History UsefulNotes / Mexico

But they did not count on Ferdinand VII being an idiotic absolutist ideologue with his head up his ass. When this Imperial Mexican constitution arrived in Spain, Ferdinand VII not only declined the offer of a Mexican crown, he refused to recognize the independence of Mexico, and forbade all members of the Spanish House of Bourbon (which included not only his immediate family but also his cousins, the Kings of the Two Sicilies and their family) from accepting the Imperial throne of Mexico. He also made it painfully clear that if his French Bourbon or more distant Habsburg cousins were offered the Mexican crown and accepted, he would find some way to make life hell for them.[[note]]We should note here that both the contemporary and the historical assessment of Ferdinand VII is that he was a arrogant, ill-educated, stupid spoiled brat who had no business actually running a country and showed far too much interest in doing so for someone as unintelligent as he was. The Spaniards themselves called him ''el Rey Felón'' ("The Felon King") for his innumerable abuses, and revolted against his rule at least twice.[[/note]] As a result, the Mexicans found no takers for their offer of a crown even after shopping it around the courts of Europe. Their Plan B was dead, and there was no Plan C.

But they did not count on Ferdinand VII being an idiotic absolutist ideologue with his head up his ass. When this Imperial Mexican constitution arrived in Spain, Ferdinand VII not only declined the offer of a Mexican crown, he refused to recognize the independence of Mexico, and forbade all members of the Spanish House of Bourbon (which included not only his immediate family but also his cousins, the Kings of the Two Sicilies and their family) from accepting the Imperial throne of Mexico. He also made it painfully clear that if his French Bourbon or more distant Habsburg cousins were offered the Mexican crown and accepted, he would find some way to make life hell for them. As a result, the Mexicans found no takers for their offer of a crown even after shopping it around the courts of Europe. Their Plan B was dead, and there was no Plan C.

But they did not count on Ferdinand VII being an idiotic absolutist ideologue with his head up his ass. When this Imperial Mexican constitution arrived in Spain, Ferdinand VII not only declined the offer of a Mexican crown, he refused to recognize the independence of Mexico, and forbade all members of the Spanish House of Bourbon (which included not only his immediate family but also his cousins, the Kings of the Two Sicilies and their family) from accepting the Imperial throne of Mexico. He also made it painfully clear that if his French Bourbon or more distant Habsburg cousins were offered the Mexican crown and accepted, he would find some way to make life hell for them. As a result, the Mexicans found no takers for their offer of a crown even after shopping it around the courts of Europe.

Many things happened in the Colonial period, but for some reason the next 300 years are mostly ignored until ''"La Independencia!"'' Lots of shooting and fighting, wherein the royalists eventually gained the upper hand. Agustín de Iturbide, formerly a royalist, came up with a plan, independent from both insurgents and royalists, and successfully rallied all opposing parties behind him. It was during this time that Iturbide designed the first Mexican flag, based on Aztec mythology, which evolved and was later ratified by him into the basis of the flag we know today. After 11 years of bloody war, he, in 7 months, achieved Independence, in a practically bloodless campaign. Mexico was founded as an Empire, following the tradition of the Natives and the Colony. Spain was offered the chance to name Mexico's ruler, but declined. Iturbide was elected Emperor, but clashed with the Congress, who believed it had full sovereignty of the nation. Iturbide chose to abdicate after seeing another war was brewing. After, he exiled himself, but was executed when he decided to return after discovering a plan by several Catholic nations to rein Mexico back into Spanish power. Then Guadalupe Victoria became the first presidente. His MeaningfulName and very GenderBlenderName is not an accident, as he picked it himself. Vicente Guerrero, former hero of Independence, followed... by rebelling after losing the election and forcibly being sworn in as President. This was mostly the doing of the York Freemasonry, of which he was leader. This act would be the first, but definitely not the last, in México's long, long tradition of presidents coming into power by way of force and bloodshed.

