Mexico and Related Topics

Puebla (city)

Seat of Puebla Municipality.

Writ to recognize Puebla as City signed by Spain's queen Isabella of Portugal, municipal archive

The Biblioteca Palafoxiana, founded by priest Juan de Palafox y Mendoza in 1646, is recognized by UNESCO for being the first public library in the Americas.

Chapel of the Rosario, a masterpiece of Mexican Baroque and once known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".

Image from the Battle of Puebla in the city center in 1863.

Nave and altar of the Chapel of the Rosario

Portal Hidalgo and Municipal Palace, in the historic centre

Catarina de San Juan, in a 17th-century woodcut

It is the capital and largest city of the state of Puebla, and the fourth largest city in Mexico, after Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.

Toluca

State capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca.

Burned Matlatzinca remains of the city of Calixtlahuaca

Tlatoāni Axayacatl, Aztec emperor from 1469 to 1481, under whom the Kingdom of Calixtlahuaca was conquered and annexed by the Aztec empire.

Sun's Lagoon inside the Nevado de Toluca.

With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in Mexico.

León, Guanajuato

Church of St. Sebastian at Mártires del 2 de Enero Square

Detail of the façade of the Templo Expiatorio

The Theatre Doblado, located in the historic center

León officially León de Los Aldama (English: Lion of the Aldama) is the most populous city and municipal seat of the municipality of León in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.

Borders of Mexico

Mexico shares international borders with three nations:

Mesoamerica

Historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America.

A pair of swinging Remojadas figurines, Classic Veracruz culture, 300 to 900 CE.

Page 9 of the Dresden Codex (from the 1880 Förstermann edition)

El Mirador flourished from 600 BCE to 100 CE, and may have had a population of over 100,000.

Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites, urban centers, and tourist attractions of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala.

Pyramid of the Moon viewed from atop of the Pyramid of the Sun.

Xochicalco, Temple of the Feathered Serpent, 650–900 CE

Detail of the Nunnery Quadrangle at Uxmal, 10th century

Mesoamerica and Central America in the 16th century before Spanish arrival

K'inich Kan B'alam II, the Classic period ruler of Palenque, as depicted on a stele

Illustration that recreates the structures of the archaeological site of Yarumela or El Chircal in Honduras, this place reflects the Olmec influence that existed in Central America in the pre-classic period.

"Head Variant" or "Patron Gods" glyphs for Maya days

One of the earliest examples of the Mesoamerican writing systems, the Epi-Olmec script on the La Mojarra Stela 1 dated to around 150 CE. Mesoamerica is one of the five places in the world where writing has developed independently.

The xoloitzcuintle is one of the naguales of the god Quetzalcoatl. In this form, it helps the dead cross the Chicnahuapan, a river that separates the world of the living from the dead.

Ritual human sacrifice portrayed in Codex Laud

A small ceremonial ballcourt at Uaxactun.

Ballgame marker from the classic Lowland Maya site of Chinkultic, Mexico depicting a ballplayer in full gear

The Avenue of the Dead in Teotihuacan, an example of a Mesoamerican settlement planned according to concepts of directionality

Art with ideological and political meaning: depiction of an Aztec tzompantli (skull-rack) from the Ramirez Codex

Sculpture of "The Acrobat" from Tlatilco

Pyramid of the archaeological site of La Venta 1000-400 BCE

The partly excavated main structure of San José Mogote 1500–500 BCE

Monte Albán, Building J in the foreground. 200 BCE – 200 CE

A reconstruction of Guachimontones, flourished from 200 to 400 CE

Acanceh, 200–300 CE<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mesoweb.com/features/acanceh/history.html|title=Mesoweb Articles|work=mesoweb.com}}</ref>

Mask located on the "Temple of the Masks" Kohunlich c. 500 CE

K'inich Janaab Pakal I of Palenque 603–683 AD

Copan Stela H commissioned by Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil 695–738 AD

Jaina Island type figure (Maya) 650–800 AD

Cacaxtla, Mural depicting the Bird Man 650–900 AD

Chichen Itza, Temple of the Jaguars 900–1000 AD

Governor's Palace rear view and details, 10th century CE, Uxmal

Chichen Itza, "Temple of Three Dintels" 600–1000 CE

The Calendar temple of Tlatelolco, 1200 CE

Detail of page 20 from the Codex Zouche-Nuttall, 14–15th century

It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica.

