1.
La Quebrada, Mexico
–
La Quebrada is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Acapulco, Mexico. Divers entertain tourists by jumping off of two ledges on the cliff, one that is 40 feet high and the top one which is 80 feet high, the divers must calculate the right moment to jump to catch an incoming wave and avoid serious injury or death. Occasionally jumpers dive with a torch, most of the divers come from the family of Quebrada divers. Although cliff diving at La Quebrada had taken place for many years, in one of the walls of the cliff there is a path and a restaurant where tourists gather to watch the human divers and to view pelicans diving for fish. La Quebrada Cliff Divers Media related to La Quebrada at Wikimedia Commons
La Quebrada, Mexico
–
La Quebrada.
2.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
3.
States of Mexico
–
The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which officially is named United Mexican States. There are 31 states in Mexico, Mexico City is a federal entity with a level of autonomy comparable to that of a state, but is not a state itself. The states are divided into municipalities. Notes, Joined the federation with the name of Coahuila y Texas, Joined the federation with the name of Estado de Occidente also recognized as Sonora y Sinaloa. Joined the federation as República Federada de Yucatán formed by the current states of Yucatan, Campeche, became independent in 1841 constituting the second Republic of Yucatán and definitely rejoined in 1848. State of Tabasco seceded from Mexico on two occasions, the first on February 13,1841, rejoining again on December 2,1842, and the second time was from November 9,1846 to December 8 of that year. Includes the remote Revillagigedo Islands, which are federally administered
States of Mexico
–
Mexico D.F.
4.
Guerrero
–
Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and it is located in Southwestern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Michoacán to the north and west, México and Morelos to the north, Puebla to the northeast and Oaxaca to the east. The state was named after Vicente Guerrero, one of the most prominent leaders in the Mexican War of Independence and it is the only Mexican state named after a president. The modern entity did not exist until 1849, when it was carved out of territories from the states of Mexico, Puebla and Michoacán. In addition to the city, the states largest cities include Acapulco, Petatlan, Ciudad Altamirano, Taxco, Iguala, Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo. Today, it is home to a number of communities, including the Nahuas, Mixtecs. It is also home to communities of Afro-Mexicans in the Costa Chica region, geographically, the state is mountainous and rugged with flat areas limited to small mesas and the coast line. Tourism is the single most important economic factor of the state, however, other sources of employment are scarce in the state, which has caused its ranking as number one in the emigration of workers to the United States. The first humans in the territory were nomadic hunter-gatherers who left evidence of their existence in various caves starting about 20,000 years ago. After that, settlements appeared near the coast because of fishing, at these sites, evidence of weaving, ceramics, basketry and other crafts have been found. Around this time, a grain called teocintle, or the forerunner to corn, Olmec influences can be seen in cave paintings such as those found in Juxtlahuaca and well as stone tools and jade jewelry from the time period. Recent evidence indicates that ancient Guerrero cultures may have influenced the development of the Olmecs. Eventually, the peoples of the Mexcala River area developed their own distinctive culture and it is characterized by its own sculpture and ceramics, distinguished by its simplicity. Olmec influence remained with this culture, especially evident in the grouping of villages, construction of ceremonial centers, later, the culture assimilated aspects of the Teotihuacan model, which included the Mesoamerican ball game. In the 8th century, Toltec influence was felt as they traveled the many routes through here in search of tropical bird plumage. From the 12th century to the 15th, the peoples of the state were influence by the Chichimecas. In the 11th century, new migrations entered the area from the north, which included the Nahuas, who occupied what is now the center of the state, the Nahuas established themselves in Zacatula, Atoyac and Tlacotepec, later conquering the areas occupied by the Chontals and Matlatzincas
Guerrero
–
Two figures from the Xochipala archeological site
Guerrero
–
Flag
Guerrero
–
Santa Prisca church in Taxco
Guerrero
–
Vicente Guerrero
5.
Metropolitan area
–
As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban in character and these outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles metro area in the United States, in practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Population figures given for one area can vary by millions. A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, in defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus that other areas have a high degree of integration with. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines statistical divisions as areas under the influence of one or more major towns or a major city. However, this definition has become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. In Brazil, metropolitan areas are called metropolitan regions, each State defines its own legislation for the creation, definition and organization of a metropolitan region. The creation of a region is not intended for any statistical purpose, although the Brazilian Institute of Geography. Their main purpose is to allow for a management of public policies of common interest to all cities involved. They dont have political, electoral or jurisdictional power whatsoever, so living in a metropolitan region do not elect representatives for them. Statistics Canada defines a metropolitan area as an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the area must have a population of at least 100,000. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a degree of integration with the core. As of the Canada 2011 Census, there were 33 CMAs in Canada, including six with a population over one million—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. In Denmark the only area is Greater Copenhagen, consisting of the Capital Region of Denmark along with the neighboring regions Region Zealand. Greater Copenhagen has an population of 1.25 million people
Metropolitan area
–
Greater Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Metropolitan area
–
Paris (
France), one of Europe's major centres
Metropolitan area
–
Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area,
Israel
Metropolitan area
–
Perth, Western Australia, an isolated metropolitan area
6.
Demonym
–
A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
Demonym
–
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns
7.
Central Standard Time
–
The North American Central Time Zone is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time is six hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, during summer most of the zone uses daylight saving time, and changes to Central Daylight Time which is five hours behind UTC. The province of Manitoba is the province or territory in Canada that observes Central Time in all areas. Also, most of the province of Saskatchewan is on Central Standard Time year-round, major exceptions include Lloydminster, a city situated on the boundary between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city charter stipulates that it shall observe Mountain Time and DST, putting the community on the time as all of Alberta, including the major cities of Calgary. As a result, during the summer, clocks in the province match those in Alberta. The Central Time Zone is the second most populous in the US after the Eastern Time Zone, lanett and Valley observe Eastern Time historically because they were textile mill towns and the original home office of their mills was in West Point, Georgia. Some eastern counties observe Central Time because they are close to the border of the Middle Tennessee counties surrounding the Nashville metropolitan area. Louisiana Michigan, All of Michigan observes Eastern Time except the four Upper Peninsula counties that border Wisconsin, other westernmost counties from this area such as Ontonagon observe Eastern Time. South Dakota, Eastern half as divided by the Missouri river adjacent to the state capital, note, the metropolitan area of Pierre is Central, including Fort Pierre. Wisconsin Most of Mexico—roughly the eastern three-fourths—lies in the Central Time Zone, except for six northwestern states, the federal entities of Mexico that observe Central Time, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all use Central Standard Time year-round. The Galápagos Islands in Ecuador uses Central Standard Time all year-round, Daylight saving time is in effect in much of the Central time zone between mid-March and early November. The modified time is called Central Daylight Time and is UTC−5, in Canada, Saskatchewan does not observe a time change. One reason that Saskatchewan does not take part in a change is that, geographically. The province elected to move onto permanent daylight saving by being part of the Central Time Zone, Mexico decided not to go along with this change and observes their horario de verano from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In December 2009, the Mexican Congress allowed ten border cities, eight of which are in states that observe Central Time, to adopt the U. S. daylight time schedule effective in 2010
Central Standard Time
–
Regions in the Central Time Zone
8.
Daylight saving time
–
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
Daylight saving time
–
Ancient
water clock that lets hour lengths vary with season.
Daylight saving time
–
G. V. Hudson invented modern DST, proposing it first in 1895.
Daylight saving time
–
Retailers generally favor DST.
United Cigar Stores hailed a 1918 DST bill.
Daylight saving time
–
William Willett independently proposed DST in 1907 and advocated it tirelessly.
9.
Central Daylight Time
–
The North American Central Time Zone is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time is six hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, during summer most of the zone uses daylight saving time, and changes to Central Daylight Time which is five hours behind UTC. The province of Manitoba is the province or territory in Canada that observes Central Time in all areas. Also, most of the province of Saskatchewan is on Central Standard Time year-round, major exceptions include Lloydminster, a city situated on the boundary between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city charter stipulates that it shall observe Mountain Time and DST, putting the community on the time as all of Alberta, including the major cities of Calgary. As a result, during the summer, clocks in the province match those in Alberta. The Central Time Zone is the second most populous in the US after the Eastern Time Zone, lanett and Valley observe Eastern Time historically because they were textile mill towns and the original home office of their mills was in West Point, Georgia. Some eastern counties observe Central Time because they are close to the border of the Middle Tennessee counties surrounding the Nashville metropolitan area. Louisiana Michigan, All of Michigan observes Eastern Time except the four Upper Peninsula counties that border Wisconsin, other westernmost counties from this area such as Ontonagon observe Eastern Time. South Dakota, Eastern half as divided by the Missouri river adjacent to the state capital, note, the metropolitan area of Pierre is Central, including Fort Pierre. Wisconsin Most of Mexico—roughly the eastern three-fourths—lies in the Central Time Zone, except for six northwestern states, the federal entities of Mexico that observe Central Time, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all use Central Standard Time year-round. The Galápagos Islands in Ecuador uses Central Standard Time all year-round, Daylight saving time is in effect in much of the Central time zone between mid-March and early November. The modified time is called Central Daylight Time and is UTC−5, in Canada, Saskatchewan does not observe a time change. One reason that Saskatchewan does not take part in a change is that, geographically. The province elected to move onto permanent daylight saving by being part of the Central Time Zone, Mexico decided not to go along with this change and observes their horario de verano from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In December 2009, the Mexican Congress allowed ten border cities, eight of which are in states that observe Central Time, to adopt the U. S. daylight time schedule effective in 2010
Central Daylight Time
–
Regions in the Central Time Zone
10.
Municipalities of Mexico
–
Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in Mexico, where the first-level administrative division is the state. There are 2,438 municipalities in Mexico, with an average population 45,616, the internal political organization and their responsibilities are outlined in the 115th article of the 1917 Constitution and further expanded in the constitutions of the states to which they belong. All Mexican states are divided into municipalities and this concept, which originated after the Mexican Revolution, is known as a municipio libre. A municipal president heads the ayuntamiento, the municipal president is elected by plurality and cannot be reelected for the next immediate term. The municipal council consists of a cabildo with a síndico and several regidores, in that sense, a municipality in Mexico is roughly equivalent to the counties of the United States, whereas the auxiliary presidency is equivalent to a township. Nonetheless, auxiliary presidencies are not considered an administrative division since they depend fiscally on the municipalities in which they are located. Although an urban area might cover an entire municipality, auxiliary councils might still be used for administrative purposes, municipalities are responsible for public services, street lighting, public safety, traffic, supervision of slaughterhouses and the cleaning and maintenance of public parks, gardens and cemeteries. They may also assist the state and federal governments in education, emergency fire and medical services, environmental protection and maintenance of monuments and historical landmarks. Since 1983, they can collect property taxes and user fees, although more funds are obtained from the state, since the Conquest and colonization of Mexico, the municipality became the basic entity of the administrative organization of New Spain and the Spanish Empire. Settlements located in strategic locations received the status of city and were entitled to form an ayuntamiento or municipality, as such, every state set its own requirements for a settlement to become a municipality. However, in 1983 the 115th article was modified to expand the authority to raise revenue. Data from the 2015 Intercensal Survey by INEGI and it is administered through the Government of the Federal District and it has its own unicameral Legislative Assembly. For administrative purposes, the Federal District is subdivided into delegaciones or boroughs, while not fully equivalent to a municipality, since 2000, they enjoy a certain degree of political autonomy since residents within a borough directly elect a local borough head of government. However, boroughs do not form local councils and they are not constituted by a group of trustees. They do not have powers, which are mostly centralized in the Federal District government. Most of the public services are organized by the Federal District even if part of the administration responsibilities are carried out by the boroughs. Still, at the level, the delegaciones of the Federal District are considered a second-level territorial division in statistical data collection. Other municipalities in Mexico have chosen to use a similar administrative internal organization, all municipalities of Baja California are subdivided into boroughs or delegaciones
Municipalities of Mexico
–
Municipal Palace of
Veracruz
Municipalities of Mexico
–
Ensenada
11.
