Dale Hoyt Palfrey April 21, 1519 — the year Ce Acatl (One Reed) by Aztec reckoning — marked the opening of a short but decisive chapter in Mexico’s history. On that day a fleet of 11 Spanish galleons sailing along the eastern gulf coast dropped anchor just off the wind-swept beach on the island of […]
Continue ReadingDateline-San Francisco Ixtacamaxtitlan September 29, l998 Part I In February 1519 Hernan Cortez and his small army of adventurers set sail from Cuba on one of the most epic military adventures in the history of our world. Unfortunately, the history of Mexico has since been tarnished by plunder, corruption, and greed. The following quotes refer […]
Continue ReadingDoors are locked. Lights extinguished. The world belongs to the nocturnal creatures, the ocean, the breeze, and a trickle of night people. Time is irrelevant. The past, the present, and the future assume the same dimension. Men in tuxedos. Trousers rolled up and shoes cast aside. Ladies in fashionable evening dresses, held up to their […]
Continue ReadingI have been receiving a number of letters from people who have an interest in pre-Columbian Mexico and therefore this article will be mostly about my explorations in the vicinity of Tlaxco. Tlaxco is a small town in the small state of Tlaxcala where I live. It is stated that man has inhabited Tlaxcala for […]
Continue ReadingHistory of Oaxaca Part 1 – Pre-hispanic Era See, also: Part 2 Colonial Era Part 3 Modern Era In three installments we will present a history of Oaxaca, its people, traditions and activities. We begin in this article with the pre-Hispanic era, to be followed by the colonial and the modern eras. For more than […]
Continue ReadingA charwoman-actress once captivated Mexican high society in her alter ego as Don Carlos Balmori. An elaborate tomb in Mexico City’s main cemetery, the Panteón Civil de Dolores, is a lasting reminder of one of the nation’s strangest ever spoofs. Hand-painted tiles once decorated the tomb depicting Concepción (Conchita) Jurado as both an elderly grey-haired […]
Continue ReadingSeveral famous Mexican artists had serious physical disabilities. Three Mexican artists, whose very different works are admired annually by thousands, and who were born in successive decades of the nineteenth century, each achieved greatness despite the fact that they suffered from a serious physical disability. Jesús Contreras was born in 1866. He studied in Europe, […]
Continue ReadingMiguel Hidalgo y Costilla was born at the Corralejo Hacienda in Pénjamo, Guanajuato, on May 8, 1753. He was sent to Valladolid (now Morelia) to study at the San Nicolás Obispo College, where he later taught theology, philosophy and ethics. He eventually became college Rector. In 1792, he was ordained as a priest and, after […]
Continue ReadingThe history of Mexico begins perhaps as much as 30,000 years ago. Sometime during the last ice age nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers from Asia first crossed the Bering Strait and entered the Western Hemisphere. (There is is now an alternative theory that peoples also landed in the South Americas from both Africa and the Pacific […]
Continue Reading
Postclassic period 900 A.D. – 1521 A.D. – world of trade and tribute
Continue Reading