The Aztec Empire in 1519 within Mesoamerica

Aztecs

Aztec metal axe blades. Prior of the arrival of the European settlers, see: Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica

Large ceramic statue of an Aztec eagle warrior

A page from the Codex Boturini depicting the departure from Aztlán

The Valley of Mexico with the locations of the main city states in 1519

The coronation of Motecuzuma I, Tovar Codex

The meeting of Moctezuma II and Hernán Cortés, with his cultural translator La Malinche, 8 November 1519, as depicted in the Lienzo de Tlaxcala

"The Martyrdom of Cuauhtémoc", (1892) painting by Leandro Izaguirre

Folio from the Codex Mendoza showing a commoner advancing through the ranks by taking captives in war. Each attire can be achieved by taking a certain number of captives.

Jaguar warrior uniform as tax pay method, from Codex Mendoza

Folio from the Codex Mendoza showing the rearing and education of Aztec boys and girls in an ages list, how they were instructed in different types of labor, and how they were harshly punished for misbehavior

Pre-Hispanic "Tepeyac" Road of city-state of Tlatelolco ruins with semi-underground unidentified small and simply built buildings, probably houses (left). Tlatelolco archaeological site.

Cultivation of maize, the main foodstuff, using simple tools. Florentine Codex

Typical Aztec black on orange ceramic ware

Diorama model of the Aztec market at Tlatelolco

A folio from the Codex Mendoza showing the tribute paid to Tenochtitlan in exotic trade goods by the altepetl of Xoconochco on the Pacific coast

Mexico-Tenochtitlan urban standard, Templo Mayor Museum

Great Temple in Historic center of Mexico City

The deity Tezcatlipoca depicted in the Codex Borgia, one of the few extant pre-Hispanic codices

Aztec cosmological drawing with the god Xiuhtecuhtli, the lord of fire in the center and the four corners of the cosmos marked by four trees with associated birds, deities and calendar names, and each direction marked by a dismembered limb of the god Tezcatlipoca. From the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer

The "Aztec calendar stone" or "Sun Stone", a large stone monolith unearthed in 1790 in Mexico City depicting the five eras of Aztec mythical history, with calendric images.

Ritual human sacrifice as shown in the Codex Magliabechiano

Ma (hand) and pach (moss). In Nahuatl, handmoss is synonym of raccoon.

Frame drum huehuetl played by a youth in Aztec-themed costume in Amecameca, State of Mexico, 2010

Page from the pre-Columbian Codex Borgia a folding codex painted on deer skin prepared with gesso

The Coatlicue statue in the National Museum of Anthropology

Aztec feather shield displaying the "stepped fret" design called xicalcoliuhqui in Nahuatl (c. 1520, Landesmuseum Württemberg)

Codex Kingsborough, showing the abuse by Spaniards of a Nahua under the encomienda Spanish labor system

Depiction of smallpox during the Spanish conquest in Book XII of the Florentine Codex

José Sarmiento de Valladares, Count of Moctezuma, viceroy of Mexico

Motecuhzoma II's Teocalli of the Sacred War emblem, this depiction mythologically describes the reason when Aztecs searched an eagle on a cactus hunting a rattlesnake for begin the new city, the founding myth of Mexica.

Tezontle is a material for elements in architectural styles.

Virgin of Guadalupe and the symbols of the founding of Tenochtitlan, Josefus De Ribera Argomanis. (1778)

Monument to Cuauhtémoc, inaugurated 1887 by Porfirio Díaz in Mexico City

Detail of Diego Rivera's mural depicting the Aztec market of Tlatelolco at the Mexican National palace

President Porfirio Díaz in 1910 at the National Museum of Anthropology with the Aztec Calendar Stone. The International Congress of Americanists met in Mexico City in 1910 on the centennial of Mexican independence.

Las Tortilleras, an 1836 lithograph after a painting by Carl Nebel of women grinding corn and making tortillas.

Chapulines, grasshoppers toasted and dusted with chilis, continue to be a popular delicacy.

Urban standard details; Mexico-Tenochtitlan wall remnants stone bricks in Templo Mayor Museum (Mexico City)

The Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli; 1400–1521; cedrela wood, turquoise, pine resin, mother-of-pearl, conch shell, cinnabar; height: {{convert|16.8|cm|in|abbr=on}}, width: {{convert|15.2|cm|in|abbr=on}}; British Museum (London)

The Mask of Tezcatlipoca; 1400–1521; turquoise, pyrite, pine, lignite, human bone, deer skin, conch shell and agave; height: {{convert|19|cm|in|abbr=on}}, width: {{convert|13.9|cm|in|abbr=on}}, length: {{convert|12.2|cm|in|abbr=on}}; British Museum

Double-headed serpent; 1450–1521; Spanish cedar wood (Cedrela odorata), turquoise, shell, traces of gilding & 2 resins are used as adhesive (pine resin and Bursera resin); height: {{convert|20.3|cm|in|abbr=on}}, width: {{convert|43.3|cm|in|abbr=on}}, depth: {{convert|5.9|cm|in|abbr=on}}; British Museum

