Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and constitute the biological family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of most species measuring 7.5 -- 13 cm in length. The smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5 cm bee hummingbird weighing less than 2.0 g. They are known as hummingbirds because of the humming sound created by their beating wings which flap at high frequencies audible to humans, they hover in mid-air at rapid wing-flapping rates, which vary from around 12 beats per second in the largest species, to in excess of 80 in some of the smallest. Of those species that have been measured in wind tunnels, their top speed exceeds 15 m/s and some species can dive at speeds in excess of 22 m/s. Hummingbirds have the greatest mass-specific metabolic rate of any homeothermic animal. To conserve energy when food is scarce, nightly when not foraging, they can go into torpor, a state similar to hibernation, slowing metabolic rate to 1/15th of its normal rate. A map of the hummingbird family tree—reconstructed from analysis of 284 of the world's 338 known species—shows rapid diversification from 22 million years ago.
Hummingbirds fall into nine main clades, the Topazes, Mangoes, Coquettes, Mountain Gems and Emeralds, defining their relationship to nectar-bearing flowering plants and the birds' continued spread into new geographic areas. While all hummingbirds depend on flower nectar to fuel their high metabolisms and hovering flight, coordinated changes in flower- and bill shape stimulated the formation of new species of hummingbirds and plants. Due to this exceptional evolutionary pattern, as many as 140 hummingbird species can coexist in a specific region, such as the Andes range; the hummingbird evolutionary tree shows ancestral hummingbirds splitting from insectivorous swifts and treeswifts about 42 million years ago in Eurasia. One key evolutionary factor appears to be an altered taste receptor that enabled hummingbirds to seek nectar. By 22 million years ago the ancestral species of current hummingbirds became established in South America, where environmental conditions stimulated further diversification.
The Andes Mountains appear to be a rich environment for hummingbird evolution because diversification occurred with mountain uplift over the past 10 million years. Hummingbirds remain in dynamic diversification inhabiting ecological regions across South America, North America, the Caribbean, indicating an enlarging evolutionary radiation. Within the same geographic region, hummingbird clades co-evolved with nectar-bearing plant clades, affecting mechanisms of pollination; the same is true for the sword-billed hummingbird, one of the morphologically most extreme species, one of its main food plant clades. Hummingbirds exhibit sexual size dimorphism according to Rensch's rule, in which males are smaller than females in small species, males are larger than females in large-bodied species; the extent of this sexual size difference varies among clades of hummingbirds. For example, the Mellisugini clade exhibits a large size dimorphism, with females being larger than males. Conversely, the Lophomithini clade displays little size dimorphism.
Sexual dimorphisms in bill size and shape are present between male and female hummingbirds, where in many clades, females have longer, more curved bills favored for accessing nectar from tall flowers. For males and females of the same size, females will tend to have larger bills. Sexual size and bill differences evolved due to constraints imposed by courtship because mating displays of male hummingbirds require complex aerial maneuvers. Males tend to be smaller than females, allowing conservation of energy to forage competitively and participate more in courtship. Thus, sexual selection will favor smaller male hummingbirds. Female hummingbirds tend to be larger, requiring more energy, with longer beaks that allow for more effective reach into crevices of tall flowers for nectar, thus females are better at foraging, acquiring flower nectar, supporting the energy demands of their larger body size. Directional selection will thus favor the larger hummingbirds in terms of acquiring food. Another evolutionary cause of this sexual bill dimorphism is that the selective forces from competition for nectar between the sexes of each species are what drive the sexual dimorphism.
Depending on which sex holds territory in the species, it is advantageous for the other sex to have a longer bill and be able to feed on a wide variety of flowers, decreasing intraspecific competition. For example, in species of hummingbirds where males have longer bills, males do not hold a specific territory and have a lek mating system. In species where males have shorter bills than females, males defend their resources and therefore females must have a longer bill in order to feed from a broader range of flower. Hummingbirds are specialized nectarivores and are tied to the ornithophilous flowers upon which they feed; some species those with unusual bill shapes, such as the sword-billed hummingbird and the sicklebills, are co-evolved with a small number of flower species. The bee hummingbird – the world's smallest bird – evolved to dwarfism because it had to compete with long-billed hummingbirds having an advantage for nectar foraging from specialized flowers leading the bee hummingbird to more compete for flower foraging against insects.
