by Roger D. Harris \/ November 30th, 2018<\/p>\n
The full quote by Porfirio D\u00edaz is: \u201cPoor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.\u201d Mexican President D\u00edaz (1876-1880 and 1884-1911) got it at least half right. Mexico has suffered in the shadow of the Colossus of the North, but Mexico is not poor. Mexico is rich in many ways, yet it also has been impoverished. And Mexico has been greatly underappreciated by North Americans.<\/p>\n
Mexico is bucking an international right-wing tide, shifting its government from right to left-of-center with the presidential inauguration of Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador (AMLO) on December 1. Speaking for international capital, The Economist<\/em><\/a> is worried. The other 99% of humanity is hopeful. A cautionary history of this trice conquered land follows.<\/p>\n Pre-Colombian Mexico and the First Conquest<\/strong><\/p>\n Prior to Europeans \u201cdiscovering\u201d the New World, Mexico was home to many great civilizations<\/a>, which thrived for nearly four millennia: Aztec, Huastec, Izapa, Maya, Mixtec, Olmec, Pur\u00e9pecha, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Totonac, and Zapotec. History and Headlines<\/a> rates the \u201c10 great historical civilizations,\u201d naming the Olmecs and Aztecs alongside the Romans, Persians, and Egyptians.<\/p>\n The popular image of the Aztec depicts savage men in loin clothes and feathers on top of stone pyramids making human sacrifices. But let\u2019s put that into historical context. Historian James Cockcroft<\/a> tells us that at the same time the barbarians in the New…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n