Title: RETRACING MEXICAN ANCESTRY Power Point Visual: Card 1 Is anyone here Mexican? Who has a friend that is Mexican? According to the 2006 census, 9.6 percent of our nation’s total population is of Mexican descent. In the state of California, people of Mexican descent account for over 21 percent of the total population. It is undeniable that “Mexican” is all around us. But do we truly understand the ancestry of the Mexican people? Who is a Mexican? Power Point Visual: Card 2 The first traces of human life in the region that we know today as Mexico date back to 20,000 BC. During this time, known as the Archaic period, it is believed that hunters and gathers migrated from Asia, across the Bering Strait and southward into the region of Mesoamerica, that is the land between North and South America. Power Point Visual: Card 3 During the Pre-Classic, or Formative period, the most prominent group in the region was the Olmecs. This group declined around 500 BC. They are most well-known for extremely large basalt stone head carvings. Power Point Visual: Card 4 During the Classic Period, many customs of the Olmecs were inherited by the Mayan civilization. The Mayans were considered the most advanced civilization of ancient Mexico. They created a hieroglyphic language system, and the use of zero in mathematics. In the 1500s, the few remaining Mayan populations were wiped out by Spanish settlers, and most all writings of this impressive civilization were destroyed. Power Point Visual: Card 5

During the Post-Classical Period, the Aztecs were the rulers of today’s Mexico. Within 300 years, this group rose to be the most powerful civilization in the Americas. In 1325, they founded Tenochtitlan, which is the site of modern-day Mexico City. The Aztecs are the most extensively documented of the Amerindian civilizations, and today we can still refer to and learn from these detailed records. Moctezuma the Second was ruler of the Aztec empire at the height of the civilization’s reign in 1520. Power Point Visual: Card 6 It was during this same year that the Spaniard Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico. Moctezuma believed in the God of Queztlcoatl- the Aztec God who would one day return as a bearded and fair-skinned man. When Moctezuma encountered Cortes, he believed him to be the God in the form of a man. He welcomed Cortes into his palace, but was betrayed when he was placed under arrest by the Spaniards. The Aztec empire had fallen, and in 1521, the Spanish now controlled the region we know as Mexico. From the ruins of a once thriving Aztec city, Cortes built a European-style colonial capital and called it New Spain.’ One primary goal of the Spanish was to convert all indigenous to Catholicism. Power Point Visual: Card 7 Some 12,000 churches were built in the 300 years of Spanish reign. The missionaries have been credited with laying the groundwork for the creation of the culture of the Mexican, as they educated the natives and introduced to them European music and arts.

A caste system was in place during Spanish rule of Mexico. Power Point Visual: Card 8 The Spaniards born in Spain were at the top of the ladder. Below were those born in Mexico to Spanish parents. Below were mestizos, or offspring of unions between Spaniards and indigenous. Below that were the pure

indigenous. And at the bottom were slaves.

Much of the indigenous population had been killed by war or disease. Therefore the Spanish remedied a slave shortage by importing African slaves to Mexico. In addition, Filipinos, Chinese and mixed Europeans emigrated to Mexico. Therefore, the ethnic makeup of Mexico would become richly diverse.

A combination of the caste system and other troubles ignited events that would lead up to Mexico’s independence.

In the 1800s, revolutionaries unsuccessfully attempted revolt against Spain. It was not until 1821, when both patriots and loyalists would join together and achieve independence. Power Point Visual: Image 9 A mestizo general and a revolutionary rebel leader, together, issued the Plan for the Three Guarantees. The three goals of the Plan: Religion, Independence and Union were represented in three colors of Red, Green and White. The Army of the Three Guarantees entered Mexico City on September 23rd, 1821, waving a flag naming the three goals. It is on this day that independence from Spain was recognized for the nation. In November of that same year, the three stripes on the flag were turned vertically, and the official flag of Mexico was adopted, and a nation of people born. The history of Mexico’s people is rich and colorful. Power Point Visual: Image 10 The roots of these people is in its indigenous tribes. Today, approximately 6 million people continue to speak an indigenous languages in Mexico.

From the Spanish seeds planted in Mesoamerican soil, the Mexican was born.

There are many faces behind what we label ‘a Mexican’. Through our awareness of the their rich history, we can learn to appreciate them, as a people of a complex culture. We can learn to appreciate the Mexican, in us, and those around us.