Page 48 - STRATEGY Magazine

SPECIAL INSIGHT: MEXICO
Ancestral Greatness Echoed in Modern Mexico
Mexico’s heritage includes not one, but several, of the world’s great early civilizations. According to legend, the Aztecs were promised dominion over a powerful empire. In the modern world, Mexico strives to fulfill this destiny.
Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central) is a mural created by Diego Rivera between the years 1946 and 1947. The fresco is currently located at the Museo Mural Diego Rivera, México City, Mexico.
According to legend, the Aztecs were instructed by their god to leave their homes—in a mythical land called Aztlán, possibly in what is now northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States—in search of a promised land to be marked by a bird perched on a cactus devouring a reptile. In this land, it was foretold that they would establish the most powerful empire in Mesoamer- ica. Following centuries of wandering, they arrived at Lake Texcoco, where, on a small island in the middle of the lake, they saw an eagle on a cactus gobbling a snake, and here their arduous pilgrimage concluded. Archaeologists estimate that this moment of divine revelation occurred around 1325, when
the Aztec founded upon the island the magnificent ancient city of Tenochtitlán, which scholars estimate was home to more than 200,000 residents by the time the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century.
After Spanish conquest and colonization in the 16th cen- tury, efforts by the Spanish to control flooding led to most of the lake being drained. Today the basin is almost completely occupied by México City, the capital of Mexico. The ceremo- nial center of the ancient city on the lake still holds a place of prominence as the Zócalo, or main square, of México City. The promise of a powerful empire by the Aztec god, it would appear, was fulfilled; and so it is that the eagle perched on a
FROM ANCIENT MESOAMERICA TO THE TOLTECS
The origin of the Olmecs—Meso- america’s first major civilization—is
a mystery. Mexico’s “mother culture” flourishes from 1200 BC to 100 BC in what is today Veracruz and Tabasco.
Based on a divine prophecy, the nomadic Aztecs settle in Mexico’s Central Valley, where they founded the magnificent city of Tenochtitlán.
Hernán Cortés sets sail from Cuba. After arriving in the Yucatan, the Spaniards take control of the town of Tabasco. Cortés learns of the Aztec civilization and begins his famous march inward into Mexico.
The Aztec empire falls to Cortés, who destroys Tenoch- titlán. In its place he builds México City, which becomes the New World’s center of European culture.
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The remarkably advanced Maya civiliza- tion, which began in the Yucata[accent over a]n, enters its classic period. It becomes one of the dominant cultures in Mesoamerica by 600 AD.
The formidable Aztecs emerge as the most powerful force in central Mexico after defeating their main adversaries. Their complex society displays an advanced economy, an intricate social and religious structure, and great artistry, including stunning temples and palaces.
Cortés arrives in Tenochtitlán, where he is honored as the light-skinned god Quetzalcoatl. He betrays Moctezuma’s trust, taking him hostage and gaining control of the city.
250 AD
1428
NOV 1519
1500 BC
1325
FEB 1519
AUG 13, 1521
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