Many plants pollinated by hummingbirds produce flowers in shades of red and bright pink, though the birds will take nectar from flowers of other colors
Jalisco
Jalisco the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and is bordered by six states which are Nayarit, Aguascalientes, Michoacán and Colima. Jalisco is divided into 125 municipalities, its capital city is Guadalajara. Jalisco is one of the most important states in Mexico because of its natural resources as well as its history. Many of the characteristic traits of Mexican culture outside Mexico City, are from Jalisco, such as mariachi, ranchera music, tequila, etc. hence the state's motto: "Jalisco es México." Economically, it is ranked third in the country, with industries centered in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, the second largest metropolitan area in Mexico. The state is home to two significant indigenous the Huichols and the Nahuas. There is a significant foreign population retirees from the United States and Canada, living in the Lake Chapala and Puerto Vallarta areas.
With a total area of 78,599 square kilometers, Jalisco is the seventh-largest state in Mexico, accounting for 4.1% of the country's territory. The state is in the central western coast of the country, bordering the states of Nayarit, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato and Michoacán with 342 kilometers of coastline on the Pacific Ocean to the west. Jalisco is made up of a diverse terrain that includes forests, beaches and lakes. Altitudes in the state vary from 0 to 4,300 meters above sea level, from the coast to the top of the Nevado de Colima; the Jalisco area contains all five of Mexico's natural ecosystems: arid and semi arid scrublands, tropical evergreen forests, tropical deciduous and thorn forests and mesquite grasslands and temperate forests with oaks and firs. Over 52% of the bird species found in Mexico live in the state, with 525, 40% of Mexico's mammals with 173 and 18% of its reptile species. There are 7,500 species of veined plants. One reason for its biodiversity is, lies in the transition area between the temperate north and tropical south.
It lies at the northern edge of the Sierra Madre del Sur and is on the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, which provides a wide variety of ecological conditions from tropical rainforest conditions to semi arid areas to areas apt for conifer forests. Its five natural regions are: Northwestern Plains and Sierras, Sierra Madre Occidental, Central Plateau, Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, which covers most of the state, the Sierra Madre del Sur, it has an average altitude of 1,550 meters MASL, but ranges from 0–4,300 m. Most of the territory is semi-flat between 600–2,050 m, followed by rugged terrain of between 900–4,300 m and a small percentage of flat lands between 0–1,750 m. Principle elevations include the Nevado de Colima, the Volcan de Colima, the Sierra El Madroño, the Tequila Volcano, the Sierra Tapalpa, Sierra Los Huicholes, Sierra San Isidro, Sierra Manantlán, Cerro El Tigre, Cerro García, Sierra Lalo, Sierra Cacoma, Cerro Gordo, Sierra Verde and the Sierra Los Guajolotes. Jalisco's rivers and streams empty into the Pacific Ocean and are divided into three groups: the Lerma/Santiago River and its tributaries, rivers that empty directly into the Pacific and rivers in the south of the state.
Jalisco has several river basins with the most notable being that of the Lerma/Santiago River, which drains the northern and northeastern parts of the state. The Lerma River enters extends from the State of Mexico and empties into Lake Chapala on the east side. On the west, water flows out in the Santiago River, which crosses the center of Jalisco on its way to the Pacific, carving deep canyons in the land. Tributaries to the Santiago River include the Zula, the Verde River, the Juchipila and the Bolaños. About three quarters of the state's population lives near this river system. In the southwest of the state, there are a number of small rivers that empty directly into the Pacific Ocean; the most important of these is the Ameca, with its one main tributary, the Mascota River. This river empties into the Ipala Bay; the Tomatlán, San Nicolás, Purificación, Marabasco-Minatitlán, Tuxcacuesco, Armería and Tuxpan rivers flow perpendicular to the Pacific Ocean and drain the coastal area. Another river of this group is the Cihuatlán River, which forms the boundary between Jalisco and Colima emptying into the Barra de Navidad Bay.