Political divisions of Mexico
–
The United Mexican States is a federal republic composed of 31 states and Mexico City. According to the Constitution of 1917, the states of the federation are free, each state has its own congress and constitution. Mexico City is currently being reformed to have the rights of a state. The states of the Mexican Federation are free, sovereign, autonomous and they are free to govern themselves according to their own laws, each state has a constitution that cannot contradict the federal constitution, which covers issues of national competence. Since states have autonomy, each has its own civil and penal codes. In addition, the federation makes up a constituency in which 32 senators are elected by the method of proportional representation, Federal Deputies, however, do not represent the states, but rather the citizens themselves. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate together comprise the Congress of the Union, the states are internally divided into municipalities. Each municipality is autonomous in its ability to elect their own council, the council is headed by a mayor elected every 3 years with no possibility of immediate reelection. Each municipality has a composed of councilors in terms of population size. The council is responsible, in most cases, to all utilities required for its population. This concept, which arises from the Mexican Revolution, is known as a free municipality. In total there are 2438 municipalities in Mexico, the state with the highest number of municipalities is Oaxaca, with 570, Mexico City has a special status within the federation, being a federal district. Until January 2016, Mexico City was officially called Federal District and it is the seat of government of the Union and the capital of the United Mexican States. Mexico City was separated from the State of Mexico, of which it was the capital, on November 18,1824, as such, it did not belong to any state in particular but to all. Therefore, it was the president of Mexico, in representation of the federation, with full autonomy, Mexico City would have its own constitution – it previously had only an organic law called Statute of Autonomy – and its boroughs became municipalities. Until the ratification of Mexico Citys constitution, it is divided for administrative purposes into 16 delegacionesor boroughs. *Mexicos post agency, Correos de México, does not offer an official list, various competing commercially devised lists exist. The list here reflects choices among them according to these sources, on September 27,1821, after three centuries of Spanish rule, Mexico gained independence
Political divisions of Mexico
–
Mexican States and Federal District Estados Mexicanos y el Distrito Federal (
Spanish)
12.
Mexico City
–
Mexico City, or City of Mexico, is the capital and most populous city of Mexico. As an alpha global city, Mexico City is one of the most important financial centers in the Americas and it is located in the Valley of Mexico, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres. The city consists of sixteen municipalities, the 2009 estimated population for the city proper was approximately 8.84 million people, with a land area of 1,485 square kilometres. The Greater Mexico City has a domestic product of US$411 billion in 2011. The city was responsible for generating 15. 8% of Mexicos Gross Domestic Product, as a stand-alone country, in 2013, Mexico City would be the fifth-largest economy in Latin America—five times as large as Costa Ricas and about the same size as Perus. Mexico’s capital is both the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of two founded by Amerindians, the other being Quito. In 1524, the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenochtitlán, Mexico City served as the political, administrative and financial center of a major part of the Spanish colonial empire. After independence from Spain was achieved, the district was created in 1824. Ever since, the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution has controlled both of them, in recent years, the local government has passed a wave of liberal policies, such as abortion on request, a limited form of euthanasia, no-fault divorce, and same-sex marriage. On January 29,2016, it ceased to be called the Federal District and is now in transition to become the countrys 32nd federal entity, giving it a level of autonomy comparable to that of a state. Because of a clause in the Mexican Constitution, however, as the seat of the powers of the federation, it can never become a state, the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan was founded by the Mexica people in 1325. According to legend, the Mexicas principal god, Huitzilopochtli indicated the site where they were to build their home by presenting an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak. Between 1325 and 1521, Tenochtitlan grew in size and strength, eventually dominating the other city-states around Lake Texcoco, when the Spaniards arrived, the Aztec Empire had reached much of Mesoamerica, touching both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. After landing in Veracruz, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés advanced upon Tenochtitlan with the aid of many of the native peoples. Cortés put Moctezuma under house arrest, hoping to rule through him, the Aztecs thought the Spaniards were permanently gone, and they elected a new king, Cuitláhuac, but he soon died, the next king was Cuauhtémoc. Cortés began a siege of Tenochtitlan in May 1521, for three months, the city suffered from the lack of food and water as well as the spread of smallpox brought by the Europeans. Cortés and his allies landed their forces in the south of the island, the Spaniards practically razed Tenochtitlan during the final siege of the conquest. Cortés first settled in Coyoacán, but decided to rebuild the Aztec site to erase all traces of the old order and he did not establish a territory under his own personal rule, but remained loyal to the Spanish crown
Mexico City
–
From above
Torre Latinoamericana,
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral,
Anillo Periférico,
World Trade Center Mexico City,
Angel of Independence,
Chapultepec Castle,
St. Regis Hotel Tower and
Torre Mayor, Skyline of
Paseo de la Reforma and
Palacio de Bellas Artes.
Mexico City
–
Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital.
Mexico City
–
The ruins of the
Templo Mayor.
Mexico City
–
The
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral was built by the Spaniards over the ruins of the main Aztec temple.
13.
Panama
–
Panama, officially called the Republic of Panama, is a country usually considered to be entirely in North America or Central America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, the capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half of the countrys 4.1 million people. Panama was inhabited by indigenous tribes prior to settlement by the Spanish in the 16th century. Panama broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, when Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada remained joined, eventually becoming the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, in 1977 an agreement was signed for the total transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the 20th century, which culminated on 31 December 1999. Revenue from canal tolls continues to represent a significant portion of Panamas GDP, although commerce, banking, in 2015 Panama ranked 60th in the world in terms of the Human Development Index. Since 2010, Panama remains the second most competitive economy in Latin America, covering around 40 percent of its land area, Panamas jungles are home to an abundance of tropical plants and animals – some of them to be found nowhere else on the planet. There are several theories about the origin of the name Panama, some believe that the country was named after a commonly found species of tree. Others believe that the first settlers arrived in Panama in August, when butterflies abound, the best-known version is that a fishing village and its nearby beach bore the name Panamá, which meant an abundance of fish. Captain Antonio Tello de Guzmán, while exploring the Pacific side in 1515, in 1517 Don Gaspar De Espinosa, a Spanish lieutenant, decided to settle a post there. In 1519 Pedrarias Dávila decided to establish the Empires Pacific city in this site, the new settlement replaced Santa María La Antigua del Darién, which had lost its function within the Crowns global plan after the beginning of the Spanish exploitation of the riches in the Pacific. Blending all of the above together, Panamanians believe in general that the word Panama means abundance of fish and this is the official definition given in social studies textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education in Panama. However, others believe the word Panama comes from the Kuna word bannaba which means distant or far away, at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, the known inhabitants of Panama included the Cuevas and the Coclé tribes. These people have disappeared, as they had no immunity from European infectious diseases. The earliest discovered artifacts of indigenous peoples in Panama include Paleo-Indian projectile points, later central Panama was home to some of the first pottery-making in the Americas, for example the cultures at Monagrillo, which date back to 2500–1700 BC. These evolved into significant populations best known through their spectacular burials at the Monagrillo archaeological site, the monumental monolithic sculptures at the Barriles site are also important traces of these ancient isthmian cultures. Before Europeans arrived Panama was widely settled by Chibchan, Chocoan, the largest group were the Cueva. The size of the population of the isthmus at the time of European colonization is uncertain
Panama
–
Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a recognized and popular figure of Panamanian history
Panama
–
Flag
Panama
–
"New Caledonia", the ill-fated Scottish
Darien scheme colony in the Bay of Caledonia, west of the
Gulf of Darien
Panama
–
Santo Domingo Church
14.
San Francisco, California
–
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
San Francisco, California
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San Francisco and the
Golden Gate Bridge from
Marin Headlands
San Francisco, California
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Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores)
San Francisco, California
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1853
United States Coast Survey Map
San Francisco, California
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Francis Samuel Marryat, Hilltop of San Francisco, California, Looking toward the Bay, 1849. M.& N. Hanhart Chromolithograph
15.
Chilpancingo
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Chilpancingo de los Bravo is the capital and second-largest city of the state of Guerrero, Mexico. In 2010 it had a population of 187,251 people, the municipality has an area of 2,338.4 km2 in the south-central part of the state, situated in the Sierra Madre del Sur, on the bank of the Huacapa River. The city is on Mexican Federal Highway 95 which connects Acapulco to Mexico City and it is served by Chilpancingo National Airport, which is one of the five airports in the state. In pre-Columbian times, the area was occupied by the Olmecs, who built a tunnel network through the mountains. The city of Chilpancingo was founded on November 1,1591 by the Spanish conquistadores, in 1870 it was again declared capital by Governor Francisco O. Arce, due to the opposition led by General Jimenez, who was in possession of the official seat of government at Tixtla. It was not until 1871, when the legislature agreed to a change of venue. During the Mexican Revolution, Chilpancingo was deeply troubled, and had political, battles took place in the vicinity in the 1910s, in which Emiliano Zapata defeated federal forces of Porfirio Diaz, Francisco I. Madero, Victoriano Huerta and Venustiano Carranza, a major defeat of Huertas southern forces took place here in March April 1914, the Zapatistas took the town until after the Constitutional Convention. The main objective was to diminish the power of the state government, on April 27,2009 an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6 was centered near Chilpancingo. In 1869, the Autonomous University of Guerrero was established in Chilpancingo, the city is a producer of processed foods and alcoholic beverages, and is a market for maize, sugarcane, bananas, livestock, and lumber produced in the region. Pezuapan is a site located in Chilpancingo city. It sits on the slope of the Chilpancingo valley. The archaeological vestiges found at the cover the total area of 4000 m2. The dates are from 650 AD to 1150 AD
Chilpancingo
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Collage
Chilpancingo
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Seal
16.
Balneario
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A balneario is a Latin American seaside resort town, although they may also occur along great lakes, rivers and at hot springs. In Spain, balneario typically only refers to spa town resorts, whatever the case, these resorts offer recreation, sports, entertainment, food, hospitality and safety services, retail and cultural events. These balneario towns are characterized by being flooded by masses of tourists during the summer seasons, balnearios may be as simple as a beach or as complex as a planned city. Balnearios are characterized by having beaches, hot climates, being seasonal destinations, attracting foreign tourists, the word comes from Spanish, and the difference between a playa and a balneario is the services provided at the balneario. Some balnearios have been closed in recent years due to levels of pollution. These popular usually public resorts are often politicized and this is since they provide recreation for the masses at any income level due to their a la carte availability of amenities. Some politicians will even support their expansion during recessions because of how volatile the repercussions would be to not support them, new balnearios of the hot springs kind and others are often touted as job creating business expanding measures by local councils. A beach is simply a stretch of shoreline, usually sandy and it is a specific recreational destination with features such as bathrooms, lifeguards, changing rooms, and picnic tables
Balneario
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Reñaca beach is a popular balneario in
Valparaíso Province, that attracts tourists from across Chile, South America, and the world.
Balneario
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Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro
17.
President of Mexico
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The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces, the current President is Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office on December 1,2012. Currently, the office of the President is considered to be revolutionary, another legacy of the Revolution is its ban on re-election. Mexican presidents are limited to a single term, called a sexenio. No one who has held the post, even on a basis, is allowed to run or serve again. The constitution and the office of the President closely follow the system of government. Chapter III of Title III of the Constitution deals with the branch of government and sets forth the powers of the president. He is vested with the executive power of the Union. Be a resident of Mexico for at least twenty years, be thirty-five years of age or older at the time of the election. Be a resident of Mexico for the year prior to the election. Not be an official or minister of any church or religious denomination, not be in active military service during the six months prior to the election. Not have been president already, even in a provisional capacity, the ban on any sort of presidential re-election, dating back to the aftermath of the Porfiriato and the end of the Mexican Revolution, has remained in place even as it was relaxed for other offices. In 2014, the constitution was amended to allow Deputies and Senators to run for a consecutive term. Previously, Deputies and Senators were barred from successive re-election, however, the restriction on presidential re-election, even if it is nonsuccessive, remained in place. The presidential term was set at four years from 1821 to 1934, the president is elected by direct, popular, universal suffrage. Whoever wins a plurality of the national vote is elected. The most recent former President, Felipe Calderón, won with 36. 38% of the votes in the 2006 general election, finishing only 0.56 percent above his nearest rival, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Former President Vicente Fox was elected with a plurality of 43% of the vote, Ernesto Zedillo won 48% of the vote
President of Mexico
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Incumbent
Enrique Peña Nieto since December 1, 2012
President of Mexico
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Mexican Presidential Standard
18.
