The official name of Mexico is called Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. This country is a federal republic with thirty one states and a Distrito Federal which is much of Mexico City. (Standish, 2009) Mexico is the located in North America with the United States and Guatemala as its borders. Mexico is surrounded by the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Mexican culture has many influences from other cultures including: Spanish, German, French, indigenous peoples and African tradition. (Cross, 2008) All of these cultures have mixed and influenced Mexico’s common beliefs.
Mexico’s religious beliefs represent a mixture of the two cultures; Indian and Spanish. Before 1519, when Martin Luther led a rebellion against the Holy See by attacking abuses and indulgences, Europe was predominantly Catholic. (Schlarman, 31) Europeans were conquering the New World during the 1400’s-1500’s. Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon were married in 1469 and became rulers of Spain . (Roark , Johnson, Cohen, Stage & Hartmann, 2009) Queen Isabella was raised and was taught the Catholic teachings which influenced the way Spain was governed during her reign. During this time period, Ferdinand and Isabella were Reconquering Spain by “eliminating Muslims, persecuting Jews and purifying Christianity.” (Roark , Johnson, Cohen, Stage & Hartmann, 2009)
Christopher Columbus was also deeply religious just like Queen Isabella (Roark, Johnson, Cohen, Stage & Hartmann, 2009) and he convinced the queen to allow him to “Sail across the Atlantic Ocean to reach to China and Japan.” (Roark , Johnson, Cohen, Stage & Hartmann, 2009) Isabella agreed to Columbus’s expedition because she wanted to spread Christianity, gain glory for Spain, but mainly she wanted to gai...
... middle of paper ...
...California Press, 2006.
Kirkwood, Burton (2009). The History of Mexico: Second Edition. (pp. 6, 21-22) Retrieved from http://www.eblib.com
(2003). P. Jeffrey (Ed.), The Human Tradition in Mexico (p. 181). Willmington, DE: SR Books.
Roark, J., Johnson, M., Cohen, P., Stage, S., & Hartmann, S. (2009). W. Lambardo (Ed.), The American Promise A History of the United States (5th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 25-26, 37,42). Boston, MA: Bedford/ St. Martin's.
Rodríguez, S. (1996). The Matachines Dance : Ritual Symbolism and Interethnic Relations in the Upper Río Grande Valley. (pp.1-5, 125) Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press
Schlarman, Joseph H. Mexico, a Land of Volcanoes: From Cortés to Alemán. (p.31) Milwaukee: Bruce, 1950.
Standish, Peter (2009). The States of Mexico : A Reference Guide to History and Culture. (p. vii) Retrieved from http://www.eblib.com
Teja, Jesus F. De La. A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguin. Austin: State House Press, 1991.
“The Conquest of New Spain” is the first hand account of Bernal Diaz (translated by J.M. Cohen) who writes about his personal accounts of the conquest of Mexico by himself and other conquistadors beginning in 1517. Unlike other authors who wrote about their first hand accounts, Diaz offers a more positive outlook of the conquest and the conquistadors motives as they moved through mainland Mexico. The beginning chapters go into detail about the expeditions of some Spanish conquistadors such as Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, Juan de Grijalva and Hernando Cotes. This book, though, focuses mainly on Diaz’s travels with Hernando Cortes. Bernal Diaz’s uses the idea of the “Just War Theory” as his argument for why the conquests were justifiable
Inga Clendinnen's Aztecs:An Interpretation is an outstanding book dealing with investigations into how the Mexica peoples may have veiwed the world in which they lived. From the daily life of a commoner to the explosively, awe inspiring lives of the priests and warriors. Clendinnen has used thoughtful insights and a fresh perspective that will have general readers and specialist readers alike engaged in a powerful and elegantly written interpretation that is hard to put down without reflection upon this lost culture.
C. W. Hackett, ed., Historical Documents relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto, to 1773, vol. III (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1937), 327-35.
The author of Mexican Lives, Judith Adler Hellman, grapples with the United States’ economic relationship with their neighbors to the south, Mexico. It also considers, through many interviews, the affairs of one nation. It is a work held to high esteem by many critics, who view this work as an essential part in truly understanding and capturing Mexico’s history. In Mexican Lives, Hellman presents us with a cast from all walks of life. This enables a reader to get more than one perspective, which tends to be bias. It also gives a more inclusive view of the nation of Mexico as a whole. Dealing with rebel activity, free trade, assassinations and their transition into the modern age, it justly captures a Mexico in its true light.
Explanation- This article gives examples of how indigenous people used to live before the colonization of Christopher Columbus. After the appearance of Christopher Columbus in Mexico different ethnic groups were distributed amongst different states along with their different languages. In the state of Oaxaca there around sixteen different ethnic groups which the Mixtecs and the Zapotecs are the two main ethnos who have continued to expand amongst the territory. During the Spanish conquest the Mixtec and the Zapotecs’ religion was mostly based on belief in the vital force that animated all living things, meaning that they worshiped the land and the creator. Throughout this day there are still indigenous people who believe and practice their ideology, and the “modernized” are set to practice Catholicism.
8. Meyer, Michael C., et al. The Course of Mexican History, 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Rosales, F. Arturo. Lecture 2/14 Film The US-Mexican War Prelude. Weber, David J. - "The 'Path of the World'" Foreigners in Their Native Land: The Historical Roots of Mexican Americans.
This historical study will define the important role of Hernan Cortes in the colonization of Mexico in the age of the Spanish conquistador. Cortes was an important figure in Mexican history because of his discovery of Mexico at the Yucatan peninsula in 1519. During this time, Cortes became a historical figure that represented the “conquistador” system of conquest throughout the Mayan and Aztec Empires during the early part of the 15th century. The fall of these indigenous civilizations marked the beginning of Spanish colonization of Central America. Cortes was a significant figure because of the primarily military style of coercion and conquest that sought to annihilate the indigenous peoples of Mexico, and to claim Spanish territory. These conquests contributed significantly to the blend of indigenous and Spanish traditions of Mexico’s national history. Cortes represents the first phase of colonization for the Spanish empire in terms of the violent and aggressive nature of the Spanish Conquistador in the discovery of Mexico. The image of the Spanish conquistador as an often violent and ruthless colonizer is defined the invasion and destruction of the Aztec empire in Mexican history. In essence, a
Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia C. Cohen, Sarah Stage, and Susan M. Hartmann. The American Promise: A History of the United States. 5th ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Print.
Martinez, Oscar J. U.S.-Mexico Borderlands: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1996 (pp. 139-141).
Firstly, one aspect that is both Mexican and American is the cuisine. The original food for Mexico is very spicy and most of the time very colorful as well. Mexicans use spices, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese in many of the native dishes. They use an assortment of meat: pork, beef, lamb, and chicken. When Mexican restaurants spring up in the United States the food is toned down to appeal to Americans. The Mexican Americans use less spices to make the dishes milder rather than the hot, spicy native food. The food, still Mexican, takes on the likeness of American food. This is shown in the United States by all of the Mexican American restaurants such as Taco Bell. Therefore Mexicans have Americanized their food. “For Hispanics live on this side of the border, where Kraft manufactures Mexican-style Velveeta, and where Jack in the Box serves Fajita Pita.” (Rodriguez 131). Americans complement the Mexican style and the inverse.
Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2009. Print. The. Houston, Stephen. A. “Classic Maya Religion: Beliefs and practices of an Ancient American People.”
..., "Major Problems In Mexican American History" The Mexican Immigrant Experience, 1917-1928, Zaragosa Vargas (233)
Bibliography:.. Becoming Mexican-American by George Sanchez, Oxford University Press, Inc. 1993.