The southeastern corner belongs to the Balsas River basin. This includes the Tuxcacuesco, which join to form the Armería and the Tuxpan; the other main surface water is Lake Chapala, is the largest and most important freshwater lake in Mexico, accounting for about half of the country's lake surface. The lake acts as a regulator of the flow of both the Santiago Rivers. There are a number of seasonal and salty lakes linking to form the Zacoalco-Sayula land-locked system. There are other smaller lakes called Cajititlán, San Marcos, Atotonilco. Dams include Santa Rosa, La Vega, Tacotán and Las Piedras. Jalisco's surface water accounts for fifteen percent of the surface freshwater in Mexico. In 1987, four beaches in Jalisco were designated as federal marine turtle sanctuaries: El Tecuán, Cuitzmala and Playón de Mismaloya, with an extension of 8 km. Playa Majahuitas is 27 km southwest of Puerto Vallarta with a rugged coastline, numerous inlets and outcroppings; the Cañon Submarino underwater canyon is located offs
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, or the Spanish–Mexica War, was the conquest of the Aztec Empire by the Spanish Empire within the context of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the events by Spanish conquerors, their indigenous allies and the defeated Aztecs, it was not a contest between a small contingent of Spaniards defeating the Aztec Empire but rather the creation of a coalition of Spanish invaders with tributaries to the Aztecs, most the Aztecs' indigenous enemies and rivals. They combined forces to defeat the Mexica of Tenochtitlan over a two-year period. For the Spanish, the expedition to Mexico was part of a project of Spanish colonization of the New World after twenty-five years of permanent Spanish settlement and further exploration in the Caribbean. Following an earlier expedition led by Juan de Grijalva to Yucatán in 1517, Spanish settler, Hernán Cortés, led an expedition to Mexico. Two years in 1519, Cortés and his retinue set sail from Cuba for Mexico.
The Spanish campaign against the Aztec Empire had its final victory on August 13, 1521, when a coalition army of Spanish forces and native Tlaxcalan warriors led by Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger captured the emperor Cuauhtemoc and Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. The fall of Tenochtitlan marks the beginning of Spanish rule in central Mexico, they established their capital of Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. Cortés made alliances with tributaries city-states of the Aztec Empire as well as their political rivals the Tlaxcalteca and Texcocans, a former partner in the Aztec Triple Alliance. Other city-states joined, including Cempoala and Huexotzinco and polities bordering Lake Texcoco, the inland lake system of the Valley of Mexico. Important to the Spanish success was a multilingual indigenous slave woman, known to the Spanish conquistadors as Doña Marina, as La Malinche. After eight months of battles and negotiations, which overcame the diplomatic resistance of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II to his visit, Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan on November 8, 1519, where he took up residence with fellow Spaniards and their indigenous allies.
When news reached Cortés of the death of several of his men during the Aztec attack on the Totonacs in Veracruz, he took Moctezuma captive, along with Cuitláhuac, his kinsman. Capturing the cacique or indigenous ruler was standard operating procedure for Spaniards in their expansion in the Caribbean, so capturing Moctezuma had considerable precedent; when Cortés left Tenochtitlan to return to the coast and deal with the expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez, sent to rein in Cortés's expedition that had exceeded its specified limits, Cortés's right-hand man Pedro de Alvarado was left in charge. 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 official 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.
Moctezuma was killed. According to one account, when Moctezuma, now seen by the population as a mere puppet of the invading Spaniards, attempted to calm the outraged populace, he was killed by a projectile. According to an indigenous account, the Spanish killed Moctezuma. Cortés had returned to Tenochtitlan and his men fled the capital city during the Noche Triste in June 1520; the Spanish and reinforcements returned a year on August 13, 1521 to a civilization, weakened by famine and smallpox. This made it easier to conquer the remaining Aztecs. Many of those on the Cortés expedition of 1519 had never seen combat before, including Cortés. A whole generation of Spaniards participated in expeditions in the Caribbean and Tierra Firme, learning strategy and tactics of successful enterprises; the Spanish conquest of Mexico had antecedents with established practices. The fall of the Aztec Empire was the key event in the formation of the Spanish Empire overseas, with New Spain, which became Mexico. Historical sources for the conquest of Mexico recount some of the same events in both Spanish and indigenous sources.