-->-- '''"Mexico"song in WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'''

* LatinLand

It was colonized by UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}, those people in the funny metal Conquistador hats who looked for [[CityOfGold cities of gold]] (or means to [[GoldFever get gold]], they weren't picky), they were initially mistaken for Gods (Quetzalcoatl, mainly) and struck alliances with several of the native nations. It's harsh to judge the natives who allied with Cortés. They had lived under the iron fist of the Mexica, who frequently forced to pay tributes to them.. in the form of men, women and children, who would most of the time be used as human sacrifice, but who also had the option of being eaten ritualistically. Moctezuma, the Emperor of the Mexica/Aztecs, tried to regale Quetzalcoatl/Cortés with Gold, so he would leave, but only instigated greed. Eventually the Spaniards and their indigenous allies came to blows with the Aztecs, having numerical advantage (thanks to the natives), better technology, horses, and most importantly, plagues. (The plagues were actually unintentional but handy at first, inconvenient after victory). Hernán Cortés and his men were able to win against the Aztec empire by manipulating the Aztec's [[LaResistance unwilling subjects]] into an alliance. Fun and profit were had by all. And by all, we mean Cortés, his soldiers, and many of his native allies. Everyone else was either forcibly converted (although considering the documented human sacrifice and cannibalism, conversion probably wasn't a bad thing, for everyone involved) and enslaved in the Hacienda system (think Plantation) or killed. Even his native allies got sort of shafted, also being forcibly converted and becoming second class citizens below Spaniards.

Many things happened in the Colonial period, but for some reason the next 300 years are mostly ignored until ''"La Independencia!"'' Lots of shooting and fighting, wherein the royalists eventually gained the upper hand. Agustín de Iturbide, formerly a royalist, came up with a plan, independent from both insurgents and royalists, and successfully rallied all opposing parties behind him. It was during this time that Iturbide designed the first Mexican flag, which evolved and was later ratified by him into the basis of the flag we know today. After 11 years of bloody war, he, in 7 months, achieved Independence, in a practically bloodless campaign. Mexico was founded as an Empire, following the tradition of the Natives and the Colony. Spain was offered the chance to name Mexico's ruler, but declined. Iturbide was elected Emperor, but clashed with the Congress, who believed it had full sovereignty of the nation. Iturbide chose to abdicate after seeing another war was brewing. After, he exiled himself, but was executed when he decided to return after discovering a plan by several catholic nations to rein Mexico back into Spanish power. Then Guadalupe Victoria became the first presidente. His MeaningfulName and very GenderBlenderName is not an accident, as he picked it himself. Vicente Guerrero, former hero of Independence, followed... by rebelling after losing the election and forcibly being sworn in as President. This was mostly the doing of the York Freemasonry, of which he was leader. This act would be the first, but definitely not the last, in México's long, long tradition of presidents coming into power by way of force and bloodshed.

* '''Highest point:''' Pico de Orizaba (5636 m/18,491 ft) (25th)

Officially known as Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (The United Mexican States), Mexico is a North American country[[note]]Geologically speaking, the border between Central America and North America proper (also known as Northern America) lies in Mexico, but Central America is usually considered part of North America. People mistaking Mexico for "South America" is probably due to the fact that most Mexicans speak Spanish[[/note]] and home of WesternAnimation/SpeedyGonzales, [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bumblebee Man]], Creator/SalmaHayek and Creator/GuillermoDelToro, Mexico can stir up more emotion in three syllables than can be wrought from a {{Wangst}} filled RomanticPlotTumor. Whether it's love or hate depends entirely on the person.

* UsefulNotes/PreColumbianCivilizations (we list five, and two were based in Mexico, so yeah)