Capul
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Capul is a fifth class island municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 12,679 people and it also served as the capital of Samar from 1848 to 1852. The name Capul came from the word Acapulco, an old trading post in Mexico, Capul is the only town in the province of Northern Samar with a distinct language, Inabaknon, instead of Waray-Waray, the native language spoken by the locals of Samar island. Capul is politically subdivided into 12 barangays, the native language in the island-municipality is Inabaknon. Inabaknon has been classified by linguists as a Sama language related to the Sama languages of Mindanao, nonetheless the Capul people understand the Waray language, as spoken by the majority of the people in Northern Samar. Capul Church and Fortress The Capul Church, built during the Spanish Colonial Period, is dedicated to St. Ignatius of Loyola and is surrounded by a fort with bulwarks of dissimilar designs. The church structure was actually the third that was built on the site, the first two structures, made of hard wood and nipa roofs, were razed when Moro pirates plundered the island in 1615 and 1768. Capul Watchtower Located on a hill near the Capul fort overlooking the harbor, a stone watchtower was erected to serve as a sentry or warning system. Bitō Cave Bitō Cave, also known as Beto Cave, is a natural attraction located in Sawang. Timon-timon Rock Timon-timon is a rock formation located near the southern point of the island
Capul
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USS Essex passes Capul Island while passing through the
San Bernardino Strait
19.
Timeline of Acapulco
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The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Acapulco de Juárez, Guerrero, Mexico. 1550 Acapulco town established by Fernando de Santa Ana,1565 – October, Spanish galleon San Pedro of Andrés de Urdaneta arrives from the Philippines in the first ever eastward voyage across the Pacific. 1570s – Hospital de Nuestra Señora de la Consolación built,1597 – Spanish colonial bureau of accounts established. 1614 – January, Japanese ship Mutsu Maru arrives, passengers include Hasekura Tsunenaga, October, Dutch Joris van Spilbergen expedition passes through. 1616 – Fort of San Diego built,1624 – October, Fuerte de San Diego taken briefly by Dutch. 1783 – Fort of San Diego rebuilt,1799 – Town becomes a city, Ciudad de los Reyes de Acapulco. 1803 – March, German scientist Alexander von Humboldt visits Acapulco, 1810–1811 – City besieged by forces of José María Morelos during the Mexican War of Independence. 1813 – April, Siege of Acapulco, Morelos in power,1814 – City burnt per order of Morelos. 1909 –30 July, Brecha de Guerrero earthquake,1919 – Workers Party of Acapulco founded. 1934 – Salón Rojo cinema opens on Plaza Álvarez,1949 – Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán opens. 1950s – Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Acapulco built,1955 – Mexican Air Force 7th Military Air Base established. 1958 – Roman Catholic diocese of Acapulco established,1959 – Jorge Joseph Piedra becomes mayor. 1967 – Aéroport international général Juan N. Álvarez in operation,1969 Mercado Central de Acapulco built. Sister city relationship established with Manila, Philippines,1971 – Capilla Ecuménica La Paz opens. Internacional de Acapulco Fútbol Club formed,1975 Unidad Deportiva Acapulco and Condominio Torres Gemelas built. 1985 – Fictional telenovela Tú o nadie broadcast,1986 – Museo Histórico de Acapulco established. 1987 – Rio Group meets in city,1992 – Universidad Loyola del Pacífico established. 1993 – Carretera Federal 95D begins operating,1997 June, Acapulco Black Film Festival begins
Timeline of Acapulco
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General Heliodoro Castillo (
Tlacotepec)
20.
Acapulco Bay
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Acapulco de Juárez, commonly called Acapulco, is a city, municipality and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico,380 kilometres south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has been a port since the colonial period of Mexicos history. It is a port of call for shipping and cruise lines running between Panama and San Francisco, California, United States, the city of Acapulco is the largest in the state, far larger than the state capital Chilpancingo. Acapulco is also Mexicos largest beach and balneario resort city, the city is best known as one of Mexicos oldest and most well-known beach resorts, which came into prominence in the 1950s as a getaway for Hollywood stars and millionaires. Acapulco is still famous and still attracts tourists, although most are now from Mexico itself. The name Acapulco comes from Nahuatl language Aca-pōl-co, and means where the reeds were destroyed or washed away, the de Juárez was added to the official name in 1885 to honor Benito Juárez, former President of Mexico. The seal for the city shows broken reeds or cane, the island and municipality of Capul, in the Philippines, derives its name from Acapulco, Capul was the western end of the trans-Pacific sailing route from Acapulco to what was then a Spanish colony. At Acapulco Bay itself, there were two Olmec sites, one by Playa Larga and the other on a known as El Guitarrón. Olmec influence caused the small villages here to coalesce into larger entities. Later, Teotihuacan influence made its way here via Cuernavaca and Chilpancingo, then Mayan influence arrived from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and through what is now Oaxaca. This history is known through the archaeological artifacts that have found here, especially at Playa Hornos, Pie de la Cuesta. In the 11th century, new waves of migration of Nahuas and Coixas came through here and these people were the antecedents of the Aztecs. In the later 15th century, after four years of military struggle and it was annexed to a tributary province named Tepecuacuilco. However, this was only transitory, as the Aztecs could only establish a military post at the citys outskirts. The city was on territory under control of the Yopes, who continued defending it, there are two stories about how Acapulco bay was discovered by Europeans. The first states that two years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Hernán Cortés sent explorers west to find gold, the explorers had subdued this area after 1523, and Captain Saavedra Cerón was authorized by Cortés to found a settlement here. The other states that the bay was discovered on December 13,1526 by a ship named the El Tepache Santiago captained by Santiago Guevara. The first encomendero was established in 1525 at Cacahuatepec, which is part of the modern Acapulco municipality, in 1531, a number of Spaniards, most notably Juan Rodriguez de Villafuerte, left the Oaxaca coast and founded the village of Villafuerte where the city of Acapulco now stands
Acapulco Bay
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Acapulco panoramic collage. Top, from left to right: Acapulco Bay from Chapel of Peace, Petroglyphs in Palma Sola, Nuestra Señora de la Soledad Cathedral, Mural by Diego Rivera in Dolores Olmedo House, San Diego Fort, La Quebrada, La Condesa Beach, Acapulco Dorado and Acapulco Diamante.
Acapulco Bay
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View of Acapulco, 1879, oil painting by
Carl Saltzmann
Acapulco Bay
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The Bay of Acapulco from the top of Palma Sola
Acapulco Bay
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High rise apartments and condominiums were constructed en masse throughout the 1980s–1990s
21.
Olmec
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The Olmecs were the first major civilization in Guatemala and Mexico following a progressive development in Soconusco and modern southwestern pacific lowlands of Guatemala. They lived in the lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the present-day states of Veracruz. It has been speculated that Olmec derive in part from neighboring Mokaya and/or Mixe–Zoque, the population of the Olmecs flourished during Mesoamericas formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization, and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed, among other firsts, the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies. The aspect of the Olmecs most familiar now is their artwork, the Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient Americas most striking, the name Olmec comes from the Nahuatl word for the Olmecs, Ōlmēcatl or Ōlmēcah. This word is composed of the two words ōlli, meaning rubber, and mēcatl, meaning people, so the word means rubber people, the Olmec heartland is the area in the Gulf lowlands where it expanded after early development in Soconusco. This area is characterized by swampy lowlands punctuated by low hills, ridges, the Tuxtlas Mountains rise sharply in the north, along the Gulf of Mexicos Bay of Campeche. Here the Olmec constructed permanent city-temple complexes at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, in this region, the first Mesoamerican civilization emerged and reigned from c. The beginnings of Olmec civilization have traditionally been placed between 1400 and 1200 BCE, past finds of Olmec remains ritually deposited at El Manati shrine moved this back to at least 1600–1500 BCE. It seems that the Olmec had their roots in early farming cultures of Tabasco and these shared the same basic food crops and technologies of the later Olmec civilization. What is today called Olmec first appeared fully within the city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, the rise of civilization was assisted by the local ecology of well-watered alluvial soil, as well as by the transportation network provided by the Coatzacoalcos River basin. This environment may be compared to that of other ancient centers of civilization, the Nile, Indus, and Yellow River valleys and this highly productive environment encouraged a densely concentrated population, which in turn triggered the rise of an elite class. The elite class created the demand for the production of the symbolic, the state of Guerrero, and in particular its early Mezcala culture, seem to have played an important role in the early history of Olmec culture. Olmec-style artifacts tend to appear earlier in some parts of Guerrero than in the Veracruz-Tabasco area, in particular, the relevant objects from the Amuco-Abelino site in Guerrero reveal dates as early as 1530 BC. The city of Teopantecuanitlan in Guerrero is also relevant in this regard, the first Olmec center, San Lorenzo, was all but abandoned around 900 BCE at about the same time that La Venta rose to prominence. A wholesale destruction of many San Lorenzo monuments also occurred circa 950 BCE, which may indicate an internal uprising or, less likely, an invasion. The latest thinking, however, is that changes may have been responsible for this shift in Olmec centers
Olmec
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Olmec Head No. 3 from
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan 1200–900 BCE
Olmec
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"
The Wrestler ", an Olmec era statuette, 1400–400 BCE
Olmec
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Olmec jadeite mask 1000–600 BCE
Olmec
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Great pyramid in
La Venta,
Tabasco
22.
Playa Larga
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Zapata Swamp is located on the Zapata Peninsula in the southern Matanzas province of Cuba. It is located less than 150 kilometres southeast of Havana, ciénaga de Zapata represents also a municipality, the largest one of Cuba with 4,162 km2. Within the Zapata Swamp are over 900 autochthonous plant species,175 species of birds,31 species of reptiles, some of the most notable are local endemics to Cuba, for birds, it includes the Zapata wren, Zapata rail, and the Zapata sparrow. The Zapata Swamp is also visited by 65 species of birds during their migration pattern from North America through the Caribbean to South America. Zapata is also known for the local endemic Cuban crocodile which are restricted to the Zapata Swamp and are being reintroduced to the nearby Lanier Swamp on the Isle of Youth, in mid-2001 an additional 4,520 km² were declared a Ramsar Site in mid-2001. The Zapata Swamp lies between 22°01’ and 22°40’ N latitude and between 80°33’ and 82°09’ W longitude, the swamp in total is over one million acres. Between May and October, the warmest season of the year, between November and April, the coldest season of the year, the temperature on average is 20 °C. Ciénaga de Zapata is administered as one of 14 municipalities of the Matanzas Province, in 2004, the municipality of Cienaga de Zapata had a population of 8,611. With a total area of 4,162 km2, it has a density of 2. 0/km2. Geography of Cuba Playa Girón Protected area Ramsar Convention World Conservation Monitoring Centre cubatechtravel. com, Areas of Natural Interes, Beaches, Nature Trails
Playa Larga
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Zapata Swamp as seen from space.
Playa Larga
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Red flamingos in Zapata
Playa Larga
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In crocodile farm in Zapata
23.
Teotihuacan
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Additionally, Teotihuacan exported fine obsidian tools that garnered high prestige and widespread usage throughout Mesoamerica. The city is thought to have been established around 100 BC, the city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries AD, but its major monuments were sacked and systematically burned around 550 AD. Teotihuacan began as a new center in the Mexican Highlands around the first century AD. This city came to be the largest and most populated center in the pre-Columbian Americas, Teotihuacan was even home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate this large population. The term Teotihuacan is also used for the civilization and cultural complex associated with the site. The later Aztecs saw these magnificent ruins and claimed a common ancestry with the Teotihuacanos, the ethnicity of the inhabitants of Teotihuacan is also a subject of debate. Possible candidates are the Nahua, Otomi, or Totonac ethnic groups, scholars have also suggested that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic state. The city and the site are located in what is now the San Juan Teotihuacán municipality in the State of México. The site covers a surface area of 83 square kilometres and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It is the most visited site in Mexico. The name Teōtīhuacān was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the fall of the city around 550 A. D, the term has been glossed as birthplace of the gods, or place where gods were born, reflecting Nahua creation myths that were said to occur in Teotihuacan. Nahuatl scholar Thelma D. Sullivan interprets the name as place of those who have the road of the gods and this is because the Aztecs believed that the gods created the universe at that site. The name is pronounced in Nahuatl, with the accent on the syllable wa, by normal Nahuatl orthographic conventions, a written accent would not appear in that position. Both this pronunciation and Spanish pronunciation, are used, and both appear in this article. The original name of the city is unknown, but it appears in texts from the Maya region as puh. This naming convention led to confusion in the early 20th century. It now seems clear that Tollan may be understood as a generic Nahua term applied to any large settlement, the early history of Teotihuacan is quite mysterious, and the origin of its founders is uncertain. Around 300 BC, people of the central and southeastern area of Mesoamerica began to gather into larger settlements, Teotihuacan was the largest urban center of Mesoamerica before the Aztecs, almost 1000 years prior to their epoch
Teotihuacan
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View of the Avenue of the Dead and the
Pyramid of the Sun, from the
Pyramid of the Moon.