Others, are unique to a particular primary source or group narrating the event. Individuals and groups laud their own accomplishments, while denigrating or ignoring those of their opponents or their allies or both. 1428 – Creation of the Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan and Tlacopan 1492-3 – Columbus reaches the Caribbean. One of the enslaved Nahua woman (known as La Malinche, Doña Marina
Celaya
Celaya is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413; the municipality for which the city serves as municipal seat, had a population of 415,869. The city is located in the geographic center of the municipality, which has an areal extent of 553.18 km² and includes many smaller outlying communities, the largest of which are San Miguel Octopan, Rincón de Tamayo and San Juan de la Vega. There are many smaller towns around Celaya including Rincón de Tamayo, Salvatierra, La Moncada, Panales Jamaica, Panales Galera, La Calera, La Estancia, La Noria, Los Fierros, El Acebuche and Charco Largo. Celaya was a frontier region between the Purépecha and the Chichimecas. General Álvaro Obregón defeated Pancho Villa in the Battle of Celaya, 1915. Celaya was the Guanajuato state capital for a short period. An explosion in a gunpowder and fireworks warehouse in September, 1999, killed over 60 people and injured over 300 people.
Centro Pedagogico de Celaya Colegio Arturo Rosenblueth Colegio Marista Colegio Nuevo Continente Bajío Celaya Campus Colegio Mexico Escuela Bilingue Guilford Instituto Andersen Instituto Bilingue Oxford Instituto Británico de Celaya Instituto Educativo Rosa G. de Carmona Instituto Kipling Instituto Sir Winston Churchill Instituto Tecnologico de Celaya Instituto Tecnologico de Roque Instituto Universitario del Centro de México Tecnologico de Monterrey Universidad de Celaya Universidad de Guanajuato Universidad de Itesba Universidad Lasallista Benavente Universidad Latina de Mexico Westminster Royal College The Ball of Water reservoir has been a city icon since 1908. The tank was manufactured in Germany and assembled on site, is unique in being assembled using rivets rather than welds, it is believed to be the only one of its kind with a spherical shape. Traditionally, locals tell visitors that it is filled with cajeta, taking them to visit the "Bola del Agua" on Sundays, the traditional day for visiting the Independencia Lane.
A plaque at the base of the water tower features the legend:'"This tower was built at the expense of the city municipality in 1910 and opened on 15 September, the day of the anniversary of the proclamation of the independence of Mexico as a state governor Mr. Don Joaquín González Obregón, who gave full moral support to the construction.'s work and everything related to the provision of drinking water, was designed and conducted by the district political head Mr. Don Perfecto I. Aranda, its total cost, including piping limited to two circuits, was $161,520.84 pesos ". The work was carried out under the command of German Enrique Schöndube, although it is known that payment for the construction took ten years due to the start of the Mexican Revolution, so it was paid once the new government established. During the Mexican Revolution, Villa's officers thought the hydraulic tower had such a large amount of water that destroying it would drown the population of Celaya. One of Villa's generals ordered his artillery to destroy it.
Captain Gustavo Duron, in charge of a 75mm battery, followed the orders but shot around the tower, avoiding it and protecting the monument, as mentioned by local historian Herminio Martínez. The construction resulted in the neglect of the people handing out water at home from the mayor's office called water carriers. Commercial advertising on its surface was allowed for several years to cover the costs of the reservoir, ending on September 8, 1980 when, in celebration of upcoming 410th Anniversary of the Foundation of Celaya, the mayor in charge decreed that the Ball of Water would be a symbol that would represent the city, the placement of advertisements was banned. Celaya is famous for the artisanal production of cajeta, a type of milk candy; the Celaya Airport has commercial flights to Santiago de Querétaro and connections from there to other destinations. Celaya lies along the El Paso Spur of the Pan-American Highway, known locally as Mexican Federal Highway 45. Christian Tumalan, Band Leader of Grammy award winning Pacific Mambo Orchestra.
