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Ball Court of Chichén Itzá
The Maya ruins of Chichén Itzá (late-classic), located in the Yucatán Peninsula, hold the largest ball court in Mesoamerica. The Ball Court symbolized the underworld in the Maya cosmovision and…
Hero Twins at Maya World Museum
Within the El Gran Museo del Mundo Maya de Mérida that recently opened in 2012, there is an extensive exhibit of local Maya history and anthropology. Not only does the outer architecture symbolize…
The Blue House: Frida Kahlo
In Mexico City lay a bright blue house that physically displays the colorful life Frida Kahlo left behind. The blue color of the house was later known to represent her admiration for the indigenous…
Chichen Itza: The Tollan of the Yucatan
Chichen Itza’s timeline from the classical and post-classical period is shrouded in mystery from the surrounding Mayan civilization. The city-state of Chichen Itza itself has many features in…
From Chains to Freedom: The evolution of slavery in the Yucatan
When discussing the transatlantic slave trade and the effects of the involuntary forced migration of Africans, places such as The United States, Jamaica, and Brazil are commonly the focal point of…
The Myth of the Caesar Salad: A Case Study in Mexican Tourism
It started as a makeshift July 4th meal. It came from someone’s mother’s recipe from the Old World. It was stolen from a line cook. Julius Caesar invented it himself. Okay, maybe not that last one,…
The Kennedys’ 1962 Visit to Mexico
At the northern end of Mexico City, the streets Avenida John F. Kennedy and Adolfo López Mateos sit parallel with each other. The proximity of these two streets highlight the close relationship…
National Institute of Anthropology
The federal government oversees all archaeological sites and most of the museums in Mexico. The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (otherwise known as INAH) is charged with maintaining and…
The Maya Codex of Mexico (MCM)
The Maya Codex of Mexico (also known as the Grolier Codex) was discovered in the mountains of Chiapas in 1964. The following year, Mexican collector Dr. Josué Sáenz traveled with two men on a small…
Frans Blom
Frans Blom was a notable archaeologist who had many great explorations and discoveries that contributed to the field of Mesoamerican studies. One of his greatest accomplishments, was his founding of…
Aztec Calendar Stone
“The Aztec Calendar Stone is one of the most famous objects in world archaeology, art history, and visual culture”. The Calendar Stone was built during the post classic era. It’s time of construction…
Copal
Copal is a tree resin derived from trees in the Burseraceae family. Trees and other types of flowering plants in the Burseraceae are known for the aromatic saps and oils, also known as incense trees.…
Church of Santo Domingo
The Church of Santo Domingo in Oaxaca was established by the Dominicans in the seventeenth century. Construction for the Church of Santo Domingo began in 1575, it did not finish until 1731 when the…
Templo Mayor
Templo Mayor, Spanish for Great Temple, is located in the middle of Mexico City. It is believed that the Mexica called the Templo Mayor Hueyteocalli. Originally Templo Mayor was located in the center…
The Plaza of Oaxaca
For thousands of years before the arrival of the Spanish, the people of Mesoamerica had gathered in outdoor public spaces that served as sites for ritual, commerce, and the performance of music.…
Cozumel
Human occupation of Cozumel began in the Preclassic as the island offered hunting and fishing to semi-nomadic peoples. Population growth continued at a slow, steady level through the Classic period,…
Cyrus Longworth Lundell
A native of Texas, Cyrus Longworth Lundell was born November 5, 1907. He attend both Columbia University and Southern Methodist University (B.A., 1932). He studied in the Graduate School of Business…
Volkswagen de México
The second largest Volkswagen factory is located in Puebla, Mexico. Volkswagen de Mexico was established in 1964 and construction of the Puebla plant began in January of 1965. In October of 1970,…
Tetitla
Located 500 meters west of the Avenue of the Dead is Palacio de Tetitla. Tetitla is one of the numerous housing complexes located around the ceremonial center of Teotihuacan. Tetitla was inhibited…
Diego Rivera's Illustrated Popol Vuh
The Popol Vuh is one of the most important stories ever created by the Quiche Maya people. It contains epic tales of the Hero Twins, early migrations and settlements, the creation of the world and…
The Hunt for Monte Alban
Alfonso Caso started his archaeological career as a professor, and also former student, at the University of Mexico from 1918 to 1940 where his specialty was Oaxacan history and culture. From there he…
Temple of the Magician at Uxmal
Puuc style architecture is predominant in the Puuc region of Mexico. The style came about in the Late Classic period but continued on and advanced during the Terminal Classic period. Puuc style has…
Textiles In Mesoamerica
Textiles are one of the oldest forms of art known to mankind because every civilization has their own unique way of approaching this art. Many societies use textiles in many different ways according…
Henequen: Yucatán’s Green Gold
Henequen also known as sisal is raw fiber from the henequen plant. The plant’s long leaves are soaked to soften and dried in order to gather the fiber which is mainly used to produce rope or sacks but…
Mexican Socialist Thought
A socialist revolution is rarely succinct or adhesive to a single strict ideological interpretation. When Mexico experienced its 1910 revolution, the rule of President Porfirio Díaz, the man the…
The Flores Magón Brothers and American Imperialism
The Mexican Revolution of 1910 has its roots in both long-term structural issues in Mexican government and society regarding land distribution and political participation, as well as foreign…
San Gabriel Convento in Cholula
Built in 1520 by the Spanish, San Gabriel Convento in Cholula is known for being the oldest religious temple in the Americas. This temple was built on the ruins of a previous temple honored to…
Mexico: 2018 Presidential Election
The purpose of this entry is to give a better understanding of the political parties that exist in Mexico and the current candidates. This year's presidential election is controversial because the…
The Descending God
The Descending or Diving God of the Maya is truly unique. This god is depicted upside down, hence its name, and found usually holding something in one or both of its hands. The god can be found at…
Yuknoom the Great and Calakmul
Calakmul is situated in Campeche, Mexico on the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. It is now an isolated archaeological site on the largest bioreserve in Mexico, but it was once the seat of one of the most…