La Revolución as a whole, though, is largely misunderstood. Yes, it was sparked by overall good guy Francisco I. Madero's political ideals (and his wanting to be president, too) contrasting with the Porfirian regime. But Díaz resigned and vacated office mere months after the revolution started. The ''real'' conflict came around when Madero, now president, was betrayed by a very obvious traitor called Victoriano Huerta, who was, in fact, aided by the U.S. ambassador in México Henry Lane Wilson--who, confusingly, was completely opposed to UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson, the incoming U.S. President at the time (1912-13) and a known supporter of Madero's reforming efforts.[[note]]H. L. Wilson basically ran his own foreign policy for the United States in México between T. W. Wilson's election in November 1912 and his inauguration in March 1913, at which point...well...suffice it to say that the new POTUS didn't waste any time replacing his representative in Mexico City. (In fine detail, President Wilson sent a personal envoy in the form of former Minnesota Governor John Lind pretty much immediately upon taking office, and dismissed Ambassador Wilson as soon as he could get a replacement through the Senate.)[[/note]] Madero was killed, and became a martyr behind which Villa and Carranza rallied. They defeated Huerta, and all the heroes of the revolution immediately started establishing a peaceful and benevolent... wait, they actually killed each other, until only Álvaro Obregón remained. Like most Revolutions even "conventional" narratives have heros turn villains, betrayals and surprising twists, underdogs winning battles, underdogs losing battles, the constant threat of US intervention (and it sometimes actually meddling in some form) and ultimately a "betrayal" of the Revolution itself by those who were supposed to espouse it. If you want a more in-depth account accessible to English speakers, Creator/MikeDuncan covered the Mexican Revolution in his {{Podcast/Revolutions}} Podcast. Weirdly there is a "monument to the Revolution" in Mexico City which somehow manages to honor people at the same time who killed each other and would have viewed the other as either a dangerous radical, a stooge for the US or a traitor to the cause - or all three at the same time.

La Revolución as a whole, though, is largely misunderstood. Yes, it was sparked by overall good guy Francisco I. Madero's political ideals (and his wanting to be president, too) contrasting with the Porfirian regime. But Díaz resigned and vacated office mere months after the revolution started. The ''real'' conflict came around when Madero, now president, was betrayed by a very obvious traitor called Victoriano Huerta, who was, in fact, aided by the U.S. ambassador in México Henry Lane Wilson--who, confusingly, was completely opposed to UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson, the incoming U.S. President at the time (1912-13) and a known supporter of Madero's reforming efforts.[[note]]H. L. Wilson basically ran his own foreign policy for the United States in México between T. W. Wilson's election in November 1912 and his inauguration in March 1913, which...well...suffice it to say that the new POTUS didn't waste any time replacing his representative in Mexico City. (In fine detail, President Wilson sent a personal envoy in the form of former Minnesota Governor John Lind pretty much immediately upon taking office, and dismissed Ambassador Wilson as soon as he could get a replacement through the Senate.)[[/note]] Madero was killed, and became a martyr behind which Villa and Carranza rallied. They defeated Huerta, and all the heroes of the revolution immediately started establishing a peaceful and benevolent... wait, they actually killed each other, until only Álvaro Obregón remained. Like most Revolutions even "conventional" narratives have heros turn villains, betrayals and surprising twists, underdogs winning battles, underdogs losing battles, the constant threat of US intervention (and it sometimes actually meddling in some form) and ultimately a "betrayal" of the Revolution itself by those who were supposed to espouse it. If you want a more in-depth account accessible to English speakers, Creator/MikeDuncan covered the Mexican Revolution in his {{Podcast/Revolutions}} Podcast. Weirdly there is a "monument to the Revolution" in Mexico City which somehow manages to honor people at the same time who killed each other and would have viewed the other as either a dangerous radical, a stooge for the US or a traitor to the cause - or all three at the same time.