Marta Sahagún de Fox, former Mexican First Lady and wife of President Vicente Fox, lived in Celaya and unsuccessfully ran for mayor José Francisco Ortega was soldier and early settler of California. Miguel Martínez, Musician and songwriter. Considered the father of the modern mariachi trumpet. Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras and painter. Designed the beautiful El Carmen church in Celaya. Joshua Ilika Brenner Olympic swimmer Liliana Ibáñez Olympic swimmer Raúl Velasco Entertainer and TV Producer. Was the host of the popular marathonic TV program Siempre en Domingo. Octavio Ocampo Painter famous for his "metamorphosis" style. Eliseo Ocampo Jaramillo Coauthor of "Marketing Político e Imagen de Gobierno en Funciones" Mauricio Ochmann, Actor. Guzmán, footballer. Adela Patiño known as Adela Fernandez, Composer. Plácido Rodríguez, Bishop of Lubbock, Texas Eric del Castillo is a well-known Mexican actor. Elisa Nájera Miss Mexico 2007 (4th Runner Up Mi
Acámbaro
Acámbaro is a city and municipality in the southeastern corner of the Mexican state of Guanajuato, on the banks of the Lerma River, the oldest of the 46 municipalities of Guanajuato. Acámbaro is noted as a major railway junction, a local transport hub, the origin of the nationally famous Acámbaro bread; the current population of the municipality is 101,762 persons, that of the city proper 55,082. The municipality covers an area of 867.67 km² and includes many small outlying communities, the largest of which are Iramuco and Parácuaro. The municipality of Acámbaro is bordered to the north by Tarimoro and Jerécuaro, to the southeast by Tarandacuao, to the south by the state of Michoacán, to the west by Salvatierra; the name Acámbaro is derived from a Native American term meaning place of magueyes. The first inhabitants of this area belonged to the Chupicuaro culture, one of the oldest in Mesoamerica, their origin is estimated to be from 1200 B. C. In this region there have been valuable archaeological finds of ceramic that are now exhibited at the local museum.
The city was founded on September 19, 1526, by the cacique Don Nicolás de San Luis Montañés, with the name San Francisco de Acámbaro. It was the first Spanish town in; the evangelization process was undertaken by Franciscan friars, who constructed splendid structures that remain standing today, such as the Templo del Hospital, an aqueduct in the Mudéjar style, a stone bridge over the River Lerma. The first bullfights on the soil of New Spain were held in Acámbaro, the Fuente Taurina fountain in the city's plaza commemorates the introduction of the sport to Mexico. Acámbaro is the only city in Mexico that has a intact colonial-era aqueduct; the 18th century brought prosperity to Acámbaro. In that time important religious and public buildings were constructed. Several temples and houses were left as remnants of the city's colonial architecture. An important event in the history of Mexican independence took place in Acámbaro. Don Miguel Hidalgo stayed there on October 22, 1810, brought a ceremony that declared Acámbaro military quarters for the Ejército Grande de América.
Hidalgo was given the title of Generalísimo de las Américas. That same day, a parade of eighty thousand insurgents took place, that demonstrated the speed of growth of the movement: one month prior on September 16 just 800 men responded to the Grito de Dolores and raised arms against the Spanish in Dolores Hidalgo; because of its strategic location, Acámbaro was the key to the development of the railway in Mexico, had a major junction and shop facility for the National Railways of Mexico. Acámbaro was the home of the only full scale locomotive repair facility in Latin America, capable of constructing steam locomotives. During 1944 Acámbaro's mechanical workshop built La Fidelita 296, a steam engine, a symbol of a time in history of the Acambarense society. La Fidelita is now on display as the cornerstone exhibit of Acámbaro's railway museum. Another souvenir of Acámbaro's age of steam is a large model locomotive that sits on an elevated platform in the center of a major highway intersection east of the city.