Teotihuacan
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Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
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The view from the
Pyramid of the Sun
Teotihuacan
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Platform along the Avenue of the Dead showing the
talud-tablero architectural style
24.
Cuernavaca
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Cuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It was established by the Olmec, the culture of Mesoamerica. The city is located south of Mexico City, from which it may be reached after a drive of approximately 1½ hours using the D-95 Freeway, the city was nicknamed the City of Eternal Spring by Alexander von Humboldt in the nineteenth century. It has long been an escape for Mexico City and foreign visitors because of this warm, stable climate. Aztec emperors had summer residences there, and today many people as well as Mexico City residents maintain homes there. Cuernavaca is also host to a foreign resident population, including large numbers of students who come to study the Spanish language. The name Cuernavaca is derived from the Nahuatl phrase Cuauhnāhuac and means surrounded by or close to trees, the name eventually was Hispanicized to Cuernavaca. The coat-of-arms of the municipality is based on the pre-Columbian pictograph emblem of the city depicts a tree trunk with three branches, with foliage, and four roots colored red. There is a cut in the trunk in the form of a mouth, from which emerges a speech scroll, probably representing the language Nahuatl and by extension the locative suffix -nāhuac, Cuernavaca was nicknamed city of eternal spring by Alexander von Humboldt in the nineteenth century. The city is located in a region, but its temperature is kept fairly constant in the 70s. It is located on the slope of the Sierra de Chichinautzin mountains. In the morning, warm air flows up the mountains from the valley below and in the late afternoon, a ubiquitous flowering plant in the city is the bougainvillea. This pleasant climate has attracted royalty and nobles since Aztec times, most of the Aztec emperors called Cuernavaca their summer residence. Foreign princes, archdukes, and other nobles have been attracted to this place because of its flowers, sun, fruits, fresh-water springs, Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico set up a country residence in the city. Philanthropist Barbara Hutton, who held several royal titles through marriage, had a home in the city, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, lived in exile in the city following the Iranian Revolution. Although a native of the U. S. Cuernavaca always has been a place for people from Mexico City to escape the city. In the twentieth century, the climate and flora began to attract foreigners as well. Population increase in urban area began in 1940, but the metro area was not created, nor recognized
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca
25.
Maya civilization
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The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. The Archaic period, prior to 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture, the first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC, in the Late Preclassic a number of large cities developed in the Petén Basin, and Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands. Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop a number of city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful, the Classic period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonized the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city in 1697. Classic period rule was centred on the concept of the divine king, kingship was patrilineal, and power would normally pass to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader. Maya politics was dominated by a system of patronage, although the exact political make-up of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic, the aristocracy had greatly increased, resulting in the reduction in the exclusive power of the divine king. Maya cities tended to expand haphazardly, and the city centre would be occupied by ceremonial and administrative complexes, different parts of a city would often be linked by causeways. The principal architecture of the city consisted of palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, the Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing that was the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, there are also a great many examples of Maya text found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a complex series of interlocking ritual calendars. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice, the Maya civilization developed within the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers a region that spreads from northern Mexico southwards into Central America. Mesoamerica was one of six cradles of civilization worldwide, the Mesoamerican area gave rise to a series of cultural developments that included complex societies, agriculture, cities, monumental architecture, writing, and calendrical systems
Maya civilization
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El Castillo, at
Chichen Itza
Maya civilization
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Detail of Lintel 26 from
Yaxchilan
Maya civilization
–
Maya civilization
Maya civilization
–
Kaminaljuyu, in the highlands, and
El Mirador, in the lowlands, were both important cities in the Late Preclassic.
26.
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
–
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, prior to the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major shipping route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route. The name is taken from the town of Santo Domingo Tehuantepec in the state of Oaxaca, the isthmus includes the part of Mexico lying between the 94th and 96th meridians west longitude, or the southeastern parts of Veracruz and Oaxaca, including small areas of Chiapas and Tabasco. The states of Tabasco and Chiapas are east of the isthmus, with Veracruz, at its narrowest point, the isthmus is 200 km across from gulf to gulf, or 192 km to the head of Laguna Superior on the Pacific coast. The Sierra Madre breaks down at this point into a broad, plateau-like ridge, whose elevation, the northern side of the isthmus is swampy and densely covered with jungle, which has been a greater obstacle to railway construction than the grades in crossing the sierra. The whole region is hot and malarial, except for the open elevations, the annual rainfall on the Atlantic or northern slope is 3,960 mm and the maximum temperature about 35 degrees Celsius in the shade. The Pacific slope has a light rainfall and dryer climate, the narrowness of the isthmus, and the gap in the Sierra Madre, allow the trade winds from the Gulf of Mexico to blow through to the Pacific. This wind is known as the Tehuano, the region has one of the best wind resources in Mexico, with several wind farms. The population is composed almost wholly of indigenous Zapotec peoples, the women are the traders in Tehuantepec and do little menial work. The cuisine of the region is based upon traditional foods and ingredients, dishes may range from simple to elaborate, most dishes incorporate maize and moles. Common items include tamales made with iguana, chicken, beef or armadillo, guetabingui, Garnachas topped with dried queso Oaxaca, and pozol, a maize-based soup. Since the days of Hernán Cortés, the Tehuantepec isthmus has been considered a favorable route, first for an interoceanic canal and its proximity to the axis of international trade gives it some advantage over the Panama route. The Isthmus of Panama, however, is narrower, making for a shorter traversal. The 1853 Gadsden Purchase treaty included a provision allowing the U. S. to transport mail and trade goods across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec via a plank road and railroad. The 1859 McLane-Ocampo Treaty, which Benito Juárez signed but was never ratified by the United States Congress, when the great cost of a canal across the isthmus compelled engineers and capitalists to give it up as impracticable, James B. Eads proposed to construct a quadruple track ship-railway, and the scheme received serious attention for some time, then came projects for an ordinary railway, and several concessions were granted by the Mexican government for this purpose from 1857 to 1882. In the latter year the Mexican government resolved to undertake the construction on its own account. In 1888 this contract was rescinded, after 108 km of road had been completed, the next contract was fruitless because of the death of the contractor, and the third failed to complete the work within the sum specified
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
–
Map showing the relief of the isthmus
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
–
Map of the
Straits of Florida and Gulf of Mexico. To accompany a report from the Treasury Department to the Senate by Israel D. Andrews, per the resolution of the Senate of March 8, 1851.
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
–
Garnachas
27.
Oaxaca
–
Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, make up the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 570 municipalities, of which 418 are governed by the system of Usos y costumbres with recognized forms of self governance. Its capital city is Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca is located in Southwestern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Guerrero to the west, Puebla to the northwest, Veracruz to the north, to the south, Oaxaca has a significant coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The state is best known for its indigenous peoples and cultures, the most numerous and best known are the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs, but there are sixteen that are officially recognized. These cultures have survived better than most others in Mexico due to the states rugged, most live in the Central Valleys region, which is also an important area for tourism, attracting people for its archeological sites such as Monte Albán, native culture and crafts. Another important tourist area is the coast, which has the major resort of Huatulco, Oaxaca is also one of the most biologically diverse states in Mexico, ranking in the top three, along with Chiapas and Veracruz, for numbers of reptiles, amphibians, mammals and plants. The name of the state comes from the name of its capital city and this name comes from the Nahuatl word Huaxyacac, which refers to a tree called a guaje found around the capital city. The name was applied to the Valley of Oaxaca by Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs. The modern state was created in 1824, and the seal was designed by Alfredo Canseco Feraud. Nahuatl word Huaxyacac was transliterated as Oaxaca using Medieval Spanish orthography, in which the x represented the voiceless postalveolar fricative, however, during the sixteenth century the voiceless fricative sound evolved into a voiceless velar fricative, and Oaxaca began to be pronounced. Most of what is known about pre-historic Oaxaca comes from work in the Central Valleys region, evidence of human habitation dating back to about 11,000 years BC has been found in the Guilá Naquitz cave near the town of Mitla. More finds of nomadic peoples date back to about 5000 BC, by 2000 BC, agriculture had been established in the Central Valleys region of the state, with sedentary villages. The diet developed around this time would remain until the Spanish Conquest, consisting primarily of harvested corn, beans, chocolate, tomatoes, chili peppers, squash, meat was generally hunted and included tepescuintle, turkey, deer, peccary, armadillo and iguana. The oldest known settlements, such as Yanhuitlán and Laguna Zope are located in this area as well. The latter settlement is known for its small figures called pretty women or baby face, between 1200 and 900 BC, pottery was being produced in the area as well. This pottery has been linked with work done in La Victoria. Other important settlements from the time period include Tierras Largas, San José Mogote and Guadalupe
Oaxaca
–
Effigy Head Brazier (500 BC-200 BC)
Oaxaca
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Flag
Oaxaca
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Looking southwest over the site of
Monte Alban
Oaxaca
–
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption the motherchurch of the
Oaxacan Archdiocese
28.
Nahua peoples
–
The Nahuas are a group of indigenous people of Mexico and El Salvador. Their language of Uto-Aztecan affiliation is called Nahuatl and consists of many dialects and variants. About 1,500,000 Nahua speak Nahuatl and another 1,000,000 speak only Spanish, less than 1,000 native speakers remain in El Salvador. Evidence suggests the Nahua peoples originated in Aridoamerica, in regions of the present day northwestern Mexico and they split off from the other Uto-Aztecan speaking peoples and migrated into central Mexico around 500 CE. They settled in and around the Basin of Mexico and spread out to become the dominant people in central Mexico, the name Nahua is derived from the Nahuatl word-root nāhua-, which generally means audible, intelligible, clear with different derivations including language. It was used in contrast with popoloca, to speak unintelligibly or speak a foreign language, another, related term is Nāhuatlācatl or Nāhuatlācah literally Nahuatl-speaking people. The Nahuas are also referred to as Aztecs. Using this term for the Nahuas has generally fallen out of favor in scholarship and they have also been called Mēxihcatl, Mēxihcah or in Spanish Mexicano Mexicans, after the Mexica, the Nahua tribe which founded and predominated in the Aztec empire. At the turn of the 16th century, Nahua populations occupied territories ranging across modern-day Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and these were gradually assimilated into mestizo society in most places. The last of the southern Nahua populations are the Pipil of El Salvador, Nahuatl was a lingua franca for trade and rule during the apogee of the Aztec empire. There are many Nahuatl place names in regions where Nahuas were not the most populous group, Nahua populations in Mexico are centered in the middle of the country, with most speakers in the states of Puebla, Veracruz, Hidalgo, Guerrero and San Luis Potosí. But smaller populations are spread throughout the country, following recent population movements within Mexico, within the last 50 years, Nahua populations have appeared in the United States, particularly in New York City, L. A. and Houston. Archaeological, historical and linguistic evidence suggest that the Nahuas originally came from the deserts of northern Mexico, before the Nahuas entered Mesoamerica, they were probably living for a while in northwestern Mexico alongside the Cora and Huichol peoples. The first group of Nahuas to split from the group were the Pochutec who went on to settle on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca possibly as early as 400 CE. From c.600 CE the Nahua quickly rose to power in central Mexico and expanded into areas earlier occupied by Oto-Manguean, Totonacan and Huastec peoples. Around 1000 CE the Toltec people, normally assumed to have been of Nahua ethnicity, from this period on the Nahua were the dominant ethnic group in the Valley of Mexico and far beyond, and migrations kept coming in from the north. After the fall of Toltecs a period of population movements followed. And in central Mexico different Nahua groups based in their different Altepetl city-states fought for political dominance
Nahua peoples
–
"
Atlantean figures " from the Nahua culture of the
Toltecs at
Tula.
Nahua peoples
–
Number of Nahuatl speakers per state (Mexico only)
Nahua peoples
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Nahua man of Morelos ploughing a bean field by mule
29.