La Revolución as a whole, though, is largely misunderstood. Yes, it was sparked by overall good guy Francisco I. Madero's political ideals (and his wanting to be president, too) contrasting with the Porfirian regime. But Díaz resigned and vacated office mere months after the revolution started. The ''real'' conflict came around when Madero, now president, was betrayed by a very obvious traitor called Victoriano Huerta, who was, in fact, aided by the U.S. ambassador in México Henry Lane Wilson--who, confusingly, was completely opposed to UsefulNotes/WoodrowWilson, the incoming U.S. President at the time (1912-13) and a known supporter of Madero's reforming efforts.[[note]]H. L. Wilson basically ran his own foreign policy for the United States in México between T. W. Wilson's election in November 1912 and his inauguration in March 1913, which...well...suffice it to say that the new POTUS didn't waste any time replacing his representative in Mexico City. (In fine detail, President Wilson sent a personal envoy in the form of former Minnesota Governor John Lind pretty much immediately upon taking office, and dismissed Ambassador Wilson as soon as he could get a replacement through the Senate.[[/note]] Madero was killed, and became a martyr behind which Villa and Carranza rallied. They defeated Huerta, and all the heroes of the revolution immediately started establishing a peaceful and benevolent... wait, they actually killed each other, until only Álvaro Obregón remained. Like most Revolutions even "conventional" narratives have heros turn villains, betrayals and surprising twists, underdogs winning battles, underdogs losing battles, the constant threat of US intervention (and it sometimes actually meddling in some form) and ultimately a "betrayal" of the Revolution itself by those who were supposed to espouse it. If you want a more in-depth account accessible to English speakers, Creator/MikeDuncan covered the Mexican Revolution in his {{Podcast/Revolutions}} Podcast. Weirdly there is a "monument to the Revolution" in Mexico City which somehow manages to honor people at the same time who killed each other and would have viewed the other as either a dangerous radical, a stooge for the US or a traitor to the cause - or all three at the same time.

La Revolución as a whole, though, is largely misunderstood. Yes, it was sparked by overall good guy Francisco I. Madero's political ideals (and his wanting to be president, too) contrasting with the Porfirian regime. But Díaz resigned and vacated office mere months after the revolution started. The ''real'' conflict came around when Madero, now president, was betrayed by a very obvious traitor called Victoriano Huerta, who was, in fact, aided by the U.S. ambassador in México. Madero was killed, and became a martyr behind which Villa and Carranza rallied. They defeated Huerta, and all the heroes of the revolution immediately started establishing a peaceful and benevolent... wait, they actually killed each other, until only Álvaro Obregón remained. Like most Revolutions even "conventional" narratives have heros turn villains, betrayals and surprising twists, underdogs winning battles, underdogs losing battles, the constant threat of US intervention (and it sometimes actually meddling in some form) and ultimately a "betrayal" of the Revolution itself by those who were supposed to espouse it. If you want a more in-depth account accessible to English speakers, Creator/MikeDuncan covered the Mexican Revolution in his {{Podcast/Revolutions}} Podcast. Weirdly there is a "monument to the Revolution" in Mexico City which somehow manages to honor people at the same time who killed each other and would have viewed the other as either a dangerous radical, a stooge for the US or a traitor to the cause - or all three at the same time.

->''"Mexico, why do I feel as I do? I simply fell under they spell of you."''

Mexico's almost as racially diverse as UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, but in different ways. For one thing, there are proportionally far fewer Afro-Mexicans than Afro-Brazilians. About 1-2% of Mexicans claim significant African ancestry, as compared to 5-10% of Brazilians (at a minimum--Black-White ''pardos'' are probably a majority in Brazil). This is largely because most of Mexico was deemed to be poorly suited to plantation agriculture during the era of Spanish rule,[[note]]Probably rightly; much of Mexico is ill-suited to growing the kinds of cash crops that make for good plantation agriculture by virtue of being desert, mountain, or jungle. Moreover, even areas which had good land for cash crops weren't worth turning into plantations because the giant mountain ranges made ''transporting'' anything in Colonial Mexico a tremendous pain in the ''culo''. Sure, you ''could'' grow massive amounts of sugarcane in the plains south of Mexico City, or coffee in the foothills and lower slopes of the mountains between Puebla and Oaxaca, but the roads to the port of Veracruz were so abysmal you probably couldn't get much of your crop to Spain for sale on the world market, so why bother? The major cash crops sugarcane and coffee were eventually successfully cultivated in Mexico (especially in Central and Southern Mexico)--after railroads from the interior to the coast (and to the United States) had solved the transportation problem. However, by that point, slavery had long been abolished in Mexico.[[/note]] so while plenty of African slaves ended up in the Spanish Americas, they tended not to be brought to Mexico (they tended to go to UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}}, [[UsefulNotes/DominicanRepublic Santo Domingo]], UsefulNotes/PuertoRico, and UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}} instead). That being said, Mexico does have the distinction of being the first country in Spanish-speaking America to have a head of state of provable recent sub-Saharan African descent in the form of the country's second president, Vicente Guerrero (after whom the state of Guerrero[[note]]Which with Veracruz is of the few states with a significant concentration of Afro-Mexicans. It's also notable to foreigners as the state where Acapulco is located.[[/note]] is named).

