History of Mexico

History of Mexico
Detail of a relief from Palenque, a Classic-era city. Maya script is the only writing system of the pre-Columbian Americas to be completely known and enabled the beginning of recorded history.
Program of centennial festivities of Mexican independence in September 1910, asserting the historical continuity of Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juárez "Law," and Porfirio Díaz, "Peace," from 1810 to 1910.

The written history of Mexico spans more than three millennia. First populated more than 13,000 years ago,[1] central and southern Mexico (termed Mesoamerica) saw the rise and fall of complex indigenous civilizations. Mexico later developed into a unique multicultural society. Mesoamerican civilizations developed glyphic writing systems, recording the political history of conquests and rulers. Mesoamerican history before European arrival is called the prehispanic era or the pre-Columbian era. Following Mexico's independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, political turmoil wracked the nation. France, with the help of Mexican conservatives, seized control in the 1860s during the Second Mexican Empire but was later defeated. Quiet, prosperous growth was characteristic in the late 19th century, but the Mexican Revolution in 1910 brought a bitter civil war. With calm restored in the 1920s, economic growth was steady while population growth was rapid.

  1. ^ "Oldest American skull found", CNN, December 3, 2002