established near Dominican and Jesuit missions & forts in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas by the mid-18th Century. In 1829, the new Mexican government ended the role of the Catholic Church in state affairs.
Interestingly and unbeknownst to Mexico, gold was discovered in California just days before Mexico ceded the land to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. During the California Gold Rush, as many as 25,000 Mexicans arrived in California. Many of these Mexicans were experienced miners and had some success mining gold in California. Some Americans reacted with violence. Between 1848 and 1860, at least 163 Mexicans were lynched in California alone.
One more important piece of land changed hands – in 1854, when the U.S. bought what is now southern Arizona and New Mexico from the Mexican government for $10 million appropriated by Congress through the Wilmot Proviso. This land deal, known as the Gadsden Purchase, brought the U.S. a much-coveted railroad route, and helped open the Southwest to further expansion.
Thus, with two strokes of a pen, the larger nation had expanded its size by one-third. And almost overnight, tens of thousands of Mexican citizens had become residents of the United States. The result was unchallenged American control over a wide range of territory once held by Mexico, including the present-day states of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California.
Next time: Latinos in America.
Atlas Speaks 