Mexico's almost as racially diverse as UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, but in different ways. For one thing, there are proportionally far fewer Afro-Mexicans than Afro-Brazilians. About 1-2% of Mexicans claim significant African ancestry, as compared to 5-10% of Brazilians (at a minimum--Black-White ''pardos'' are probably a majority in Brazil). This is largely because most of Mexico was deemed to be poorly suited to plantation agriculture during the era of Spanish rule,[[note]]Probably rightly; much of Mexico is ill-suited to growing the kinds of cash crops that make for good plantation agriculture by virtue of being desert, mountain, or jungle. Moreover, even areas which had good land for cash crops weren't worth turning into plantations because the giant mountain ranges made ''transporting'' anything in Colonial Mexico a tremendous pain in the ''culo''. Sure, you ''could'' grow massive amounts of sugarcane in the plains south of Mexico City, or coffee in the mountains between Puebla and Oaxaca, but the roads to the port of Veracruz were so abysmal you probably couldn't get much of your crop to Spain for sale on the world market, so why bother? The major cash crops sugarcane and coffee were eventually successfully cultivated in Mexico (especially in Central and Southern Mexico)--after railroads from the interior to the coast (and to the United States) had solved the transportation problem. However, by that point, slavery had long been abolished in Mexico.[[/note]] so while plenty of African slaves ended up in the Spanish Americas, they tended not to be brought to Mexico (they tended to go to UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}}, [[UsefulNotes/DominicanRepublic Santo Domingo]], UsefulNotes/PuertoRico, and UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}} instead). That being said, Mexico does have the distinction of being the first country in Spanish-speaking America to have a head of state of provable recent sub-Saharan African descent in the form of the country's second president, Vicente Guerrero (after whom the state of Guerrero[[note]]Which with Veracruz is of the few states with a significant concentration of Afro-Mexicans. It's also notable to foreigners as the state where Acapulco is located.[[/note]] is named).

The pop music industry is quite influential in the Spanish-speaking world but it's very hampered because Mexico is a haven of copyright piracy. Local music that plays harder than 2 in the MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness was actively ostracized by mainstream media for decades, specially after the fiasco caused by the "Rock y Ruedas sobre Avándaro", in which the government had to step in due to a sudden MoralPanic. Another factor that stifled the genre preferences was ''[[http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siempre_en_Domingo Siempre en Domingo]]'', a musical variety show displayed on Sundays, which, with a few exceptions, was more a showcase of the presenter's favourite artists rather than a real musical variety show. The breaking point of rock music in Mexico was NAFTA in 1994, which brought a massive, sudden influx of foreign music into Mexico that actually caused moral panic during the [=90s=] as millions of distraught parents found their sons listening to hard rock, metal and other kinds of music that were well around level 9 in the aforementioned music hardness scale. Then the internet brought all the music in [=MP3=] format the early [=P2P=] networks had to offer, and by 2005 rock music was already widely accepted in Mexico. As of 2016, some radio stations have begun occasionally playing hard rock, nobody will bat an eye if they see your phone full of heavy-ish metal, many top name bands like Iron Maiden have begun to routinely perform in Mexico, and the popularity, convenience and low cost of media streaming has led many people to forego piracy (both online and physical) and turn to legal services like Spotify or [=iTunes=].

* UsefulNotes/PreColumbianCivilizations (we list four, and two were based in Mexico, so yeah)