Chalchihuite relief of Ehecatl Temple; basalt; overall: {{convert|31.4|x|33.82|cm|in|abbr=on}}; discovered in August 2005 during repairs on the Mexico City Cathedral's floor; Ehecatl Temple in Cathedral archeological site (Mexico City)

Page 12 of the Codex Borbonicus, (in the big square): Tezcatlipoca (night and fate) and Quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent); before 1500; bast fiber paper; height: {{convert|38|cm|in|abbr=on}}, length of the full manuscript: {{convert|142|cm|in|abbr=on}}; Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée nationale (Paris)

Aztec calendar stone; 1502–1521; basalt; diameter: {{convert|3.58|m|ft|abbr=on}}; thick: {{convert|98|cm|in|abbr=on}}; discovered on 17 December 1790 during repairs on the Mexico City Cathedral; National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico City)

Underground Great Temple's Chacmool statue; 1440–1469; painted earthenware; length: {{convert|1.26|m|ft|abbr=on}}; Templo Mayor (Mexico City)

Tlāloc effigy vessel; 1440–1469; painted earthenware; height: {{convert|35|cm|in|abbr=on}}; Templo Mayor Museum (Mexico City)

Kneeling female figure; 15th–early 16th century; painted stone; overall: {{convert|54.61|x|26.67|cm|in|abbr=on}}; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Frog-shaped necklace ornaments; 15th–early 16th century; gold; height: {{convert|2.1|cm|in|abbr=on}}; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521.

Mesoamerican civilization developed by the Maya peoples, and noted for its logosyllabic script—the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in pre-Columbian Americas—as well as for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system.

Remains in Joya de Cerén, a Classic-era settlement in El Salvador buried under volcanic ash around 600 AD. Its preservation has greatly helped in the study of everyday life in a Maya farming community.

Stela D from Quiriguá, representing king Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat

Calakmul was one of the most important Classic period cities.

Chichen Itza was the most important city in the northern Maya region.

Zaculeu was capital of the Postclassic Mam kingdom in the Guatemalan Highlands.

Mayapan was an important Postclassic city in the northern Yucatán Peninsula.

Page from the Lienzo de Tlaxcala showing the Spanish conquest of Iximche, known as Cuahtemallan in the Nahuatl language

Drawing by Frederick Catherwood of the Nunnery complex at Uxmal

1892 photograph of the Castillo at Chichen Itza, by Teoberto Maler

Stela from Toniná, representing the 6th-century king Bahlam Yaxuun Tihl

Classic period sculpture showing sajal Aj Chak Maax presenting captives before ruler Itzamnaaj Bʼalam III of Yaxchilan

Lintel 16 from Yaxchilán, depicting king Yaxun Bʼalam in warrior garb

The Puuc-style Labna gateway. The passage is formed by a corbel arch, a common element in Maya architecture.

Reconstruction of the urban core of Tikal in the 8th century AD

Fired bricks with animal designs from Comalcalco. Made from brick since there was a lack of readily available stone, it is unique among major Maya sites.

Terminal Classic palace complex at Sayil, in northern Yucatán

Temple I, at Tikal, was a funerary temple in honour of king Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I.

Model of a triadic pyramid at Caracol, Belize

Pages from the Postclassic period Paris Codex, one of the few surviving Maya books in existence

Maya script on Cancuén Panel 3 describes the installation of two vassals at Machaquilá by Cancuén king Taj Chan Ahk.

Ceramic vessel painted with Maya script in the Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin

Representation of an astronomer from the Madrid Codex

Relief sculpture of a decapitated ballplayer, adorning the Great Ballcourt at Chichen Itza

The Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, in Guatemala City

The Maya civilization developed in the area that today comprises southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.

New Spain

Integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and having its capital in Mexico City.

Giacomo Gastaldi's 1548 map of New Spain, Nueva Hispania Tabula Nova

Spanish historical presence, claimed territories, and expeditions in North America.

New Spain in 1819 with the boundaries established at the Adams–Onís Treaty

Hernán Cortés and La Malinche meet the emperor Moctezuma II in Tenochtitlán, November 8, 1519.

An auto-da-fé in New Spain, 18th century

Girolamo Ruscelli's 1561 map of New Spain, Nueva Hispania Tabula Nova

Vázquez de Coronado Sets Out to the North (1540), by Frederic Remington, oil on canvas, 1905

General locations of the Spanish Presidios built in the 1660s, officered by Spaniards and manned by personnel from Mexico and Peru that defended the native Filipino settlements from Muslim, Wokou, Dutch and English attacks.

