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Wars Between Calakmul and Tikal
Calakmul and Tikal were two rival kingdoms who fought each other multiple times for supremacy during the Classic period from the sixth century to 900 A.D.. The Kaanul or Snakes orchestrated a plan…
Obsidian from Teotihuacan
Obsidian was one of the most important materials distributed in Mesoamerica. Teotihuacan controlled the trade in this valuable commodity from the dawn of the common-era to 600 CE. In Mesoamerica,…
Cross Group at Palenque
The Cross Group at Palenque are the first and last set of buildings of their kind that were designed to honor the three set of gods of Palenque . The three buildings were constructed during the reign…
Bullfights and Sword Fights
: Mexico at the Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition
“Two Mexicans fought a duel with swords over a pretty girl who is one of the cashiers of the Mexican village. The fight took place by moonlight. One of the principal’s was badly wounded.”[1]
Ramón Valdiosera, A Life
When watching films like “Coco” or seeing displays of Mexican art, a pink tone stands out; this pink tone composed of purplish tones, similar to the color fuchsia, has ties to Ozuluama, Veracruz,…
Jackie Kennedy in Yucatán, 1968.
What is the image you think of when thinking about a Former First Lady? Perhaps it is the image of a prim and proper woman fashionably dressed sipping tea. Jackie Kennedy was a fashionably dressed…
Amerindians and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The arid desert terrain vibrates as an incoming stampede approaches a Mexican town. Upon the horses, ride the mighty Comanche people. They gallop to pillage the resources of the Mexican settlers, who…
Environmental History of Howler Monkeys
Deep in the lush jungles of Central America lives an abundance of unique wildlife. The sounds of the jungle thrive and harmonize as the tropical birds, frogs, and insects call to one another. Within…
The San Lorenzo Head in Houston
On a hot, June day of 1963, a large flatbed truck drives through the metropolitan area of Houston, Texas carrying cargo in a steel cage. Within the unbreakable enclosure resides not a living creature,…
The Miracles of Izamal
The streets of Izamal, a small town about 70 kilometers south of the capital Mérida on the Yucatán Peninsula, are filled with tourists and natives alike to see a tradition that dates back decades. The…
A Syncretic Religion: Maya and Catholic Practice at Izamal and in the Northern Yucatán
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Maya people in the northern Yucatán Peninsula, especially around the region of Izamal, experienced a process of conversion to Christian Catholicism…
Braceros in Texas
Cruz Leon Martinez was just a newlywed when he was approached by his friends with a way to earn extra money. He and five of his friends traveled to Mexico City to obtain contracts for agricultural…
A True Confluence of Civilizations?: The Involvement of Latin Americans in HemisFair ‘68
HemisFair, held in San Antonio, Texas in 1968, was the first and only world’s fair to be held in the American Southwest. Jerome K. Harris (a local San Antonio business owner) originally proposed the…
Finding Tollan at Xochicalco
Over the course of centuries, beginning with Fray Bernardino de Sahagún's mention during the sixteenth century, the ancient Mesoamerican site of Xochicalco, which is in the state of Morelos, Mexico,…
Temple of the Feathered Serpent
After the explosive volcanic eruption of Mt. Popocatépetl located deep southern Mexico, people hurriedly raced for refuge to escape the ash cloud plumed across their skies. When having traveled so far…
San Cristóbal de las Casas
San Cristóbal de las Casas during colonial times has been largely described as in Thomas Benjamins’ A Time of Reconquest: History, the Maya Revival, and the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas, a “small…
Tulúm's El Castillo
Resting beautifully on a cliff overlooking the turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean Sea is El Castillo of Tulúm, its castle. Originally presumed to be a temple El Castillo reflects the glory of Maya…
Xoc: A Broken Past
In December 2015, the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City recuperated the Bas-relief known as Xoc. An Olmec sculpture, just over 2 meters tall, once sat in the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas…
"Rebels of the Grains": Zapatistas and Rock and Roll
Rage Against the Machine is a rock band based out of Southern California that consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford, and drummer Brad Wilk.[1] The four…
John F. Kennedy and the Politics of the Virgin of Guadalupe
During a brief trip to Mexico City in 1962, President John F. Kennedy attended mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. What at first may appear to have been little more than a gesture of good…
Midwifery: An Art of Maya Women
In Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, midwifery has traditionally been a thriving practice amongst the Maya peoples. Midwives have had an important place in rural indigenous communities because they…
Legacy and Lexicon: A Look into Operation Wetback's Impact on Immigration
In the summer of 1954 the United States government carried out a mass deportation of over one million people. [1] This was Operation Wetback. In recent years there has been increased concern…
White Slavery in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
From the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico maintained a reputation as a vice capital. Americans flocked to the city for drinking, gambling, and…
Chapultepec: The Seat of Power
Chapultepec, seed of power through the centuries. Nothing could be more true as you walk up the middle of chapultepec park in the heart of Mexico City, up the hill to the breathtaking view of the…
Texture of the Centuries
Indigenous blouses, better known as huipiles, in Oaxaca, Chiapas reveal as much as they hide. They tell a tale of fertility, enchantment and seduction with the intricate design using the colors of the…
San Diego’s “Opportunity Exposition”
As visitors entered the gates of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, they heard “the deep notes of the outdoor organ, the trill of the birds in the tall trees, the cooing of doves in…
Ed Ricketts: Life, Friendship, and Adventure
“Half-Christ and half-goat,”[1] this was how Edward Flanders Ricketts was described. He was a marine biologist, based in Monterey, California on Ocean View Avenue. He is known for his book, “Between…
John Steinbeck and his Voyage to The Gulf of California
“Below the Mexican border the water changes color; it takes on a deep ultramarine blue – a washtub bluing blue, intense and seeming to penetrate deep into the water."[1] This quote is from "The Log…
The Smallpox Vaccine
Although it has now been eradicated, smallpox, named for the pus-filled blisters that often rendered the disease-ridden individual unrecognizable, left a devastating and indelible mark on the New…
Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco
Mexico is one of the most ecologically diverse countries today. However, Mexico is also one of the most rapidly deforesting nations in the world as well. Some historians argue that the colonial…