Mexico's almost as racially diverse as UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, but in different ways. For one thing, there are proportionally far fewer Afro-Mexicans than Afro-Brazilians. About 1-2% of Mexicans claim significant African ancestry, as compared to 5-10% of Brazilians (at a minimum--Black-White ''pardos'' are probably a majority in Brazil). This is largely because most of Mexico was deemed to be poorly suited to plantation agriculture during the era of Spanish rule,[[note]]Probably rightly; much of Mexico is ill-suited to growing the kinds of cash crops that make for good plantation agriculture by virtue of being desert, mountain, or jungle. Moreover, even areas which had good land for cash crops weren't worth turning into plantations because the giant mountain ranges made ''transporting'' anything in Colonial Mexico a tremendous pain in the ''culo''. Sure, you ''could'' grow massive amounts of sugarcane in the plains south of Mexico City, or coffee in the mountains between Puebla and Oaxaca, but the roads to the port of Veracruz were so abysmal you probably couldn't get much of your crop to Spain for sale on the world market, so why bother? The major cash crops sugarcane and coffee were eventually successfully cultivated in Mexico (especially in Central and Southern Mexico)--after railroads from the coast to the interior (and into the United States) had solved the transportation problem. However, by that point, slavery had long been abolished in Mexico.[[/note]] so while plenty of African slaves ended up in the Spanish Americas, they tended not to be brought to Mexico (they tended to go to UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}}, [[UsefulNotes/DominicanRepublic Santo Domingo]], UsefulNotes/PuertoRico, and UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}} instead). That being said, Mexico does have the distinction of being the first country in Spanish-speaking America to have a head of state of provable recent sub-Saharan African descent in the form of the country's second president, Vicente Guerrero (after whom the state of Guerrero[[note]]Which with Veracruz is of the few states with a significant concentration of Afro-Mexicans. It's also notable to foreigners as the state where Acapulco is located.[[/note]] is named).

Mexico's almost as racially diverse as UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, but in different ways. For one thing, there are proportionally far fewer Afro-Mexicans than Afro-Brazilians. About 1-2% of Mexicans claim significant African ancestry, as compared to 5-10% of Brazilians (at a minimum--Black-White ''pardos'' are probably a majority in Brazil). This is largely because most of Mexico was deemed to be poorly suited to plantation agriculture during the era of Spanish rule,[[note]]Probably rightly; much of Mexico is ill-suited to growing the kinds of cash crops that make for good plantation agriculture by virtue of being desert, mountain, or jungle. Moreover, even areas which had good land for cash crops weren't worth turning into plantations because the giant mountain ranges made ''transporting'' anything in Colonial Mexico a tremendous pain in the ''culo''. Sure, you ''could'' grow massive amounts of sugarcane in the plains south of Mexico City, but the roads to the port of Veracruz were so abysmal you probably couldn't get much of your crop to Spain for sale on the world market, so why bother? The major cash crops sugarcane and coffee were eventually successfully cultivated in Mexico (especially in Central and Southern Mexico)--after railroads from the coast to the interior (and into the United States) had solved the transportation problem. However, by that point, slavery had long been abolished in Mexico.[[/note]] so while plenty of African slaves ended up in the Spanish Americas, they tended not to be brought to Mexico (they tended to go to UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}}, [[UsefulNotes/DominicanRepublic Santo Domingo]], UsefulNotes/PuertoRico, and UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}} instead). That being said, Mexico does have the distinction of being the first country in Spanish-speaking America to have a head of state of provable recent sub-Saharan African descent in the form of the country's second president, Vicente Guerrero (after whom the state of Guerrero[[note]]Which with Veracruz is of the few states with a significant concentration of Afro-Mexicans. It's also notable to foreigners as the state where Acapulco is located.[[/note]] is named).

Mexico's almost as racially diverse as UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, but in different ways. For one thing, there are proportionally far fewer Afro-Mexicans than Afro-Brazilians. About 1-2% of Mexicans claim significant African ancestry, as compared to 5-10% of Brazilians (at a minimum--Black-White ''pardos'' are probably a majority in Brazil). This is largely because most of Mexico was deemed to be poorly suited to plantation agriculture during the era of Spanish rule,[[note]]Probably rightly; much of Mexico is ill-suited to growing the kinds of cash crops that make for good plantation agriculture by virtue of being desert, mountain, or jungle. Moreover, even areas which had good land for cash crops weren't worth turning into plantations because the giant mountain ranges made ''transporting'' anything in Colonial Mexico a tremendous pain in the ''culo''. Sure, you ''could'' grow massive amounts of sugarcane in the plains south of Mexico City, but the roads to the port of Veracruz were so abysmal you probably couldn't get much of your crop to Spain for sale on the world market, so why bother? The major cash crops sugarcane and coffee were eventually successfully cultivated in Mexico (especially in Central and Southern Mexico), but slavery was abolished in Mexico before they took hold.[[/note]] so while plenty of African slaves ended up in the Spanish Americas, they tended not to be brought to Mexico (they tended to go to UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}}, [[UsefulNotes/DominicanRepublic Santo Domingo]], UsefulNotes/PuertoRico, and UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}} instead). That being said, Mexico does have the distinction of being the first country in Spanish-speaking America to have a head of state of provable recent sub-Saharan African descent in the form of the country's second president, Vicente Guerrero (after whom the state of Guerrero[[note]]Which with Veracruz is of the few states with a significant concentration of Afro-Mexicans. It's also notable to foreigners as the state where Acapulco is located.[[/note]] is named).

