30 Interesting Facts about Mexico History You Won't Believe

(Last Updated On: October 11, 2021)

There are a lot of interesting facts about Mexico history. Mexico’s recorded history dates back over three millennia. Central and southern Mexico (known as Mesoamerica) has seen the development and collapse of sophisticated indigenous civilizations since it was first occupied more than 13,000 years ago. This article will share many more interesting facts about Mexico history like this!

Mexico would go on to become a truly multicultural society. Glyphic writing systems were created by Mesoamerican civilizations to chronicle the political history of conquests and rulers, interesting facts about Mexico history. The pre-Hispanic or pre-Columbian era refers to Mesoamerican history prior to the advent of Europeans. Following Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821, the country experienced political instability.

One of the most fascinating facts about Mexico is that the world’s biggest pyramid is actually located in Cholula, not Giza. The Great Pyramid of Cholula, also known as Tlachihualtepetl, is the world’s biggest pyramid by volume. It’s approximate twice the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza, measuring 4.45 million cubic meters, interesting facts about Mexico history. The pyramid is now hidden beneath the renowned Shrine of Our Lady of Remedies, whose grounds may be explored to learn more about the site’s historic history.

The first worldwide currency was the Mexican silver peso. The colonial administration produced a billion of these silver pieces from silver mined in Mexico. In Spain, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia, they were utilized, interesting facts about Mexico history. These silver pieces, sometimes known as Spanish dollars, are the legendary “Pieces of Eight” mentioned in pirate tales. Because they were worth eight reals — Mexico’s currency – they were dubbed “pieces of eight.”, history about Mexico.

In the 1860s, France took power, but the dictatorship was overthrown by a public uprising. The late 19th century saw quiet, affluent prosperity, but the Mexican Revolution in 1910 ushered in a terrible civil conflict. Economic development was moderate throughout the 1920s when the peace was restored, but population growth was fast.

These civilizations evolved in a location where there were no large navigable rivers, no beasts of burden, and rough terrain that hampered people and goods transportation. Indigenous cultures created intricate ceremonial and solar calendars, as well as a deep grasp of astronomy and glyph-based communication, interesting facts about Mexico history. Archaeologists, epigraphers, and ethnohistorians (studies of indigenous histories, generally from indigenous perspectives) examine Mesoamerican indigenous manuscripts, notably Aztec, Mayan, and Mixtec codices, to learn about Mexico’s past before the Spanish invasion.

The primary source of knowledge about Mexico during the Spanish Conquest is accounts recorded by Spaniards at the time of the conquest (the conquistadores) and Indigenous chroniclers of the postconquest era, interesting facts about Mexico history. Although few pictorial manuscripts (or codices) from the Maya, Mixtec, and Mexica cultures exist from the Post-Classic era, advances have been achieved in Maya archaeology and epigraphy.

Interesting facts about Mexico history

1. Tenochtitlan is the foundation of Mexico City. Tenochtitlan, a historic city on an island in the midst of a lake with a population of approximately 150,000 people, appeared like an appropriate location for the Mexican capital. The colonists began filling in the lake, recovering land, and constructing Ciudad de Mexico.

2. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. Formerly part of New Spain, Mexico became the First Mexican Empire following a lengthy and deadly battle against its colonial masters. In 1824, it was renamed the First Mexican Republic, although it is now known as the United Mexican States.

3. Smallpox was considered divine retribution by the Aztecs. The Aztec Empire’s citizens thought it was divine retribution since they had never seen anything like it before. They believed the Christian deity was more powerful, which drove them to adopt Catholicism.

4. The climate in Mexico when the first people arrived was considerably milder than it is now. The Valley of Mexico, in particular, featured many huge paleo-lakes (together known as Lake Texcoco) surrounded by thick vegetation. This area included deer, but the majority of the wildlife was tiny terrestrial animals, with fish and other lacustrine creatures present in the lake region. Such circumstances aided the early pursuit of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

5. Despite the loss or destruction of many indigenous manuscripts, writings such as Aztec codices, Mayan codices, and Mixtec codices still exist and are of great importance to prehispanic academics.

6. Because there existed a prehispanic writing legacy when the Spanish friars taught Mexican Natives to write their native languages, especially Nahuatl, an alphabetic tradition developed. It was employed in official papers and other legal instruments for legal matters.

7. Cults associated with the jaguar and jade, in particular, pervaded Mesoamerican religion. Jade, with its transparent green tint, was seen as a sign of life and fertility, alongside the water.

8. Before the European invasion, Mesoamerica was the only location in the Americas where indigenous writing systems were created and employed. While Mesoamerican writing systems range from simple “picture-writing” to complicated logophonetic systems capable of capturing speech and literature, they all have certain key characteristics that set them apart from other writing systems across the world.

9. The presence of humanity in Mesoamerica was originally considered to date back 40,000 years, based on what were assumed to be ancient footprints discovered in the Valley of Mexico; however, radiocarbon dating has revealed that this age may not be true. It’s uncertain if 23,000-year-old campfire remains discovered in Mexico’s Valley of Mexico are the country’s earliest human remains.

