HISTORY

Before the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th cent., great indigenous civilizations (the Aztec, Maya, Toltec, Mixtec, Zapotec, and Olmec) flourished in Mexico. Arriving in 1519, Hernán Cortés overthrew the Aztec empire (1521) and captured its ruler, Montezuma. The territory became the viceroyalty of New Spain in 1535. Spanish conquerors exploited the mineral wealth of the land, using as laborers the native population and a growing mestizo class; at the same time they extended Spanish rule to the remainder of Mexico and to what is now the southwestern U.S. 

A rebellion led (1810-15) by Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla failed, but in 1821 Spain accepted Mexican independence, and an "empire," headed by Augustín de Iturbide, was established in 1822. In 1823 army officers overthrew the empire and established a federal republic. The early years were marked by turmoil and corruption. Texas broke free of Mexican rule in 1836, and in the ensuing Mexican War (1846-48) with the U.S., Mexico lost much territory. Internally, the republic was torn by strife among contending political leaders, and in 1855 a democratic reform movement, led by Benito Juárez, overthrew the dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Anna and drafted a liberal constitution. Civil war followed, and in 1864 Napoleon Iii of France, who had colonial ambitions, established another ill-starred Mexican empire, under the Hapsburg prince Maximilian; it collapsed in 1867, and Maximilian was killed. 

Then followed the long reformist dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, who ruled Mexico with a firm hand for most of the 35 years after 1876. Díaz promoted economic growth and provided a degree of stability, but his encouragement of the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few spawned a new generation of revolutionaries. Among these were Emiliano Zapata, Francisco "Pancho" Villa (whose raid into the U.S. in 1916 resulted in a brief retaliatory U.S. invasion of Mexico), and Francisco I. Madero, who toppled Díaz in 1911 but was himself overthrown and murdered in 1913. 

A foundation for reform was laid by Venustiano Carranza's constitution of 1917. In 1929 Plutarco Elías Calles founded the National Revolutionary party (renamed the Institutional Revolutionary party, or PRI, in 1946), which has governed Mexico ever since. During the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-40), land was redistributed, illiteracy reduced, power projects initiated, and some industries nationalized. Cárdenas's successors have tended to stress industrial development, which has benefited the middle and upper classes. In 1982 the faltering economy caused the government to devalue the peso and nationalize the banks; the country's enormous foreign debt hampered economic growth.

In 1988 Carlos Salinas De Gortari was elected president amid charges of widespread fraud. Salinas opened Mexico to foreign investment, signed the North American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. and Canada, and oversaw a general improvement in the economy. A Mayan-based uprising (1994) in the southern state of Chiapas, however, provided a reminder of the poverty in which many Mexicans still live. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce De León, the PRI candidate, succeeded Salinas as president in 1994; Zedillo's election was regarded by most observers as generally fair. 

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