Mexico's almost as racially diverse as UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, but in different ways. For one thing, there are proportionally far fewer Afro-Mexicans than Afro-Brazilians. About 1-2% of Mexicans claim significant African ancestry, as compared to 5-10% of Brazilians (at a minimum--Black-White ''pardos'' are probably a majority in Brazil). This is largely because most of Mexico was deemed to be poorly suited to plantation agriculture during the era of Spanish rule,[[note]]Probably rightly; most of Mexico is ill-suited to growing the kinds of cash crops that make for good plantation agriculture by virtue of being desert, mountain, or jungle. The major cash crops sugarcane and coffee were eventually successfully cultivated in Mexico (especially in Central and Southern Mexico), but slavery was abolished in Mexico before they took hold.[[/note]] so while plenty of African slaves ended up in the Spanish Americas, they tended not to be brought to Mexico (they tended to go to UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}}, [[UsefulNotes/DominicanRepublic Santo Domingo]], UsefulNotes/PuertoRico, and UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}} instead). That being said, Mexico does have the distinction of being the first country in Spanish-speaking America to have a head of state of provable recent sub-Saharan African descent in the form of the country's second president, Vicente Guerrero (after whom the state of Guerrero[[note]]Which with Veracruz is of the few states with a significant concentration of Afro-Mexicans. It's also notable to foreigners as the state where Acapulco is located.[[/note]] is named).

* '''Highest point:''' Pico de Orizaba (5636 m/18,491 ft) (43rd)

* '''Country calling code:''' 52

The waters did not calm down after that. Liberals won, politically. Their reform laws saw the church and the military losing their privilege (this, however, conveniently did not apply to the political class). Many church-owned and operated establishments, such as schools and orphanages were extricated from them. The church losing its political power was a worldwide trend, however, in México, it was wildly antidemocratic, as most of the population was, and still is, feverishly Catholic. Then president Ignacio Comonfort was not as comfortable as his name suggests. He got a mixed cabinet of both liberals and conservatives and then self-coup d' état'ed. As it turns out, both groups engaged in mature and constructive debate for the betterment of the country via nasty war. This was called the Reform War. Benito Juárez gained the presidency after Comonfort was forced to step down (he wasn't elected, but he became acting president in such a crisis, as President of the Supreme Justice Court). He then fled the capital, declaring he had Emergency Powers and that the government would be wherever he was. In the capital though, two other presidents arose. The interim president and the newly-elected Conservador president, Miguel Miramón. Miramón fought as a child during the defense of the Chapultepec Castle in the Mexican-American war, and was truly a military ace. Under his command, los conservadores started gaining the upper hand, until Juárez was forced to fortify his position in Veracruz. Meanwhile, the U.S. government couldn't decide on whose presidency it would recognize. It dictated terms, wherein México would give the U.S. perpetual rights to use the narrower part of México as a canal for commerce (what would end up happening with the Canal of Panamá). The conservadores couldn't compromise, but Juárez and the liberals did. After Juárez' representatives signed the McLane-Ocampo treaty, which is fairly unknown but constitutes a violation by the president of national sovereignty, the U.S. agreed to back Juárez's government, and it essentially won the war for the liberals. This, in turn, convinced the defeated conservadores to fight fire with fire. If the liberals had U.S. backing, then they would secure European support for their side.