The model engine was intended to be placed in a church as a thanks by railway workers to the Virgen del Refugio for bringing prosperity and jobs to Acámbaro, the model would not fit through the doorway of the church. It was decided to mount the model outdoors. Acámbaro has been notable as a point of controversy in the field of archeology as the source of the Acámbaro figures, a collection of about 32,000 clay figurines discovered by German archaeologist Waldemar Julsrud in 1944 near the city's most prominent landmark, the Cerro del Toro; the figures are claimed to be hoaxes, as some of the figurines resembled dinosaurs and their discovery is used by some as evidence to support creationism. Many of the Julsrud finds are now on display at the Museo Waldemar Julsrud. Less controversial archeological artifacts are on display at the Museo de Chupícuaro, documenting the history of the Chupícuaro people, the Museo Local de Acámbaro, which has over 4000 relics relating to local Mesoamerican cultures.
The Museo Local contains paintings related to colonial Mexico and the war of independence. Pan de Acámbaro, Acámbaro's most famous culinary export, is a bakery product similar to Jewish Challah; the largest of the six city bakeries devoted to the production of Pan de Acámbaro is Tio Sams, which claims credit for its invention. Photos of Acámbaro's annual bread fair Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática Guanajuato Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México Acámbaro municipality official site Discover the cultural richness of Acámbaro | Visit Mexico
Pre-Columbian era
The Pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continent, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during the Early Modern period. While the phrase "pre-Columbian era" refers only to the time preceding Christopher Columbus's voyages of 1492, in practice the phrase is used to denote the entire history of indigenous Americas cultures until those cultures were exterminated, diminished, or extensively altered by Europeans if this happened decades or centuries after Columbus's first landing. For this reason the alternative terms of Precontact Americas, Pre-Colonial Americas or Prehistoric Americas are in use. In areas of Latin America the term used is Pre-Hispanic. Many pre-Columbian civilizations established hallmarks which included permanent settlements, agriculture and monumental architecture, major earthworks, complex societal hierarchies.
Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European colonies and the arrival of enslaved Africans, are known only through archaeological investigations and oral history. Other civilizations were contemporary with the colonial period and were described in European historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya civilization, had their own written records; because many Christian Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical, men like Diego de Landa destroyed many texts in pyres while seeking to preserve native histories. Only a few hidden documents have survived in their original languages, while others were transcribed or dictated into Spanish, giving modern historians glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge. Indigenous American cultures continue to evolve after the pre-Columbian era. Many of these peoples and their descendants continue traditional practices while evolving and adapting new cultural practices and technologies into their lives.
Before the development of archaeology in the 19th century, historians of the pre-Columbian period interpreted the records of the European conquerors and the accounts of early European travelers and antiquaries. It was not until the nineteenth century that the work of men such as John Lloyd Stephens, Eduard Seler and Alfred P. Maudslay, of institutions such as the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard University, led to the reconsideration and criticism of the European sources. Now, the scholarly study of pre-Columbian cultures is most based on scientific and multidisciplinary methodologies. Asian nomads are thought to have entered the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge, now the Bering Strait and along the coast. Genetic evidence found in Amerindians' maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA supports the theory of multiple genetic populations migrating from Asia. Over the course of millennia, Paleo-Indians spread throughout South America; when the first group of people migrated into the Americas is the subject of much debate.
One of the earliest identifiable cultures was the Clovis culture, with sites dating from some 13,000 years ago. However, older sites dating back to 20,000 years ago have been claimed; some genetic studies estimate the colonization of the Americas dates from between 40,000 and 13,000 years ago. The chronology of migration models is divided into two general approaches; the first is the short chronology theory with the first movement beyond Alaska into the Americas occurring no earlier than 14,000–17,000 years ago, followed by successive waves of immigrants. The second belief is the long chronology theory, which proposes that the first group of people entered the hemisphere at a much earlier date 50,000–40,000 years ago or earlier. Artifacts have been found in both North and South America which have been dated to 14,000 years ago, accordingly humans have been proposed to have reached Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America by this time. In that case, the Eskimo peoples would have arrived separately and at a much date no more than 2,000 years ago, moving across the ice from Siberia into Alaska.
