- In 1522, King Carlos I of Spain, in recognition of Cortez's
conquests, appointed him governor of 'New Spain', eventually
renamed Mexico. Prior to the Spanish conquest, the Aztec
tribe, known for their practice of human sacrifices, lived
in Mexico. Between the years 1520 and 1620, the Indian population
in Mexico decreased from 22 million to less than one million
- primarily as a result of exposure to viruses that the
Spanish had introduced to the region, to which the Indians
had no immunity. From 1545 until the 19th century, Black
slaves were brought from the Antiles and Africa, many of
whom married Indian or mestizo spouses and were absorbed
into the diverse population. They were called Castas. Many
Blacks also died of diseases from European viruses. The
colonial government divided the Whites into two hierarchical
groups: the Gachopins, born in Spain, who held government,
church, and army positions or any other position that involved
loyalty to the throne, and the Creoles - Whites born as
Whites in Mexico itself. While these two groups were in
theory equal, in practice, the Creoles were banned from
important positions. The Indians were perceived as inferior
but the government prohibited selling them as slaves and
made it compulsory to pay them for their work. Mestizos
were required to pay a special tax, and it was forbidden
for them to study certain subjects, such as law. Like the
Indians, they were not allowed to carry weapons and to live
in certain areas. Nevertheless, in the army Gachopins, Creoles
and mestizos (mixture of white and Indian) all served together.
Towards the end of the 18th century, Europe's Enlightenment
ideas began filtering into Mexico, prompting a reassessment
of Indian heritage and the Spanish conquest, and inviting
a Mexican nationalistic identification with Indian symbols
and myths such as 'the Guadelopa Virgin'. In the second
half of the 18th century, as a result of the American and
French revolutions, Creoles began to identify more as Mexicans.
In 1808 a French king was crowned in Mexico. The Gachopins
identified with the local military J`unta and the Creoles
claimed that sovereignty had been restored to the people.
A race war broke out. 1823 the Mexican congress assembled
and ratified a federal constitution, which appointed a president
who freed the slaves, abolished aristocracy titles and limited
church owned property. The Gachopins fled, in this period,
to Spain, taking much wealth with them and initiating a
long period of economic deadlock and politic chaos. A civil
war took place in which the church played an integral role
since it opposed Mexico's secular constitution. In 1876
a president was elected who established a stable government
that cruelly suppressed the Indian uprising. The regime
was firm and brutal, and responsible for election fraud,
yet the economic state was stable and foreigners began investing
in Mexico. Initially, church lands were distributed in order
to build big estates, peasants were dispossessed of their
land and the ruling class was comprised of Creoles. Meanwhile,
the number of mestizos grew. In 1912 a civil war broke out
which ultimately led to the separation of Church and State,
the renewed distribution of land, and the establishment
of schools in agrarian regions. The 'Nationalist Revolutionary
Party' was established in 1929 to protest a halt in land
distribution. This party became the only real political
force and in 1934 the distribution of land was renewed with
vigor. Since then the government in Mexico has been stable
and based on a culture that is a fusion of three elements
- Indian culture, Spanish culture, and modern Mexican culture.
The Mexican is characterized by his incongruous nature.
He loves and respects tradition, appreciates honesty and
proper etiquette, is usually friendly and discrete - but
sometimes he can become cold and aloof. His temperament
is unstable. He does not pursue his goal with sufficient
dedication and commitment. He wants to know and try everything
and at times will be unruly. He is quick to grasp things,
yet violent. He loves life, children and partying above
all. Beyond this, the Mexican lives with a profound awareness
of death, an awareness tied to the Aztec myth of creation.
The bullfight represents the celebration of death. The bull
symbolizes death that sometimes takes us by surprise. On
November 2nd every year, children play with skull shaped
toys - an activity that makes the concept of death less
foreign to them. This distinctively Mexican motif of death
fuses elements of Spanish and Indian culture. Mexicans consider
coexistence and integration of the races an ideal state
and from this stems the prohibition in Mexico against writing
down a person's origins. This attitude developed as a consequence
of civil wars in which both sides sought the alliance of
the Indians. This is why the revolutions were connected
to the apportionment of land and redressing the injustice
that was done in confiscating Indian land. Pregnant women
refrain from killing animals since there is a Mexican superstition
that the soul of the animal may enter the body of the baby,
as well as a myth connected to the Talopha Matphic virgin.
Breaching one's godfather's trust is considered one of the
most serious offenses, an attitude whose roots are in Spanish
culture, a fusion of hierarchy, patronage and intimacy.
As a result of all these factors, the Mexicans lack any
clear ethnic connection. Their language and religion were
bequeathed to them by their Spanish conquerors while their
primordial traditional heritage is Indian in nature. Thus,
culturally, they are Spanish and Western, while emotionally
they are Indian - a synthesis that is distinctly Mexican.
The Mexican definition of nationalism dates back less than
70 years old, from the time political reforms were introduced
in the year 1934. Their definition is a late 20th century
one and is based on the principle of inclusion of all classes,
including the Indians, and on political equality. In practice,
Mexican society remained hierarchical and based on patronage,
as Roniger described. Roniger defines hierarchic patronage
in its most expansive sense, which goes to the root of these
basic concepts in Latin American society. Patronage is intertwined
with accepted societal norms in various ways. The most common
is when employment opportunities are offered in exchange
for one's support in an elections. A patronage relationship
may be formed when politicians have the means to guarantee
a loan, a spot in a high school, or a bed in a hospital
to their friends, to friends of friends, and to mere supporters,
and public officials have the ability to grant preferential
care - in exchange for political support. People seek a
connection with a powerful person in order to secure political
protection, or in order to raise their social status. Arrangements,
such as these, would be illegal in modern Western countries
but they are a standard accepted norm in Latin America,
in general, and in Mexico, in particular. These are some
of the factors that create a nationalism that is a mixed
weave of modern and ancient, where equality is theoretically
and fundamentally part of the democratic ideology but is
not personified in social conduct, where races and ethnic
classes are meant to preserve their distinctness and in
practice intermingle with each other. Mexico, in contrast
to the US, does not deny the racial inequality that exists
in its country, though in practice, racial integration takes
place, and is gradually even becoming an ideal.
