Historical Narrative

Introduction

New imperialism was the order of the day in the late 1800s and early 1900s where the European nations explored new trade territories in different fronts across the globe. The Latin America, Asia, and Africa were some of the preferred destinations. The European nations would collaborate with local rulers in such countries to serve their economic, military, political, religious and humanitarian interests. Latin America experienced colonial rule advanced by the Portuguese and Spanish. Wars characterized the intervention as the Latin American sought to fight for their independence. The war came to an end as the countries gained independence and subsequent developments in the 20th century. The Latin America comprised entire South America, Mexico, and Central America. Spaniards and Portuguese perpetuated the colonial experience of this area. These countries share some common trends in heritage as well as differences that come to play through material and economic endowments.

Colonization in Mexico by the Spanish

The Spaniards had powerful armed forces that had no match, and as such, they had the upper hand to explore and conquer the Mexicans. They were keen to gain control over material and mineral wealth while at the same time spreading Christianity. The Spaniards led by Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs making Mexico a Spanish colony.

The Spaniards acquired land and other resources as they spread Christianity. On the other hand, the Aztecs would acquire new culture, language, and development of institutions. This came amidst the destruction of Mexican culture. Further, the Spaniards would kill the locals as they gained access to silver and gold. The locals were forced to work as slaves for the Spaniards. It is also worth noting that, the Spaniards caused the spread of diseases such as influenza, measles, and smallpox.  The diseases were used as a tactic to defeat the Mexicans in the sense that, the local did not have any resistance to such diseases. Since the Aztecs were large in numbers, the Spaniards introduced such diseases to decimate the population (Hernandez 220). The approach coupled with military power enabled the Spaniards to kill as many natives as possible.

The Spaniards formed partnerships with Tlaxcala people who were natives of the country. The approach would help the Spaniards to enter the Mexican Capital where they would access gold and silver. The Spaniards killed the Aztecs in large numbers and destroyed their cities to gain control of the same.

Colonization

The Spaniards would delve into a series of reconstruction, appeasement, and conversion after defeating the Aztec. The Spanish authorities drew a different plan to rebuild the destroyed cities. The missionaries were tasked with the role of converting the Aztecs to Christianity according to the teachings of Catholicism. Churches were built in masses to accommodate the new converts. It is worth noting that before the start of colonization the Mexican population was over 25 million, but by the beginning of the 19th century, the numbers had dwindled to 6 million. Many Aztecs lost their lives either as a result of diseases or Spaniard’s army invasions. In essence, the natives lost their culture, resources, and land to the foreigners.  The Spaniards excised extensive agriculture, and the locals would serve to offer labor.

The aftermath of Colonization

The invasion of Spaniards left Mexico with many challenges revolving around economic, political and social instability. The Mexican elites waged war against the Spaniards. They waged a peasant’s rebellious ideology that was geared towards rejecting the colonial ruler’s advances. Martin Cortes launched a rebellion against the Spanish colonial government citing issues of oppression and lack of privileges for the locals. The first Mexican divisions were marred by divisions between the independentist, royalists, and autonomists. The colonial administration would be replaced by Mexican elites. The majority of Mexican population realized no change as the political leadership was not geared towards a common goal of justice and equality. The Republicans and the monarchist failed to agree on the political rule due to lack of equality. The council of regents led by Iturbide pushed for constitutional reform.  There was a political division as American intendancies sough to separate from Mexican Empire, and as such, they were allowed to disembark and form their government. The people decided to have a hereditary monarchy as opposed to an elective politics (Townsend 100). The civilian congress conflicted with military hero-emperor. This led to the emperor dismissing Congress and appointing a 45-man junta which resulted in more revolt.

The Spaniard’s withdrawal from Mexico was followed by a decline in economic status due to low foreign trade. The was a substantial decline in mining, and the exit of Spaniards came with depletion of Mexicos capital reserves and skilled people. The lack of political stability made the country experience hardships in its external borrowing as it became too expensive to bear. Therefore, the sole source of revenue was custom receipts. The country experienced a growing national debt that had become vicious. The army would revolt any moment there were no funds to pay them, forcing the government to borrow foreign funds (Beezley 120). The loans came with high-interest rates and these further strained resources that would otherwise have been used to support education, cultural and social improvements.

The 1824 constitution set up a federal republic that would entail 19 states, the Mexican city district, and other four territories. The political arrangement made the locals worse than they used to be during Spanish rule as many locals were restricted in the political system.

The centralist pushed for a central government while the Roman Catholicism opposed the move. The First president, Guadalupe Victoria was elected in 1824 amidst growing tensions between the two factions.

Mexico would later face US army who wanted to overthrow their president, Santa Anna. The warring groups came together after the signing of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, with Mexico giving up on Texas (Hernandez 220). Mexico had to sell part of its southern territory to the US to raise funds to pay the countries expanded army.

The Mexican economy was based on mining of gold, silver, and copper. A fall in the international silver prices followed the end of the war between the US and Mexico. Other metals experienced a decline in export rates as the country would diversify to Agricultural export. The main Agricultural produce was sisal, coffee, cotton, sugar, and vanilla. In 1950’s poor transportation infrastructure came into play as the main hurdle to Mexican economic development. The government in 1910 would delve into foreign borrowing to fund railroads that would facilitate interconnection in national markets. The Mexican government would expand infrastructural network through funding from the British government. This would revolve around irrigation, drainage, ports, and railroad (Hernandez 225).  The increased interconnectivity saw an increase in per capita income as commercial value of agricultural production increased.

Revolts characterized the 1910’s political era as the agrarian population, and industrial proletarians would aggravate power.  The revolution had its effects as it brought to death leading to declining in demographics, increase in labor mobility and abolishment of debt patronage that was imposed on the rural population. The revolution was instrumental in the restructuring of land ownership through the aspect of redistribution. The Mexican miracle came to play between the 1940s and 1950s as the country experienced rapid economic growth.

The Mexican government would give the rural population land under the revolution constitution would dictate. The approach came in handy to replace the land ownership that would trace its origin from colonial times. The land redistribution came to a halt in 1988 as it was seen as a hindrance to largescale farming since it encouraged small land ownership.

The depression of 1930’s left unprecedented impact on the Mexican economy as consumer goods became hard to find as its local currency depreciated, imports became expensive (Salvucci 45). On the other side, the growth of industrialization saw demand for labor and materials grow and as such, Mexicans would benefit from raising wages. The 1946 era was comprised of increased population growth coupled with low death rates and high birth rates.

In any case, most of the Mexican problems were political as the wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of few. This was mostly solved through an institutional revolution that was castigated mainly by the growing middle class. The discovery of crude oil in the country and growing agricultural output were instrumental in fighting the rising debt that was orchestrated by high-interest rates on foreign borrowings.

Works Cited

Beezley, William . “Review of Mexico in World History.” The Middle Ground Journal (2015): 110-140. <http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org>.

Hernandez, Jose. “Mexican American Colonization during the Nineteenth Century: A History of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands.” The Journal American History 100.1 (2013): 218-240.

Salvucci, Richard. The Economic History of Mexico. 2014. 2018. <https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-economic-history-of-mexico/>.

Townsend, Camilla. “Conquest of Mexico.” Oxford Bibliographies (2017): 80-120.