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A PLACE OF 3 CULTURES. 10-2. I Aztecs and the Spaniards. A. The Aztecs had built a powerful empire in central Mexico B. Tenochtitlan occupied the site of modern Mexico City C. Hernan Cortes, a Spanish adventurer, marched his soldiers into Tenochtitlan in 1519
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I Aztecs and the Spaniards • A. The Aztecs had built a powerful empire in central Mexico • B. Tenochtitlan occupied the site of modern Mexico City • C. Hernan Cortes, a Spanish adventurer, marched his soldiers into Tenochtitlan in 1519 • D. Within 2 years, the Aztec empire was destroyed • E. The territory won by Cortes became the colony of New Spain
F. 4 Social classes emerged in New Spain: • 1. peninsulares • 2. criolles • 3. mestizos • 4. Indians • G. The Indians provided labor on Spanish-owned haciendas – large estates run as farms or cattle ranches • H. The King rewarded explorers by providing them with haciendas and the Indians who worked them were known as encomienda • I. Indians lived a slave-like existence under encomienda
II. Road to Democracy • A. Criollo(resentment of the privileges of peninsulares) erupted into conflict in the early 1800s • B. The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 when peasants and middle-class Mexicans rebelled • C. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) controlled Mexican politics until the election in 2000
III. Social Conditions • A. After the Mexican Revolution, the government divided haciendas among landless peasants in the policy of land redistribution • B. The government awarded most of the redistributed land in ejidos(land held collectively by members of a rural community) • 1. in an ejidos, farmers generally practice subsistence farming – only growing enough to meet their own needs • C. 1/3 of Mexico’s farms are huge commercial farms called latifundios, which raise cash-crops (crops raised for sale and profit) • D. Many landless, jobless peasants travel from place to place as migrant workers
IV. Economic Activities • A. Major Industries • 1. Petroleum extraction and tourism are important to Mexico’s economy • 2. the state-owned oil company provides revenue that rises or falls along with oil prices • 3. climate, scenery, and cultural history make tourism an important source of income for Mexico • 4. Tourism is a cleaner alternative to industry; Mexicans call tourism the “smokeless industry” • B. Border Industries • 1. Maquiladores– factories that assemble products for export in the United States are clustered along the United States-Mexico border