La Revolución as a whole, though, is largely misunderstood. Yes, it was sparked by overall good guy Francisco I. Madero's political ideals (and his wanting to be president, too) contrasting with the Porfirian regime. But Díaz resigned and vacated office mere months after the revolution started. The ''real'' conflict came around when Madero, now president, was betrayed by a very obvious traitor called Victoriano Huerta, who was, in fact, aided by the U.S. ambassador in México. Madero was killed, and became a martyr behind which Villa and Carranza rallied. They defeated Huerta, and all the heroes of the revolution immediately started establishing a peaceful and benevolent... wait, they actually killed each other, until only Álvaro Obregón remained. Like most Revolutions even "conventional" narratives have heros turn villains, betrayals and surprising twists, underdogs winning battles, underdogs losing battles, the constant threat of US intervention (and it sometimes actually meddling in some form) and ultimately a "betrayal" of the Revolution itself by those who were supposed to espouse it. If you want a more in-depth account accessible to English speakers, Creator/MikeDuncan covered the Mexican Revolution in his {{Podcast/Revolustions}} Podcast. Weirdly there is a "monument to the Revolution" in Mexico City which somehow manages to honor people at the same time who killed each other and would have viewed the other as either a dangerous radical, a stooge for the US or a traitor to the cause - or all three at the same time.

On the other hand, Mexico has a much larger population of Indigenous/Amerindian people, and by and large the indigenous languages and cultures of Mexico are healthier and more secure than the ones in Brazil (there are exceptions in both directions, of course). As much as 40% of Mexicans are of essentially Indigenous stock, although only about half of those self-identify as Indigenous (the rest identify as Mestizo) and only half of those who self-identify actually speak an Indigenous language natively. That last group (native speakers of Indigenous languages) still comes out to nearly 12 million people (compared to about 817,000 Indigenous Brazilians).

Also, but don't expect any tour to take you there, you can find astoundingly poor mountain villages with Indians, starving to death and forgotten to the world. The slum village you seem in the movies can be found almost exactly as pictured in several places of the country.

Depending who you ask things were "relatively" dull under Porfirio Díaz's mostly enlightened "Presidency" until 1910 and ''"La Revolución!"'' (For some reason, [[UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates Americans]] really dig this part of the Mexican history. As a Mexican school kid, all this troper can say is any civil war with more than three factions is a headache to keep track of (not complaining about the holiday, though). This is where you'll see "Bandidos" and outlaws, charismatic rebels like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata leading the peasants against the centre, small Mexican towns in need of rescue by MightyWhitey, and quite a few [[TheWestern westerns]]... (southerns?)

La Revolución as a whole, though, is largely misunderstood. Yes, it was sparked by overall good guy Francisco I. Madero's political ideals (and his wanting to be president, too) contrasting with the Porfirian regimen. But Díaz resigned and vacated office mere months after the revolution started. The ''real'' conflict came around when Madero, now president, was betrayed by a very obvious traitor called Victoriano Huerta, who was, in fact, aided by the U.S. ambassador in México. Madero was killed, and became a martyr behind which Villa and Carranza rallied. They defeated Huerta, and all the heroes of the revolution immediately started establishing a peaceful and benevolent... wait, they actually killed each other, until only Álvaro Obregón remained.

Once La Revolución ends, Mexico had some nice, long 70 years of [[strike:dictatorship]] democracy bordering on BananaRepublic under the PRI, founded by the people who won the Revolution. Thing is, while it was a single-party system, the presidents only served for six years apiece (originally 4 years, but Lázaro Cárdenas expanded the term), giving the illusion of change. Some were visionaries, a few went insane. The last one that tried to get reelected (some people never learn), Álvaro Obregón, Carranza's BFF (who got his arm blown off by Villa himself) was murdered by a Catholic fanatic... so the next one who succeeded him, Plutarco Elías Calles A.K.A. "El Jefe (Máximo de la Revolución)" just decided that [[TheManBehindTheMan ruling from the shadows]] was way safer and more profitable, until Cárdenas exiled him. Cárdenas went on to become Mexico's most popular president by instituting the largest agrarian reform to date.