White represents the route of the Manila Galleons in the Pacific and the flota in the Atlantic; blue represents Portuguese routes.

Viceroy don Antonio de Mendoza and Tlaxcalan Indians battle with the Caxcanes in the Mixtón war, 1541–42 in Nueva Galicia.

José de Gálvez, 1st Marquess of Sonora, Visitador in New Spain, who initiated major reforms

18th-century soldado de cuera in colonial Mexico

Bernardo de Gálvez and his army at the Siege of Pensacola in 1781.

Spanish territorial claims in the northern West Coast of North America, 18th century

On September 28, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo led the siege of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato

Territories of the Viceroyalty of New Spain which became parts of the United States, Mexico, and other nations by 1900.

Silver coin minted in New Spain. Silver was its most important export, starting in the 16th century. '''8 reales Carlos III - 1778

Indigenous man collecting cochineal with a deer tail by José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez (1777). Cochineal was New Spain's most important export product after silver and its production was almost exclusively in the hands of indigenous cultivators

Arrieros in Mexico. Mules were the main way cargo was moved overland, engraving by Carl Nebel

Pedro de Alvarado, one of the first negotiators to hold office in Hibueras where he founded the towns of San Pedro Sula and Guatemala.

View of the Plaza Mayor of Mexico City, 1695 by Cristóbal de Villalpando

Indian Wedding and Flying Pole, circa 1690

New Spain after the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 (not including the island territories of the Pacific Ocean).

Arco de Santa Catalina, Antigua Guatemala

18th century golden altar piece insede the Tegucigalpa cathedral.

Nahua depiction of smallpox, Book XII on the conquest of Mexico in the Florentine Codex (1576)

Español and Mulata with their Morisco children

Mestizo and India with their Coyote children

Carlos Francisco de Croix, 1st Marquess of Croix, Viceroy of New Spain (1766–1771)

Antonio María de Bucareli, Viceroy of New Spain

Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo, Viceroy of New Spain (1789–1794)

Its jurisdiction comprised a huge area that included what are now Mexico, much of the Southwestern U.S. and California in North America, Central America, northern parts of South America, and several territorial Pacific Ocean archipelagos, the largest and most important being the Philippine Islands.

Acapulco

Codex Tudela: "Acapulco's Yope Indian, at the South Sea"

View of Acapulco, 1879, oil painting by Carl Saltzmann

Hasekura Tsunenaga; the Japanese samurai who led the delegation to Mexico

The Bay of Acapulco from the top of Palma Sola

Acapulco beach with a Bandera monumental in the background

Tlacopanocha, or Tlaco de Panocha, is one of the city's main beaches

Cruise liner at the International Transatlantic Port Lieutenant José Azueta

Hands of Brotherhood and cross, Peace Ecumenical Chapel

The Manila-Acapulco Galleon Memorial at Plaza Mexico in Intramuros, Manila

Acapulco de Juárez, commonly called Acapulco ( , also , Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 380 km south of Mexico City.

Clockwise from top left: Miguel Hidalgo, José María Morelos, Trigarante Army in Mexico City, Mural of independence by O'Gorman, Embrace of Acatempan between Iturbide and Guerrero

Mexican War of Independence

Cristóbal de Villalpando, 1695. View of the Plaza Mayor of Mexico City, showing damage of the viceroy's palace by the 1692 rioters (top right).

Viceroy José de Iturrigaray, overthrown in a coup d'état by peninsular conspirators in 1808

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, by José Clemente Orozco, Jalisco Governmental Palace, Guadalajara

Banner with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe carried by Hidalgo and his insurgent militia. Liberal bishop-elect Manuel Abad y Queipo denounced the insurgents' use of her image as a sacrilege.

1810–11 Towns on the Route of Hidalgo's campaign and the regions where the insurgency took hold.

The corner of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato where insurgents massacred all the Spaniards who went thinking it was a safe refuge. After his execution, Hidalgo's head hung on one corner.

On 28 September 1810, Hidalgo led the siege of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato

Congress of Chilpancingo the day of the signing of Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America. Morelos is standing at far right, with the white kerchief

Félix María Calleja, royalist military commander and then viceroy of New Spain

Vicente Guerrero, mixed-race leader of the insurgency in southern Mexico

Abrazo de Acatempan, Guerrero and Iturbide form an alliance, 1821.

Flag of the Army of the Three Guarantees

A representation of mestizos in a "Caste Painting" from the colonial era.

Flag of the Mexican Empire of Iturbide, the template for the modern Mexican flag with the eagle perched on a cactus. The crown on the eagle's head symbolizes monarchy in Mexico.

The Mexican War of Independence (Guerra de Independencia de México, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from Spain.