10. The oldest university in North America is located in Mexico. The National University of Mexico was established in 1551 by King Charles V of Spain. It was known as the Real y Pontificia Universidad de México, and it remained active until 1865. The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, founded in 1910, claims to be descended from the university, although there is no evidence of continuity.

11. The Mesoamericans had a notion of deities and religion, but it was not the same as Abrahamic conceptions. The Mesoamericans believed that everything in the universe, including the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars, which mankind occupies, and everything in nature, including animals, plants, water, and mountains, was a manifestation of the supernatural.

12. One of the six cradles of civilization is found in Mexico. Mexico is estimated to have been inhabited since at least 8,000 BC. The empires of the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Mayan, and Aztec can all be found here. This places Mexico with the other so-called cradles of civilization, including Ancient India, Egypt, China, Peru, and Mesopotamia.

13. Mexico was built during the eighth and tenth centuries AD and attracts over 2.6 million tourists each year. It’s stunning. It’s also one of the Seven Wonders of the World, according to certain lists. Surprisingly, the ground beneath this ancient masterpiece remained privately held until 2010, when it was eventually bought by the Yucatan government.

14. For almost 300 years, Mexico was a Spanish colony. During that time, not only Spanish but also other Europeans and African slaves, joined the population of already diverse native ethnic groupings.

15. The Mexican Revolution, which toppled Porfirio Daz and decimated the Mexican Federal Army, lasted from 1910 until 1920.

16. The Pastry War was fought in Mexico once upon a time. The official, and rather more reasonable, name for the conflict is “the Franco-Mexican War.” It was a three-month battle between 1838 and 1839 over French imports and exports. The Mexicans were not going to take it lying down because French goods had higher levies. As a result, there’s a pastry component.

17. Although the identities of the Olmec gigantic heads are unknown, their unique features and unusual headdress, as well as subsequent Maya tradition, imply that they depict kings rather than deities.

18. Chichen Itza, Mexico, approx. 800–900 CE, The Castillo A temple dedicated to Kukulkan lies atop this pyramid, which has 365 steps on all four sides. The sun throws a serpent-shaped shadow down the northern stairway at the spring and fall equinoxes.

19. Between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago, indigenous peoples in western Mexico began selectively breeding maize (Zea mays) plants from precursor grasses (such as teosinte).

20. The usage of local language documentation was formalized until 1821 when Mexico gained independence. Scholars have been mining these local language records for insights on colonial-era economics, culture, and language since the late twentieth century. The current term for this branch of colonial-era Mesoamerican ethnohistory is New Philology.

21. Domesticated corn (or maize), squashes like pumpkin and butternut squash, common beans (pinto, kidney, navy, and other common beans used today), tomatoes, peppers, cassavas, pineapples, chocolate, and tobacco were all part of the ancient central and southern Mexican diet. The main diet consisted of the Three Sisters (corn, squash, and beans).

22. In the sixth century AD, the Nahua people began to settle in central Mexico. They had built their center at Azcapotzalco, the Tepanecs’ capital, by the 12th century.

23. In 1248 AD, the Mexica people landed in Mexico’s Valley. They had moved from the deserts north of the Rio Grande over a period of 100 years, according to legend.

24. They may have considered themselves successors to the illustrious civilizations that had come before them. The Aztecs made up for their lack of political authority with ambition and military might. Tenochtitlan, the largest metropolis in the world at the time, was founded in 1325.

25. The Aztec religion was founded on the notion that frequent offerings of human blood were required to keep their gods in good health; to satisfy this requirement, the Aztec sacrificed thousands of people. This concept is considered to have been widespread among the Nahuatls. In times of peace, the Aztecs used a kind of ritual warfare known as flower war to capture prisoners. Other Nahuatl nations, such the Tlaxcalteca, were driven into such battles.

26. The Aztecs waged a battle against their overlords from Azcapotzalco, which had conquered most of the peoples of the Valley of Mexico, in 1428. The uprising was successful, and the Aztecs took control of central Mexico as the Triple Alliance’s leaders. The city-states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan formed the alliance.

27. Following the initial mainland discoveries, there was a period of interior expeditions and conquering. The Reconquista campaign, which was finished in Spain in 1492, was extended to non-Catholics in other areas by the Spanish crown. In 1502, Spanish explorers headed by Vasco Nez de Balboa explored and conquered the area around the Atrato River on the coast of modern-day Colombia, near the Gulf of Urabá.

28. The Chibcha-speaking countries, namely the Muisca and Tairona indigenous peoples that resided here, were conquered. The Spanish built San Sebastian de Uraba in 1509, which was abandoned the following year, and Santa Mara la Antigua del Darién, the first permanent Spanish mainland outpost in America, in 1510.

29. The survivors of a Spanish shipwreck in 1511 were the first Europeans to arrive in what is now Mexico. Only Gerónimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero survived until years later, when they were contacted by Spanish explorers. An expedition commanded by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba set sail from Santiago de Cuba on February 8, 1517, to investigate the coasts of southern Mexico.

30. Many of Hernández’ soldiers were slain during the mission, the majority of them in a fight at Champotón against a Maya army. He was seriously hurt and died a few days after returning to Cuba. This was the Europeans’ first experience with a civilisation in the Americas that had structures and intricate social institutions akin to those in the Old World.

We hope you have enjoyed these Mexican history.