Aztec
–
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to 16th centuries. The Nahuatl words aztecatl and aztecah mean people from Aztlan, a place for the Nahuatl-speaking culture of the time. Often the term Aztec refers exclusively to the Mexica people of Tenochtitlan, situated on an island in Lake Texcoco, who referred to themselves as Mēxihcah Tenochcah or Cōlhuah Mexihcah. From the 13th century, the Valley of Mexico was the heart of Aztec civilization, here the capital of the Aztec Triple Alliance, the Triple Alliance formed a tributary empire expanding its political hegemony far beyond the Valley of Mexico, conquering other city states throughout Mesoamerica. At its pinnacle, Aztec culture had rich and complex mythological and religious traditions, as well as achieving remarkable architectural and artistic accomplishments. Subsequently, the Spanish founded the new settlement of Mexico City on the site of the ruined Aztec capital, the term extends to further ethnic groups associated with the Aztec empire such as the Acolhua and Tepanec and others that were incorporated into the empire. In older usage the term was used about modern Nahuatl speaking ethnic groups. In recent usage these ethnic groups are referred to as the Nahua peoples. Linguistically the term Aztecan is still used about the branch of the Uto-Aztecan languages that includes the Nahuatl language and its closest relatives Pochutec, to the Aztecs themselves the word aztec was not an endonym for any particular ethnic group. Rather it was a term used to refer to several ethnic groups, not all of them Nahuatl speaking. In the Nahuatl language aztecatl means person from Aztlan and this usage has been the subject of debate in more recent years, but the term Aztec is still more common. For the same reason the notion of Aztec civilization is best understood as a horizon of a general Mesoamerican civilization. Particular to the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan was the Mexica patron God Huitzilopochtli, twin pyramids, the Aztec Empire was a tribute empire based in Tenochtitlan that extended its power throughout Mesoamerica in the late postclassic period. Soon Texcoco and Tlacopan became junior partners in the alliance, which was de facto led by the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, the empire extended its power by a combination of trade and military conquest. The political clout of the empire reached far south into Mesoamerica conquering cities as far south as Chiapas and Guatemala, the Nahua peoples began to migrate into Mesoamerica from northern Mexico in the 6th century. They populated central Mexico, dislocating speakers of Oto-Manguean languages as they spread their influence south. As the former nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples mixed with the civilizations of Mesoamerica, adopting religious and cultural practices. During the Postclassic period they rose to power at such sites as Tula, in the 12th century the Nahua power center was in Azcapotzalco, from where the Tepanecs dominated the valley of Mexico
Aztec
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The Aztec Pyramid at
St. Cecilia Acatitlan, State of Mexico
Aztec
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Aztec
wood mask
Aztec
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Large ceramic statue of an Aztec Eagle Warrior
Aztec
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Aztec cosmogram in the pre-Hispanic
Codex Fejérváry-Mayer —the fire god
Xiuhtecuhtli is in the center
30.
Aztec empire
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The Aztec Empire, or the Triple Alliance, began as an alliance of three Nahua altepetl city-states, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. The Triple Alliance was formed from the faction in a civil war fought between the city of Azcapotzalco and its former tributary provinces. Despite the initial conception of the empire as an alliance of three self-governed city-states, Tenochtitlan quickly became dominant militarily. By the time the Spanish arrived in 1519, the lands of the Alliance were effectively ruled from Tenochtitlan, the alliance waged wars of conquest and expanded rapidly after its formation. Aztec rule has been described by scholars as hegemonic or indirect, the Aztecs left rulers of conquered cities in power so long as they agreed to pay semi-annual tribute to the Alliance, as well as supply military forces when needed for the Aztec war efforts. In return, the imperial authority offered protection and political stability, the state religion of the empire was polytheistic, worshiping a diverse pantheon that included dozens of deities. Many had officially recognized cults large enough so that the deity was represented in the temple precinct of the capital Tenochtitlan. The imperial cult, specifically, was that of Huitzilopochtli, the distinctive warlike patron god of the Mexica, peoples in conquered provinces were allowed to retain and freely continue their own religious traditions, so long as they added the imperial god Huitzilopochtli to their local pantheons. The word Aztec in modern usage would not have used by the people themselves. The name comes from a Nahuatl word meaning people from Aztlan, for the purpose of this article, Aztec refers only to those cities that constituted or were subject to the Triple Alliance. For the broader use of the term, see the article on Aztec civilization, Nahua peoples descended from Chichimec peoples who migrated to central Mexico from the north in the early 13th century. According to the pictographic codices in which the Aztecs recorded their history, Early migrants settled the Basin of Mexico and surrounding lands by establishing a series of independent city-states. These early Nahua cities were ruled by petty kings called tlahtohqueh, most of the existing settlements, which had been established by other indigenous peoples before the Nahua migration, were assimilated into Nahua culture. These early city-states fought various small-scale wars with other, but due to shifting alliances. The Mexica were the last of Aztlan migrants to arrive in Central Mexico and they entered the Basin of Mexico around the year 1250 AD, and by then most of the good agricultural land had already been claimed. The Mexica persuaded the king of Culhuacan to allow them to settle in a relatively infertile patch of land called Chapultepec, the Mexica served as hired mercenaries for Culhuacan. After they served Culhuacan in battle, the appointed one of his daughters to rule over the Mexica. According to mythological native accounts, the Mexica instead sacrificed her by flaying her skin, when the king of Culhuacan learned of this, he attacked and used his army to drive the Mexica from Tizaapan by force
Aztec empire
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Jaguar Warrior, from the
Codex Magliabechiano.
Aztec empire
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State emblems
Aztec empire
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Codex Azcatitlan depicting the Spanish army, with Cortez and Malinche in front
Aztec empire
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Cristóbal de Olid led Spanish soldiers with
Tlaxcalan allies in the conquests of Jalisco and Colima of West Mexico.
31.
Ahuizotl
–
Ahuitzotl was the eighth Aztec ruler, the Hueyi Tlatoani of the city of Tenochtitlan, son of princess Atotoztli II. He was responsible for much of the expansion of the Mexica domain and he took power as tlatoani in the year 7 Rabbit, after the death of his predecessor and brother, Tizoc. His sons were kings Chimalpilli II and Cuauhtémoc and he also had one daughter and he conquered the Mixtec, Zapotec, and other peoples from Pacific Coast of Mexico down to the western part of Guatemala. Ahuizotl also supervised a major rebuilding of Tenochtitlan on a scale including the expansion of the Great Pyramid or Templo Mayor in the year 8 Reed. He presided over the introduction of the great-tailed grackle into the Valley of Mexico, Ahuizotl died in the year 10 Rabbit and was succeeded by his nephew, Moctezuma II. Ahuizotl took his name from the animal ahuizotl, which the Aztecs considered to be a creature in its own right rather than a mere mythical representation of the king. On 3 August 2007, Mexican archaeologists announced discovery of what is believed to be the tomb of Ahuizotl beneath a sculpture of Tlaltecuhtli near the Zócalo in Mexico City, the Aztecs. revised ed. Thames and Hudson, New York. Hassig, Ross Aztec Warfare, Imperial Expansion and Political Control, the Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors, Archaeology of Mesoamerica
Ahuizotl
–
Ahuitzotl in the
Codex Mendoza
32.
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
–
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most significant events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Many of those on the Cortés expedition of 1519 had never seen combat before, in fact, Cortés had never commanded men in battle before. However, there was a generation of Spaniards who participated in expeditions in the Caribbean and Tierra Firme, learning strategy. The Spanish conquest of Mexico had antecedents with established practices, in their advance, the allies were tricked and ambushed several times by the people they encountered. When Cortés left Tenochtitlan to return to the coast and deal with the expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez, Alvarado allowed a significant Aztec feast to be celebrated in Tenochtitlan and on the pattern of the earlier massacre in Cholula, closed off the square and massacred the celebrating Aztec noblemen. The biography of Cortés by Francisco López de Gómara contains a description of the massacre, the Alvarado massacre at the Main Temple of Tenochtitlan precipitated rebellion by the population of the city. When the captured emperor Motecuhzoma II, now seen as a puppet of the invading Spaniards, attempted to calm the outraged populace. Cortés had returned to Tenochtitlan and his men fled the city during the Noche Triste in June,1520. The Spanish, Tlaxcalans and reinforcements returned a year later on August 13,1521 to a civilization that had wiped out by famine. This made it easier to conquer the remaining Aztecs, the fall of the Aztec Empire was the key event in the formation of the Spanish overseas empire, with New Spain, which later became Mexico, a major component. The Spanish conquerors could and did write accounts that narrated the conquest from the first landfalls in Mexico to the victory over the Mexica in Tenochtitlan on August 13,1521. Indigenous accounts are from particular native viewpoints and as the events had a impact on their polity. All accounts of the conquest, Spanish and indigenous alike, have biases, in general, Spanish accounts do not credit their indigenous allies support. Individual conquerors accounts exaggerate that individuals contribution to the conquest, downplaying other conquerors, indigenous allies accounts stress their loyalty to the Spanish and their particular aid as being key to the Spanish victory. Their accounts are similar to Spanish conquerors accounts contained in petitions for rewards and these were almost immediately published in Spain and later in other parts of Europe. Interestingly, Cortéss right-hand man, Pedro de Alvarado did not write at any length about his actions in the New World, two letters to Cortés about Alvarados campaigns in Guatemala are published in The Conquistadors. Rather than it being a petition for rewards for services, as many Spanish accounts were, the account was used by eighteenth-century Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero in his descriptions of the history of Mexico. On the indigenous side, the allies of Cortés, particularly the Tlaxcalans, wrote extensively about their services to the Spanish Crown in the conquest, the most important of these are the pictorial Lienzo de Tlaxcala and the Historia de Tlaxcala by Diego Muñoz Camargo
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
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Conquest of Mexico by
Cortés, oil on canvas.
Spanish: Conquista de México por Cortés
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
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Coat of arms of Villa Rica, Veracruz. First town council founded by Spaniards. Tile mosaic located in
Mexico City.
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
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Cortés scuttling fleet off Veracruz coast
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
–
Palacio de Gobierno,
Tlaxcala city: Murals - Discussions between Tlaxcalans and Hernán Cortés.
33.
Encomendero
–
The encomienda was a labor system, rewarding conquerors with the labor of particular groups of people. It was first established in Spain during the Roman period, and it was applied on a much larger scale during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Philippines. Conquered peoples were considered vassals of the Spanish monarch and the award of an encomienda was a grant from the crown to a particular individual. In the encomienda, the Spanish crown granted a person a specified number of natives from a community, with the indigenous leaders in charge of mobilizing the assessed tribute. In return, the natives would provide tributes in the form of metals, maize, wheat, in the first decade of Spanish presence in the Caribbean, Spaniards divided up the natives, who in some cases were worked relentlessly. With the ouster of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish crown sent a governor, Fray Nicolás de Ovando. In many cases natives were forced to do hard labor and subjected to extreme punishment, however, Queen Isabella of Castile had forbidden Indian slavery and deemed the indigenous free vassals of the crown, allowing many natives and Spaniards to appeal to the Real Audiencias. In the former Inca Empire, for example, the system continued the Incaic traditions of extracting tribute in the form of labor, the heart of encomienda and encomendero lies in the Spanish verb encomendar, to entrust. The encomienda was based on the Reconquista institution in which adelantados were given the right to extract tribute from Muslims or other peasants in areas that they had conquered and resettled. The encomienda system in Spanish America differed from the Peninsular institution in that encomenderos did not own the land on which the natives lived, the system did not entail any direct land tenure by the encomendero, Indian lands were to remain in the possession of their communities. This right was protected by the crown of Castile because the rights of administration in the New World belonged to this crown. The first grantees of the encomienda or encomenderos were usually conquerors who received grants of labor by virtue of participation in a successful conquest. Later, some receiving encomiendas in New Spain were not conquerors themselves but were well connected that they received grants. He designated as pobladores antiguos, a group of undetermined number of encomenderos in New Spain, holders of encomiendas also included women and indigenous notables. The daughter of Doña Marina and conqueror Juan Jaramillo, Doña Maria Jaramillo, two of Moctezumas daughters, Doña Isabel Moctezuma and her younger sister, Doña Leonor Moctezuma, were granted extensive encomiendas in perpetuity by Hernan Cortes. Doña Leonor Moctezuma married in succession two Spaniards, and left the encomiendas to her daughter by her second husband, vassal Inca rulers established after the conquest also sought and were granted encomiendas. Indeed, the settler-conquistadors knew the fury of the aroused Indian lords, voyagers, explorers, initially, the encomienda system was devised to meet the needs of the early agricultural economies in the Caribbean. Later it was adopted to the economy of Peru and Upper Peru
Encomendero
–
Francisco Hernández Giron was a Spanish encomendero in the
Viceroyalty of Peru who protested the
New Laws in 1553. These laws, passed in 1542, gave certain rights to indigenous peoples and protected them against abuses. Drawing by
Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala.
