Understanding Global Cultures by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781483340050
Publisher: Sage
Published: 2015-07-03T15:09:39+00:00

Historical Background

When Cortés arrived in 1519, Mexico was populated by hundreds of indigenous tribes, including the Aztecs, the Incas, and the Mayas. It took only 2 years for Cortés to conquer the indigenous people in the name of Spain. He was aided in this endeavor by several tribes that chafed under the dominating rule of the Aztecs and Incas. Although most of the indigenous people were wiped out by the conquest and European diseases, those remaining were instructed by the Spanish in the Catholic faith during the colonial era. The silver mines and the people of Mexico were exploited and the riches sent back to Spain.

After victory over Spain in the War of Independence (1810–1820), Mexico began a period of independence and turmoil that lasted another 100 years. By 1853, half of Mexico’s territory had been acquired by the United States, mostly in the Mexican war. This period featured unstable leadership and exploitation of the poor peons by the elite landholders, who made the peons virtual slaves on the hacienda farms. One leader during this time was Benito Juárez, notable in part because he was pure Zapotec Indian.

When the Mexican revolution ended in 1920, after 10 years of intense fighting between various factions representing the large landholders and the poor, presidential elections began. The government attempted to break up the Catholic Church, which was a large conservative landholder, and a constitution was drawn up separating church and state. The church was not allowed to hold land, and priests could not vote, although religion remained inseparably woven throughout the lives of most Mexicans. Land holdings of the church and large landholders were taken away and given to the peasants and indigenous people under land reform measures.

Catholicism in recent years has decreased in popularity, with nearly 100% of the population identifying as Catholic in 1960 and about 80% doing so today. Protestantism, particularly of the evangelical variety, has correspondingly risen from nearly zero to at least 6%. Some reasons for its appeal to the poor include its firm stance against alcohol and its more open and less hierarchical approach. Anti-Catholic films highlighting the faults of the clergy have become popular. El crimen del Padre Amaro has become one of the most popular films in Mexican history; it relates the true tale of a 19th-century priest who violated his vows of celibacy and paid for an abortion that resulted in the death of a poor young woman.

In spite of the beneficial outcomes of the Mexican revolution ending in 1920, many problems remain today, including poverty, unemployment, an inadequate educational system, inefficient industry due to the operations of business cartels, drug gangs or cartels, and an inefficient agriculture. In some ways the economic situation has improved markedly over the last 90 years, in large part because of the discovery of oil and the other factors discussed previously. Still, given all its problems, Mexico received a relatively high rating among nations on the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom: 50 out of 179.

One political party, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), dominated politics for 72 years.

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