A Summary of Mexican History

There is proof of human existence in Mexico since 20,000 years BC. The remains of a human corpse were found beside those of a mammoth in Tepexpan, north of the Valley of Mexico. Tests on the remains verified that they dated approximately 10,000 years BC. There is also proof that Agriculture began from the year 3,000 BC. The American continent was isolated during many centuries, which explains why this civilization is so original. The people who populated Northern Mexico lived by hunting. The people who lived in the South survived through agriculture. Many different peoples with their own languages and ethic differences populated the vast Mesoamerica region. They had their cultural homogeneity, for instance they cultivated corn, had a singular structure of government, used the 365 day calendar, built pyramids, used similar rituals and worshiped the same gods. Some of these gods included, the gods of the sky, of nature, of fertility and of war.

Aqueduct City of Mexico

English: Place of encounter of Mocetezuma Xocoyotz...

Hernán Cortés, conqueror of the Aztecs, travelle...

They believed in the concept of cosmic duality the beginning and the end, which appears in the religion and art of all Mesoamerican cultures. The god Quetzalcoatl (known as Kukulkán to the Mayans) is represented by a feathered serpent (the earth and sky). There are six native cultures in Mexico that are considered to be the most influential. Each developed in a different era of the history of ancient Mexico.

First, there were the Olmecs. Their culture had far-reaching influence. Other groups are known to have borrowed heavily from the Olmecs. Their culture is mysterious, since almost nothing known about where they came from, or why they disappeared.

Second, there were the Teotihuacans. This city-state of Teotihuacán located on the central highland of México covered an area of 22.5 sq. km. and its population reached 200,000 inhabitants by the year 350 AD (probably the largest...