Background Information
How did Mexico come to be Spanish?2
The Iberian Peninsula (which is now home to Portugal and Spain) was known as "Hispania" under the Roman Empire. In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella united several regions of the peninsula to create the nation of Spain (España) after the Reconquista (re-conquering) of Granada, the last Moor-controlled territory in Europe. In this same year, Isabella and Ferdinand also expelled the Jews from the region and established a unified, Catholic nation.
In an extension of their military success from the Reconquista, Los Reyes Católicos (the Catholic King and Queen, as Isabella and Ferdinand are often referred to) sponsored Christopher Columbus's famous voyage, beginning a long series of explorations and land acquisitions in the New World. Even though everyone knows that "in fourteen-hundred-ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue," many of us also know that Columbus didn't discover the New World. Every one of the lands that Columbus (and the explorers that followed) "discovered" was populated with indigenous peoples with established and distinct languages and cultures.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish expanded their explorations of the New World, as conquistadores claimed more and more land for Spain. This empire at one point during the "Siglo de Oro" (Golden Era) included not only Spain, but most of Central and South America, as well as parts of Africa and the Philippines. Spanish control extended in the Americas up into the modern-day United States, and in Europe included occupations in Austria, Italy, and the Netherlands.
In 1519, Hernán Cortés, a Spanish conquistador (conqueror), arrived in the area we now know as Mexico and encountered several indigenous groups throughout the region. By this time, the Aztecs (who called themselves "Mexicas") had already been dominating the land for two centuries, and had created an extremely advanced civilization complete with elaborate cities. Tenochtitlan was the Aztec capital city and boasted canals, aqueducts, and massive pyramids. By 1521, Cortés had conquered the Aztecs, having turned the rival groups of natives against each other and against the emperor Montezuma. The Aztecs provided ideal labor for the Spanish, as they had been accustomed to the harsh work Montezuma had demanded of them and were used to turning most of the wealth over to the ruling class. In this time, large tobacco, coffee, and sugar plantations were yielding crops for the Spanish to sell in Europe. Natives were also hard at work in the mines, finding silver and gold that the Spanish craved in this area which came to be called "New Spain."
In the southern part of Mexico and much of Central America the Spanish found remnants of a highly advanced and elaborate civilization: that of the Maya. Mayans were living in villages scattered in the jungle, and concentrated along the coast, when the Spanish arrived. The Maya civilization had peaked during its Classic period, from about 200 to 900 A.D. Most of the Mayan cities had been abandoned by the end of the Classic period. The Mayans were not accustomed to the harsh labor that the Aztecs had endured, and did not have fertile soil for agriculture. These factors, combined with the general harshness of the weather in this region prompted the Spanish to remain mainly along the coast.
In 1535, the king of Spain declared Mexico a viceroyalty. He named this viceroyalty New Spain, and appointed Antonio de Mendoza as viceroy. During much of the colonial period, an encomienda system was in place. This system granted land to Spanish encomenderos (overseers) and allowed them to demand tribute from the natives that worked the land. In return for this tribute, the natives were allowed to live on the land and were protected by the encomendero. The encomendero, in addition to offering protection and land to live on, was responsible for the religious education of the natives on that land.
Just as they had done in Spain, the Spanish invaders attempted to eradicate all rival religions. Spaniards killed and enslaved many of the natives in these regions, and tried to convert them to Catholicism, as well as requiring encomenderos to teach Catholicism to the natives on the lands they oversaw. In large part, the Spanish succeeded in their conversion attempts, but some of the original Aztec and Maya religious beliefs and practices remain today. Most natives maintained their ancestral cultures, as is evident in language and family customs , with (perhaps) the exception of religion.
During the Spanish reign, many Spaniards took indigenous wives to bear their children, creating Mestizos (people of mixed European and Native American descent). Marriage between Spaniards and members of the native nobility was a fairly common practice. African slaves were also mixed into the Spanish and Mestizo blood. As children born of Africans and natives were not born into slavery, and African slaves could purchase freedom, many free Blacks intermarried with other groups (Pierce 26). Mexicans may be of Spanish, Indigenous, or African descent, or any combination thereof, and often display cultural and language facets of each.
In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain after a long and bloody revolution. Mexico lost Texas to the United States in 1836. Then, at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, Mexico lost the area we now call California, Nevada, and Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as parts of Wyoming and Colorado, to the U.S. Modern Mexico's borders have since remained unchanged.
Mexicans & Mexican-Americans
Over 35 million people identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino on the 2000 U.S. Census. Hispanics have recently replaced Blacks/African-Americans as the largest ethnic minority group in the U.S., comprising an estimated 13.7% of the population (excluding the 3.9 million residents of Puerto Rico). Nearly 60% of Hispanic Americans claim Mexican heritage, which makes sense since at least one-third of the contiguous United States was once part of Mexico (or, New Spain).
Nearly ten percent of Connecticut's residents identified themselves as Hispanic-American on the 2000 census (U.S. Census Bureau). Though the majority of Hispanics in Connecticut claim Puerto Rican or Dominican ancestry, Mexican-Americans make up a large portion of the Hispanic population in the state. As in New Haven, many aspects of Mexican heritage have become ingrained in popular U.S. culture generally, and American political issues often deal with our "neighbors to the South."
Modern Mexicans exhibit evidence of the cultural exchange that occurred centuries ago. While Mexicans share many cultural practices with Spain and the rest of the Hispanic world, many of their traditions and customs are Native American in origin. For example, El Día de los Muertos is a major religious holiday in Mexico. This is celebrated on All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (Catholic holidays), but embraces the ancient pagan beliefs about the after-life. Mexicans celebrate with masses and feasts, in the Catholic holiday tradition. In a very Mexican way, people decorate and eat candy skulls, create altars in their homes (complete with offerings of food and drink), and share picnics on the graves of their loved ones. This duality of Spanish and Mexican identity is evident in so much of modern Mexican culture.
Just as Spanish and indigenous cultures intertwined to create new cultures, the Mexican and American cultures have combined to foster even more of a sense that Mexico is indeed our "neighbor." A taco is a great example of how European influences mixed with New World staples to create amazing new things. The corn tortilla shell of the taco, tomatoes, peppers, and spices originated in Mesoamerica, while the lettuce, cheese, and beef were introduced from the Old World. To break this transference down further, tacos in the United States have become a typical American dish in many places, rather than an "exotic" Mexican appetizer. I can buy tacos at midnight from a drive-thru window, thousands of miles away from Mexico. Tacos have joined pizza, spaghetti, and chow mein as American staples, though each is a slight twist on an originally foreign dish.
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