34.
Codex Tudela
–
The Codex Tudela, named after José Tudela de la Orden, is a 16th-century pictorial Aztec codex. It is based on the prototype as the Codex Magliabechiano, the Codex Ixtlilxochitl. Little is known about the codexs history, the Spanish government bought the manuscript when it was rediscovered in 1940, and it is now held by the Museo de América in Madrid. The Codex Magliabechiano and the Lost Prototype of the Magliabechiano Group, mexican Manuscript Painting of the Early Colonial Period, The Metropolitan Schools
Codex Tudela
–
Folios 98 verso and 99 recto, showing aspects of the
Aztec calendar: the birds of the day, the lords of the night, and the day signs.
35.
Carl Saltzmann
–
Carl Saltzmann was a German marine and landscape painter, born in Berlin. He was a pupil of Herman Eschke, then studied at Düsseldorf, in 1878-80 he went with Prince Henry of Prussia on his trip around the world and later accompanied the German Emperor on his visit to St. Petersburg and Norway. Of his pictures resulting from these journeys may be mentioned Corvette Prince Adalbert in the Strait of Magellan, In the Pacific Ocean, the National Gallery, Berlin, contains two paintings by him. In 1888 Saltzmann was awarded the gold medal at Berlin and in 1896 he was appointed professor at the Academy. Carl Saltzmann entry, artnet. com This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Gilman. Thurston, H. T. Colby, F. M. eds. article name needed
Carl Saltzmann
–
Whaling with the Duncan Grey, 1900
Carl Saltzmann
–
Kaiserin Augusta verlässt Newyork (English: "
SMS Kaiserin Augusta leaving New York"); 1895 lithograph from Unsre Kriegsflotte.
36.
New Spain
–
New Spain was a colonial territory of the Spanish Empire, in the New World north of the Isthmus of Panama. It was established following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521, after 1535 the colony was governed by the Viceroy of New Spain, an appointed minister of the King of Spain, who ruled as monarch over the colony. The capital of New Spain was Mexico City and it developed highly regional divisions, which reflect the impact of climate, topography, the presence or absence of dense indigenous populations, and the presence or absence of mineral resources. The areas of central and southern Mexico had dense indigenous populations with complex social, political, silver mining not only became the engine of the economy of New Spain, but vastly enriched Spain, and transformed the global economy. New Spain was the New World terminus of the Philippine trade, although New Spain was a dependency of Spain, it was a kingdom not a colony, subject to the presiding monarch on the Iberian Peninsula. Every privilege and position, economic political, or religious came from him and it was on this basis that the conquest, occupation, and government of the New World was achieved. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was established in 1535 in the Kingdom of New Spain and it was the first New World viceroyalty and one of only two in the Spanish empire until the 18th century Bourbon Reforms. The Spanish Empire comprised the territories in the north overseas Septentrion, from North America, to the west of the continent, New Spain also included the Spanish East Indies. To the east of the continent, it included the Spanish West Indies and this was not occupied by many Spanish settlers and were considered more marginal to Spanish interests than the most densely populated and lucrative areas of central Mexico. To shore up its claims in North America starting in the late 18th century, Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest explored and claimed the coast of what is now British Columbia and Alaska. The indigenous societies of Mesoamerica brought under Spanish control were of unprecedented complexity, the societies could provide the conquistadors, especially Hernán Cortés, a base from which the conquerors could become autonomous, or even independent, of the Crown. As a result, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, since the time of the Catholic Monarchs, central Iberia was governed through councils appointed by the monarch with particular jurisdictions. Thus, the creation of the Council of the Indies became another, the crown had set up the Casa de Contratación in 1503 to regulate contacts between Spain and its overseas possessions. A key function was to gather information about navigation to make trips less risky and they were accompanied by maps of the area discussed, many of which were drawn by indigenous artists. The Francisco Hernández Expedition, the first scientific expedition to the New World, was sent to gather information medicinal plants, an earlier Audiencia had been established in Santo Domingo in 1526 to deal with the Caribbean settlements. That Audiencia, housed in the Casa Reales in Santo Domingo, was charged with encouraging further exploration, management by the Audiencia, which was expected to make executive decisions as a body, proved unwieldy. Therefore, in 1535, King Charles V named Don Antonio de Mendoza as the first Viceroy of New Spain. After the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 opened up the vast territories of South America to further conquests, the Crown established an independent Viceroyalty of Peru there in 1540
New Spain
–
"Vázquez de Coronado Sets Out to the North" (1540) by
Frederic Remington, oil on canvas, 1905
New Spain
–
Flag
New Spain
–
Indian Wedding and Flying Pole, circa 1690
New Spain
–
Route from Philippines to Acapulco, México
37.
Veracruz, Veracruz
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Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located along the coast in the part of the state,90 km southeast of the state capital Xalapa along Federal Highway 140. It is the states most populous city, with a population that is greater than the municipalitys population, at the 2010 census, the city had 554,830 inhabitants,428,323 in Veracruz Municipality and 126,507 in Boca del Río Municipality. Developed during Spanish colonization, Veracruz has been Mexico’s oldest, largest and it was the second Spanish settlement on the mainland of the Americas but the first to receive a coat-of-arms. During the colonial period, this city had the largest mercantile class and was at times wealthier than the capital of Mexico City and its wealth attracted the raids of 17th-century pirates, against which fortifications such as Fort San Juan de Ulúa were built. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Veracruz was invaded on different occasions by France and it has become the principal port for most of Mexico’s imports and exports, especially for the automotive industry. Veracruz has a blend of cultures, mostly indigenous, ethnic Spanish, the influence of these three is best seen in the food and music of the area, which has strong Spanish, Caribbean and African influences. The name Veracruz, derives from the Latin Vera Crux, having established the settlement of Villa Rica on Good Friday 1519, Cortés dedicated the place to the True Cross as an offering. The Spanish captain Juan de Grijalva, along with Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the Spanish gave it that name because they landed on the Christian feast of John the Baptist, and in honor of the captain. De Ulúa is derived from the name for the Aztecs. According to tradition, when the Spanish arrived, they found two men who had been sacrificed. When they asked the locals what had happened, they said the Aztecs had ordered the sacrifice, the word for Aztec evolved into Ulúa. Because the first expedition detected the presence of gold in the region, Cortés and his men landed at the shore opposite the island where Grijalva had moored, which has the pre-Hispanic name of Chalchihuecan. Cortés, Francisco de Montejo and Alonso Hernández Puertocarrero founded the settlement, the name Villa Rica referred to the gold that was found here and Vera cruz was added because the Cortés expedition landed on Good Friday, a Christian holy day. When Cortés and his soldiers elected a Justicia Mayor and a Capitán General, the city was the first on mainland America to receive a European coat of arms, which was authorized by Carlos V in Valladolid, Spain on 4 July 1523. The original settlement was moved to what is now known as Antigua and this separated the city from the port, as ships could not enter the shallow river. Ships continued to dock at San Juan de Ulúa, with boats being used to ferry goods on. When large-scale smuggling of goods took place to avoid customs officials, docks and an observation tower were constructed on the island to ensure that goods went through customs officials
Veracruz, Veracruz
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Fort San Juan de Ulúa, taken from the malecón (boardwalk)
Veracruz, Veracruz
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Flag
Veracruz, Veracruz
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The plaza in the center of the city of Veracruz
Veracruz, Veracruz
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Municipal Palace of Veracruz
38.
Manila-Acapulco Galleon
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The name of the galleon changed to reflect the city that the ship sailed from. The term Manila Galleons is also used to refer to the route between Acapulco and Manila, which lasted from 1565 to 1815. The Manila Galleons were also known in New Spain as La Nao de la China because it carried largely Chinese goods, the Manila Galleon trade route was inaugurated in 1565 after Augustinian friar and navigator Andrés de Urdaneta discovered the tornaviaje or return route from the Philippines to Mexico. The first successful round trips were made by Urdaneta and by Alonso de Arellano that year, the route lasted until 1815 when the Mexican War of Independence ended Spanish control of Mexican ports. The Manila galleons sailed the Pacific for 250 years, bringing to Spain their cargoes of goods, economic benefits. In 1521, a Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan sailed west across the Pacific using the trade winds. The expedition discovered the Mariana Islands and the Philippines and claimed them for Spain, although Magellan died there, one of his ships made it back to Spain by continuing westward. In order to settle and trade with these islands from the Americas, the first ship to try this a few years later failed. In 1529, Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón also tried sailing east from the Philippines, in 1543, Bernardo de la Torre also failed. In 1542, however, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo helped pave the way by sailing north from Mexico to explore the Pacific coast, reaching as far north as the Russian River, just north of the 38th parallel. The Manila-Acapulco galleon trade finally began when Spanish navigators Alonso de Arellano, sailing as part of the expedition commanded by Miguel López de Legazpi to conquer the Philippines in 1565, Arellano and Urdaneta were given the task of finding a return route. Most of his crew died on the initial voyage, for which they had not sufficiently provisioned. Arellano, who had taken a more southerly route, had already arrived, the English privateer Francis Drake also reached the California coast, in 1579. After capturing a Spanish ship heading for Manila, Drake turned north and he failed in that regard, but staked an English claim somewhere on the northern California coast. Although the ships log and other records were lost, the location is now called Drakes Bay. The first motivation for land exploration of present-day California was to scout out possible way-stations for the seaworn Manila galleons on the last leg of their journey. Early proposals came to little, but in 1769, the Portola expedition established Alta California ports at San Diego and Monterey, providing safe harbors for returning Manila galleons. In Manila, the safety of ocean crossings was commended to the virgin Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Porta Vaga in masses held by the Archbishop of Manila
Manila-Acapulco Galleon
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The Manila-Acapulco Galleon Memorial at Plaza Mexico in Intramuros, Manila.
Manila-Acapulco Galleon
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Andrés de Urdaneta
Manila-Acapulco Galleon
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Pacific Ocean with
Mauna Kea highlighted
39.
Pirates
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Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship- or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable items or properties. Those who engage in acts of piracy are called pirates, the earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilizations. Narrow channels which funnel shipping into predictable routes have long created opportunities for piracy, as well as for privateering and commerce raiding. Historic examples include the waters of Gibraltar, the Strait of Malacca, Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden, a land-based parallel is the ambushing of travelers by bandits and brigands in highways and mountain passes. While the term can include acts committed in the air, on land, or in major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against people traveling on the vessel as the perpetrator. Piracy or pirating is the name of a crime under customary international law. They also use larger vessels, known as ships, to supply the smaller motorboats. The international community is facing challenges in bringing modern pirates to justice. In the 2000s, a number of nations have used their naval forces to protect ships from pirate attacks. The English pirate is derived from the Latin term pirata and that from Greek πειρατής, brigand, in turn from πειράομαι, I attempt, from πεῖρα, attempt, the meaning of the Greek word peiratēs literally is one who attacks. The word is cognate to peril. The term is first attested to c, spelling was not standardised until the eighteenth century, and spellings such as pirrot, pyrate and pyrat were used until this period. It may be reasonable to assume that piracy has existed for as long as the oceans were plied for commerce, the earliest documented instances of piracy are the exploits of the Sea Peoples who threatened the ships sailing in the Aegean and Mediterranean waters in the 14th century BC. In classical antiquity, the Phoenicians, Illyrians and Tyrrhenians were known as pirates, the ancient Greeks condoned piracy as a viable profession, it apparently was widespread and regarded as an entirely honourable way of making a living. References are made to its perfectly normal occurrence many texts including in Homers Iliad and Odyssey, by the era of Classical Greece, piracy was looked upon as a disgrace to have as a profession. In the 3rd century BC, pirate attacks on Olympos brought impoverishment, among some of the most famous ancient pirateering peoples were the Illyrians, a people populating the western Balkan peninsula. Constantly raiding the Adriatic Sea, the Illyrians caused many conflicts with the Roman Republic and it was not until 229 BC when the Romans finally decisively beat the Illyrian fleets that their threat was ended
Pirates
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French pirate
Jacques de Sores looting and burning Havana in 1555
Pirates
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Mosaic of a
Roman trireme in Tunisia
Pirates
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A fleet of
Vikings, painted mid-12th century
Pirates
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The Vitalienbrüder. Piracy became endemic in the
Baltic sea in the
Middle Ages.
