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Population: 98,460,000
Capital : Mexico City
Ethnic groups: 60% Mestizo, 30% Amerindian, 9% White
Languages: Spanish, indigenous
Religions: 89% Roman Catholic, 6% Protestant
Location: Southern North America, 759,534 square miles
of land
Monetary unit: Peso
Per capita income: $7,607
History:
The first known civilizations were in farm
settlements developed in the Valley of Mexico between 6500 and
1500 B.C. From 1500 B.C. until the Aztecs were overthrown by
the Spanish in 1521 A.D., the great civilizations of the Olmec,
Maya, Toltec and Aztec peoples thrived.
In 1521, Spaniards invaded the land and claimed
the area as New Spain. Although there were undercurrents of dissension
from the start, a full rebellion did not begin until 1810. Formal
independence came in 1821, but Mexico lost quite a bit of territory
to the United States soon after in the Mexican War from 1846
to 1848.
The politics in Mexico changed hands frequently
after 1848 as the people called for social reform except for
a brief French Imperial rule from 1864 to 1867. A new socialist
constitution was adopted in 1917 after a seven-year revolution.
The constitution created a separation of church and state and
a redistribution of the land.
In 1992, Mexico joined the United States and
Canada in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In
January 1994, a peasant rebellion in the state of Chiapas began
and the political control in Mexico shifted again. In 1997, Mexico's
ruling party was defeated in an election, breaking its 70-year-old
control of the government. The strife continues in Chiapas, after
more civilians were slaughtered and the Governor and Interior
Minister of the State were forced to resign. Rebel forces in
Chiapas continue to fight for autonomy.
Background
info in story Oaxacan story:
Zapotecs: In 500 B.C., the first Valles Centrales (the three
valleys that surround Oaxaca City) residents began building at
Monte Alban, which became the center of the Zapotec culture.
Benito Juarez, one of Mexico's greatest heroes and a reformation
leader of the 19th century, was a Zapotec.Trained as a lawyer,
he focused upon governmental changes that assisted the poor and
redistrubuted the land after hundreds of years of disputes. He
served two terms as governor and then was elected president.
He did not complete his term as governor because the French took
over Mexico for three years. More than 500,000 Zapotecs live
in Valles Centrales and on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
EPR: The Ejercito Popular Revolucionario (People's Revolutionary
Army) is a group of rebels who gathered together in 1996 to protest
land rights and rampant poverty. Bahias De Huatulco was the scene
of a violent battle that cost 10 people their lives. Since then,
the EPR is proagandistic in nature.
Oaxaca: Population is 3.2 million including 1.25 million
Indians (at least 14 cultures). Each speak Spanish but prefer
their own culture's native tongue. Oaxaca City has a population
of 400,000.
Palacio de Gobierno: (Palace of the Governor) The south side of Zocalo
(the center of the city) is occupied by the structure. The stairway
in the Palace has a mural by Arturo Garcia Bustos depicting Oaxacan
history, including Benito Juarez and his wife Margarita, Jose
Maria Morelos, Porfirio Diaz, Vicente Guerrero at his execution
iat Cuilapan, and Juana Ines de La Cruz, a 17th century nun and
poet.
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