40.
Francis Drake
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Sir Francis Drake, vice admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. With his incursion into the Pacific he inaugurated an era of privateering, Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588 and he died of dysentery in January 1596 after unsuccessfully attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico. His exploits made him a hero to the English but a pirate to the Spaniards, King Philip II was said to have offered a reward of 20,000 ducats, about £4 million by modern standards, for his life. Francis Drake was born in Tavistock, Devon, England, although his birth is not formally recorded, it is known that he was born while the Six Articles were in force. Drake was two and twenty when he obtained the command of the Judith and this would date his birth to 1544. A date of c.1540 is suggested from two portraits, one a miniature painted by Nicholas Hilliard in 1581 when he was allegedly 42 and he was the eldest of the twelve sons of Edmund Drake, a Protestant farmer, and his wife Mary Mylwaye. The first son was alleged to have named after his godfather Francis Russell. Because of religious persecution during the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549, there the father obtained an appointment to minister the men in the Kings Navy. He was ordained deacon and was vicar of Upnor Church on the Medway. Drakes father apprenticed Francis to his neighbour, the master of a used for coastal trade transporting merchandise to France. The ship master was so satisfied with the young Drakes conduct that, being unmarried and childless at his death, Francis Drake married Mary Newman in 1569. She died 12 years later, in 1581, in 1585, Drake married Elizabeth Sydenham—born circa 1562, the only child of Sir George Sydenham, of Combe Sydenham, who was the High Sheriff of Somerset. After Drakes death, the widow Elizabeth eventually married Sir William Courtenay of Powderham. At age 23, Drake made his first voyage to the Americas, sailing with his cousin, Sir John Hawkins, on one of a fleet of ships owned by his relatives. In 1568 Drake was again with the Hawkins fleet when it was trapped by the Spaniards in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulúa, following the defeat at San Juan de Ulúa, Drake vowed revenge. He made two voyages to the West Indies, in 1570 and 1571, of which little is known, in 1572, he embarked on his first major independent enterprise. He planned an attack on the Isthmus of Panama, known to the Spanish as Tierra Firme and the English as the Spanish Main
Francis Drake
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Sir Francis Drake in
Buckland Abbey 16th century, oil on canvas, by
Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger
Francis Drake
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Portrait miniature by
Nicholas Hilliard, 1581, reverse of "Drake Jewel", inscribed Aetatis suae 42, An(n)o D(omi)ni 1581 ("42 years of his age, 1581 AD")
Francis Drake
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A replica of the
Golden Hind
Francis Drake
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The journey of Francis Drake up the Pacific Coast in 1579, artist's impression
41.
Henry Morgan
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Sir Henry Morgan was a Welsh privateer, landowner and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, with the prize money from the raids he purchased three large sugar plantations on the island. Much of Morgans early life is unknown and he was born in south Wales, but it is not known how he made his way to the West Indies, or how he began his career as a privateer. He was probably a member of a group of raiders led by Sir Christopher Myngs in the early 1660s, Morgan became a close friend of Sir Thomas Modyford, the Governor of Jamaica. When diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of England and Spain worsened in 1667, Modyford gave Morgan a letter of marque, Morgan subsequently conducted successful and highly lucrative raids on Puerto Principe and Porto Bello. In 1668 he sailed for Maracaibo and Gibraltar, both on Lake Maracaibo in modern-day Venezuela and he raided both cities and stripped them of their wealth before destroying a large Spanish squadron as he escaped. In 1671 Morgan attacked Panama City, landing on the Caribbean coast and traversing the isthmus before he attacked the city, the battle was a rout, although the privateers profited less than in other raids. Morgan was appointed a Knight Bachelor in November 1674 and returned to Jamaica shortly afterward to serve as the territorys Lieutenant Governor and he served on the Assembly of Jamaica until 1683 and on three occasions he acted as Governor of Jamaica in the absence of the post-holder. He died in Jamaica on 25 August 1688 and his life was romanticised after his death and he became the inspiration for pirate-themed works of fiction across a range of genres. Henry Morgan was born around 1635 in Wales, either in Llanrumney, Glamorgan or Pencarn, several sources state Morgans father was Robert Morgan, a farmer. It is unknown how Morgan made his way to the Caribbean, in the 17th century the Caribbean offered an opportunity for young men to become rich quickly, although significant investment was needed to obtain high returns from the sugar export economy. Other opportunities for gain were through trade or plunder of the Spanish Empire. Much of the plunder was from privateering, whereby individuals and ships were commissioned by government to attack the countrys enemies. It is probable that in the early 1660s Morgan was active with a group of privateers led by Sir Christopher Myngs attacking Spanish cities and settlements in the Caribbean and Central America. In 1663 it is likely that Morgan captained one of the ships in Myngs fleet, and took part in the attack on Santiago de Cuba, about 1,500 privateers used Jamaica as a base for their activity and brought significant revenue to the island. As the planting community of 5,000 was still new and developing, a privateer was granted a letter of marque which gave him a licence to attack and seize vessels, normally of a specific country, or with conditions attached. A portion of all obtained by the privateers was given to the sovereign or the issuing ambassador. In August 1665 Morgan, along with fellow captains John Morris and Jacob Fackman, Modyford was impressed enough with the spoils to report back to the government that Central America was the properest place for an attack on the Spanish Indies
Henry Morgan
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Sir Henry Morgan, in a popular 18th century woodcut
Henry Morgan
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Puerto del Príncipe being sacked in 1668
Henry Morgan
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Henry Morgan Recruiting for the Attack
Henry Morgan
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Morgan at Porto Bello.
42.
Thomas Cavendish
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While members of Magellans, Loaisas, Drakes, and Loyolas expeditions had preceded Cavendish in circumnavigating the globe, it had not been their intent at the outset. His first trip and successful circumnavigation made him rich from captured Spanish gold, silk and treasure from the Pacific and his richest prize was the captured 600 ton sailing ship the Manila Galleon Santa Ana. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England after his return and he later set out for a second raiding and circumnavigation trip but was not as fortunate and died at sea at the age of 31. Cavendish was born in 1560 at Trimley St Martin near Ipswich, Suffolk and his father was William Cavendish, a descendant of Roger Cavendish, brother to Sir John Cavendish from whom the Dukes of Devonshire and the Dukes of Newcastle derive their family name of Cavendish. When Thomas Cavendish was 12 he inherited a fortune from his fathers estate, at the age of 15 he entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, remaining for two years, but did not take a degree. After leaving school at age 17, he spent most of the next 8 years or so in luxurious living and he was a Member of Parliament for Shaftesbury, Dorset, in 1584. In 1585 he sailed with Sir Richard Grenville to aid in the colonization of Roanoke, gaining valuable experience. He was a member of Parliament for Wilton,1586, by July 1586 Spain and England were in a war which would culminate with the Spanish Armada and its threatened invasion of England in 1588. Cavendish determined to follow Sir Francis Drake by raiding the Spanish ports and ships in the Pacific, after getting permission for his proposed raids, Cavendish built a 120-ton sailing ship, with 18 cannons, named the Desire. He was joined by the 60 ton,10 cannon, ship Content, with his three ships and 123 men he set out from Plymouth, England on 21 July 1586 and reached the Strait of Magellan on 6 January 1587. He anchored first at the island of Santa Magdalena near present-day Punta Arenas, there, in two hours, they killed and salted two barrelfuls of penguins for food. In 1587 there were two Manila galleons, the San Francisco and the Santa Ana, unfortunately both encountered a typhoon on leaving the Philippines and were wrecked on the coast of Japan. Only the Santa Ana was salvageable and after repairs resumed her voyage, upon reaching the Gulf of California in October 1587 Cavendish and his two ships put in at an island above Mazatlan where they careened their ships to clean their bottoms and made general repairs. They had to dig wells for water and they sailed for Cape San Lucas on the Baja Peninsula and set up patrols to see if they could spot the Manila galleon. Early on 4 November 1587 one of Cavendishs lookouts spotted the 600 ton galleon manned with over 200 men, after a several hour chase the English ships overhauled the Santa Ana—which conveniently had no cannons on board, in order to carry the added cargo. Because of the disparity in size the Content and Desire had to pick. One hundred and ninety Spaniards, and Filipino crewmen, were set ashore with food and some weapons in a location where they had water, Cavendish kept with him two Japanese sailors, three boys from Manila, a Portuguese traveler familiar with China, and a Spanish pilot. They loaded all the gold and then picked through the silks, damasks, musks, spices, wines, some in Mexico claimed that the total value of the cargo was about 2,000,000 pesos
Thomas Cavendish
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An engraving from Holland's Hweerologia. Animum fortuna sequatur is
Latin for "Fortune follows the spirited."
Thomas Cavendish
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The North Pacific currents and winds used by both the
Manila Galleon and Cavendish to get to
Guam and the
Philippines --the
North Pacific Gyre
43.
Mexican War of Independence
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The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict, and the culmination of a political and social process which ended the rule of Spain in 1821 in the territory of New Spain. September 16 is celebrated as Mexican Independence Day, the movement for independence was inspired by the Age of Enlightenment and the liberal revolutions of the last part of the 18th century. By that time the elite of New Spain had begun to reflect on the relations between Spain and its colonial kingdoms. Changes in the social and political structure occasioned by Bourbon Reforms, political events in Europe had a decisive effect on events in most of Spanish America. In 1808, King Charles IV and Ferdinand VII abdicated in favor of French leader Napoleon Bonaparte, the same year, the ayuntamiento of Mexico City, supported by viceroy José de Iturrigaray, claimed sovereignty in the absence of the legitimate king. That led to a coup against the viceroy, when it was suppressed, despite the defeat in Mexico City, small groups of conspirators met in other cities of New Spain to raise movements against colonial rule. From 1810 the independence movement went through stages, as leaders were imprisoned or executed by forces loyal to Spain. Secular priest José María Morelos called the separatist provinces to form the Congress of Chilpancingo, after the defeat of Morelos, the movement survived as a guerrilla war under the leadership of Vicente Guerrero. By 1820, the few rebel groups survived most notably in the Sierra Madre del Sur, the reinstatement of the liberal Constitution of Cadiz in 1820 caused a change of mind among the elite groups who had supported Spanish rule. Monarchist Creoles affected by the constitution decided to support the independence of New Spain, agustín de Iturbide led the military arm of the conspirators and in early 1821 he met Vicente Guerrero. Both proclaimed the Plan of Iguala, which called for the union of all insurgent factions and was supported by both the aristocracy and clergy of New Spain and it called for monarchy in an independent Mexico. Finally, the independence of Mexico was achieved on September 27,1821, after that, the mainland of New Spain was organized as the Mexican Empire. This ephemeral Catholic monarchy changed to a republic in 1823, due to internal conflicts. After some Spanish reconquest attempts, including the expedition of Isidro Barradas in 1829, after the suppression of that mid-16th-century conspiracy, elites raised no substantial challenge to royal rule until the Hidalgo revolt of 1810. Elites in Mexico City in the century did force the removal of a reformist viceroy. The crowd was reported to shout, Long live the King, the attack was against Gelves as a bad representative of the crown and not against the monarchy or colonial rule itself. There was also a conspiracy in the mid-seventeenth century to unite creole elites, blacks. The man pushing this notion called himself Don Guillén Lampart y Guzmán, lamports conspiracy was discovered, and he was arrested by the Inquisition in 1642, and executed fifteen years later for sedition
Mexican War of Independence
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Clockwise from top left:
Miguel Hidalgo,
José María Morelos, Embrace of Acatempan between
Iturbide and
Guerrero,
Trigarante Army in
Mexico City, Mural of independence by
O'Gorman
Mexican War of Independence
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Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, by
José Clemente Orozco, Jalisco Governmental Palace, Guadalajara.
Mexican War of Independence
–
Father
José María Morelos
44.
California Gold Rush
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The California Gold Rush began on January 24,1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutters Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States, the Gold Rush initiated the California Genocide, with 100,000 Native Californians dying between 1848 and 1868. By the time it ended, California had gone from a thinly populated ex-Mexican territory to the state of the first nominee for the Republican Party. The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial, whole indigenous societies were attacked and pushed off their lands by the gold-seekers, called forty-niners. The first to hear confirmed information of the rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands, and Latin America. While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the settlers. San Francisco grew from a settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California, in 1849 a state constitution was written. The new constitution was adopted by vote, and the future states interim first governor. In September,1850, California became a state, at the beginning of the Gold Rush, there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of staking claims was developed. Prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, although the mining caused environmental harm, more sophisticated methods of gold recovery were developed and later adopted around the world. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service, by 1869 railroads were built across the country from California to the eastern United States. At its peak, technological advances reached a point where significant financing was required, Gold worth tens of billions of todays dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few. However, many returned home with more than they had started with. The Mexican–American War ended on February 3,1848, although California was firmly in American hands before that, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided for, among other things, the formal transfer of Upper California to the United States. The California Gold Rush began at Sutters Mill, near Coloma, on January 24,1848, James W. Marshall, a foreman working for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter, found shiny metal in the tailrace of a lumber mill Marshall was building for Sutter on the American River. Marshall brought what he found to John Sutter, and the two tested the metal. However, rumors started to spread and were confirmed in March 1848 by San Francisco newspaper publisher
California Gold Rush
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Sailing to California at the beginning of the Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
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Merchant ships fill
San Francisco harbor, 1850–51
California Gold Rush
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Panning for gold on the
Mokelumne River
California Gold Rush
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"Independent Gold Hunter on His Way to California", circa 1850. The gold hunter is loaded down with every conceivable appliance, much of which would be useless in California. The prospector says: "I am sorry I did not follow the advice of Granny and go around the Horn, through the Straights, or by Chagres [Panama]."
45.
Mexican Revolution
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The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle c. 1910–1920 that radically transformed Mexican culture and government. Although recent research has focused on local and regional aspects of the Revolution and its outbreak in 1910 resulted from the failure of the 35-year long regime of Porfirio Díaz to find a managed solution to the presidential succession. This meant there was a crisis among competing elites and the opportunity for agrarian insurrection. Madero challenged Díaz in 1910 presidential election, and following the rigged results, armed conflict ousted Díaz from power and a new election was held in 1911, bringing Madero to the presidency. The origins of the conflict were broadly based in opposition to the Díaz regime, with the 1910 election, elements of the Mexican elite hostile to Díaz, led by Madero, expanded to the middle class, the peasantry in some regions, and organized labor. In October 1911, Madero was overwhelmingly elected in a free, Huerta remained in power from February 1913 until July 1914, when he was forced out by a coalition of different regional revolutionary forces. Then the revolutionaries attempt to come to a political agreement following Huertas ouster failed, Zapata was assassinated in 1919, by agents of President Carranza. The armed conflict lasted for the part of a decade, until around 1920. Revolutionary forces unified against Huertas reactionary regime defeated the Federal forces, although the conflict was primarily a civil war, foreign powers that had important economic and strategic interests in Mexico figured in the outcome of Mexicos power struggles. The United States played a significant role. Out of Mexicos population of 15 million, the losses were high, perhaps 1.5 million people died, nearly 200,000 refugees fled abroad, especially to the United States. Politically, the promulgation of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 is seen by scholars as the end point of the armed conflict. The period 1920–1940 is often considered to be a phase of the Revolution, during which power was consolidated, after the presidency of his ally, General Manuel González, Díaz ran for the presidency again and legally remained in office until 1911. The constitution had been amended to allow presidential re-election, Díazs re-election was ironic, since he had challenged Benito Juárez on the platform no re-election. During the Porfiriato there were regular elections although there were contentious irregularities, the contested 1910 election, was a key political event that led to the Mexican Revolution. As Díaz aged, the question of succession became increasingly important. In 1906, the office of president was revived, with Díaz choosing his close ally Ramón Corral from among his Cientifico advisers to serve in the post. By the 1910 election, the Díaz regime had become highly authoritarian and he had been a national hero, opposing the French Intervention in the 1860s and distinguishing himself in the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862
Mexican Revolution
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Collage of the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
–
General
Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico
Mexican Revolution
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Anti-Diaz newspaper,
Regeneración, the official publication of the
Mexican Liberal Party (PLM).
Mexican Revolution
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A vanner (1903) at the office of opposition magazine El hijo de Ahuizote reads: "The Constitution has died" (La Constitución ha muerto).
46.
Prince of Wales
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Prince of Wales was a title granted to princes born in Wales from the 12th century onwards, the term replaced the use of the word king. Since the 13th century, the title is granted to the apparent to the English or British monarch. The title is granted to the heir apparent as a personal honour or dignity. The title Earl of Chester is always given in conjunction with that of Prince of Wales, the Prince of Wales usually has other titles and honours. The wife of the Prince of Wales is entitled to the title Princess of Wales, Prince Charless first wife, Diana, used that title but his second wife, Camilla, uses only the title Duchess of Cornwall because the other title has become so popularly associated with Diana. The Prince of Wales is the heir apparent of the monarch of the United Kingdom, no formal public role or responsibility has been legislated by Parliament or otherwise delegated to him by law or custom, either as heir apparent or as Prince of Wales. He has also represented the Queen and the United Kingdom overseas at state, for most of the post-Roman period, Wales was divided into several smaller states. Before the Norman conquest of England, the most powerful Welsh ruler at any time was generally known as King of the Britons. In the 12th and 13th centuries, this evolved into Prince of Wales. In Latin, the new title was Princeps Walliae, and in Welsh it was Tywysog Cymru, the literal translation of Tywysog is leader. Only a handful of native princes had their claim to the overlordship of Wales recognised by the English Crown, the first known to have used such a title was Owain Gwynedd, adopting the title Prince of the Welsh around 1165 after earlier using rex Waliae. In 1240, the title was inherited by his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn. Instead he styled himself as Prince of Wales around 1244, the first Welsh prince to do so, in 1246, his nephew Llywelyn ap Gruffudd succeeded to the throne of Gwynedd, and used the style as early as 1258. In 1267, with the signing of the Treaty of Montgomery, three Welshmen, however, claimed the title of Prince of Wales after 1283. The first was Madog ap Llywelyn, a member of the house of Gwynedd and his revolt was suppressed, however, after the Battle of Maes Moydog in March 1295, and the prince was imprisoned in London. It is Owain Glyndŵr, however, whom many Welsh people regard as being the last native Prince, on 16 September 1400, he was proclaimed Prince of Wales by his supporters, and held parliaments at Harlech Castle and elsewhere during his revolt, which encompassed all of Wales. It was not until 1409 that his revolt in quest of Welsh independence was suppressed by Henry IV. However, the story may well be apocryphal, as it can only be traced to the 16th century, and, in the time of Edward I, the English aristocracy spoke Norman French, not English
Prince of Wales
–
Incumbent
HRH The Prince Charles since 26 July 1958
Prince of Wales
–
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
–
Edward of Caernarfon
Prince of Wales
–
Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince
47.
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
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Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January 1936 until his abdication on 11 December the same year. Edward was the eldest son of George V and Mary of Teck and he was named Prince of Wales on his sixteenth birthday, nine weeks after his father succeeded as king. As a young man, he served in the British Army during the First World War, Edward became king on his fathers death in early 1936. However, he showed impatience with court protocol, and caused concern among politicians by his apparent disregard for established constitutional conventions. Only months into his reign, he caused a crisis by proposing marriage to Wallis Simpson. When it became apparent that he could not marry Wallis and remain on the throne and he was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI. With a reign of 326 days, Edward was one of the monarchs in British history. After his abdication, he was created Duke of Windsor and he married Wallis in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Germany, after the war, Edward spent the rest of his life in retirement in France. Edward was born on 23 June 1894 at White Lodge, Richmond Park and he was the eldest son of the Duke and Duchess of York. His father was the son of the Prince and Princess of Wales and his mother was the eldest daughter of Francis and Mary Adelaide, Duke and Duchess of Teck. At the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession to the throne and he was baptised Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David in the Green Drawing Room of White Lodge on 16 July 1894 by Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury. The names were chosen in honour of Edwards late uncle, who was known to his family as Eddy or Edward and he was always known to his family and close friends by his last given name, David. As was common practice with children of the time, Edward. One of Edwards early nannies often abused him by pinching him before he was due to be presented to his parents and his subsequent crying and wailing would lead the Duke and Duchess to send him and the nanny away. The nanny was discharged after her mistreatment of the children was discovered, Edwards father, though a harsh disciplinarian, was demonstrably affectionate, and his mother displayed a frolicsome side with her children that belied her austere public image. She was amused by the children making tadpoles on toast for their French master, initially Edward was tutored at home by Helen Bricka. Upon his parents return, Edward was placed under the care of two men, Frederick Finch and Henry Hansell, who brought up Edward and his brothers
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
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In ceremonial dress at age 16 Portrait by
Arthur Stockdale Cope
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
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Edward (second from left) with his father
George, Duke of York, and his younger brother and sister (
Prince Albert and
Princess Mary), photograph by George's mother
Alexandra, 1899
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
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Edward serving as a midshipman on board the
Hindustan, 1910
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
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Edward during World War I
48.
Elizabeth Taylor
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Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress, businesswoman, and humanitarian. She began as an actress in the early 1940s, and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She continued her career successfully into the 1960s, and remained a well known figure for the rest of her life. The American Film Institute named her the seventh-greatest female screen legend in 1999, Born in London to wealthy, socially prominent American parents, Taylor moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1939, and she soon was given a film contract by Universal Pictures. Her screen debut was in a role in Theres One Born Every Minute. Taylor was then signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and had her breakthrough role in National Velvet, becoming one of the studios most popular teenaged stars. She made the transition to adult roles in the early 1950s, despite being one of MGMs most bankable stars, Taylor wished to end her career in the early 1950s, as she resented the studios control and disliked many of the films to which she was assigned. She began receiving roles in the mid-1950s, beginning with the epic drama Giant. These included two film adaptations of plays by Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly, Last Summer, although she disliked her role in BUtterfield 8, her last film for MGM, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. She was next paid a record-breaking $1 million to play the role in the historical epic Cleopatra. During the filming, Taylor and co-star Richard Burton began having an affair which caused a scandal. Despite public disapproval, Burton and she continued their relationship and were married the first time in 1964. Dubbed Liz and Dick by the media, they starred in 11 films together, including The V. I. P. s, The Sandpiper, The Taming of the Shrew, and Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Taylor received the best reviews of her career for Woolf, winning her second Academy Award, in the 1980s, she acted in her first substantial stage roles and in several television films and series, and became the first celebrity to launch a perfume brand. Taylor was also one of the first celebrities to take part in HIV/AIDS activism and she co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985 and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. From the early 1990s until her death, she dedicated her time to philanthropy and she received several accolades for it, including the Presidential Citizens Medal. Taylors personal life was subject to constant media attention throughout her life and she was married eight times to seven men, endured serious illnesses, and led a jet set lifestyle, including amassing one of the most expensive private collections of jewelry. After many years of ill health, Taylor died from heart failure at the age of 79 in 2011
Elizabeth Taylor
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Studio publicity photo
Elizabeth Taylor
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Adolescent Taylor with her parents at the
Stork Club in New York in 1947
Elizabeth Taylor
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Taylor as a child
Elizabeth Taylor
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Taylor with co-star
Mickey Rooney in National Velvet (1944), her first major film role
49.
Frank Sinatra
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Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the music artists of all time. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and he released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatras professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas and his career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice n Easy. Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own label, Reprise Records. It was followed by 1968s collaboration with Duke Ellington, using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally until a short time before his death in 1998. Sinatra forged a successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm and he appeared in various musicals such as On the Town, Guys and Dolls, High Society, and Pal Joey, winning another Golden Globe for the latter. Toward the end of his career, he associated with playing detectives. Sinatra would later receive the Golden Globe Cecil B, on television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had a natural, intuitive understanding of it, a perfectionist, renowned for his impeccable dress sense and cleanliness, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His bright blue eyes earned him the popular nickname Ol Blue Eyes, Sinatra led a colorful personal life, and was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, such as with his second wife Ava Gardner. He went on to marry Mia Farrow in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976, Sinatra had several violent confrontations, usually with journalists he felt had crossed him, or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After his death, American music critic Robert Christgau called him the greatest singer of the 20th century, Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12,1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the child of Italian immigrants Antonino Martino Marty Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
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Sinatra in 1957
Frank Sinatra
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Hoboken, New Jersey, early 20th century
Frank Sinatra
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Sinatra (far right) with the Hoboken Four on Major Bowes' Amateur Hour
Frank Sinatra
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Harry James in 1942
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