The North American climate was unstable. It stabilized by about 10,000 years ago. Within this time frame pertaining to the Archaic Period, numerous archaeological cultures have been identified; the unstable climate led to widespread migration, with early Paleo-Indians soon spreading throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct tribes. The Paleo-Indians were hunter-gatherers characterized by small, mobile bands consisting of 20 to 50 members of an extended family; these groups moved from place to place as preferred resources were depleted and new supplies were sought. During much of the Paleo-Indian period, bands are thought to have subsisted through hunting now-extinct giant land animals such as mastodon and ancient bison. Paleo-Indian groups carried a variety of tools; these included distinctive projectile points and knives, as well as less distinctive implements used for butchering and hide processing. The vastness of the North American continent, the variety of its climates, vegetation and landforms, led ancient peoples to coalesce into many distinct linguistic and cultural groups.
This is reflected in the oral histories of the indigenous peoples, described by a wide range of traditional creation stories which say that a given people have been living in a certain territory since the creation of the world. Over the course of thousands of years, paleo-Indian
Nuño de Guzmán
Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán was a Spanish conquistador and colonial administrator in New Spain. He was the governor of the province of Pánuco from 1525 to 1533 and of Nueva Galicia from 1529 to 1534, President of the first Royal Audiencia of Mexico from 1528 to 1530, he founded several cities including Guadalajara. A bodyguard of Charles V of Spain, he was sent to Mexico to counterbalance the influence of the leader of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Hernán Cortés, since the King worried he was becoming too powerful; as Governor of Pánuco, Guzmán cracked down hard on the supporters of Cortés, stripping him and his supporters of property and rights. He conducted numerous expeditions of conquest into the northwestern areas of Mexico, enslaving thousands of Indians and shipping them to the Caribbean colonies. In the resulting power struggles where he made himself an enemy of important churchmen, Guzmán came out the loser. In 1537, he was arrested for treason, abuse of power and mistreatment of the indigenous inhabitants of his territories, he was sent to Spain in shackles.
His subsequent reputation, in scholarship and popular discourse, has been that of a cruel and irrational tyrant. His legacy has been colored by the fact that history was written by his political opponents such as Hernán Cortés, Juan de Zumárraga and Vasco de Quiroga. Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán was born ca. 1485 in Spain, to an old noble family. His father was Hernán Beltrán de Guzmán, a wealthy merchant and a High Constable in the Spanish Inquisition; the Guzmán family supported Prince Charles in the Revolt of the Comuneros and achieved gratitude of the Emperor. Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán never finished a degree. For a period he and his younger brother served as one of 100 royal bodyguards of Carlos V, he accompanied the Emperor on a trip to Flanders in 1522, undertook sensitive diplomatic missions, including one dealing with the Bishop of Cuenca. In 1525 the Spanish crown appointed him governor of the autonomous territory of Pánuco on the Gulf Coast in what is now northeast Mexico, arriving to take up the appointment in May 1527.
He traveled with Luís Ponce de Leon and arrived in Hispaniola in 1526, but here he fell sick and did not arrive in Mexico until May 1527 assuming his post. Cortés had extended his reach into Pánuco, so that Guzmán's appointment was a direct challenge, his appointment was opposed by the Pro-Cortés faction of the struggle for power in early colonial Mexico, who viewed him as an outsider with no military experience. But he had the support of the Council of Indies and the Spanish Crown who saw him as a counterbalance to the figure of Cortés whose aspirations to power worried the King of Spain. Guzmán's appointment gave heart to Spanish conquerors who had not received what they considered sufficient rewards from Cortés's distribution of encomiendas and to Spanish settlers who had not participated in the conquest but saw their paths to position and wealth blocked by the Cortés faction. Guzmán's rule as a governor of Pánuco was stern against Spanish rivals and brutal against the Indians, he stroke down harshly against Cortés's supporters in Pánuco, accusing some of them of disloyalty to the Crown by backing Cortés's claim to the title of viceroy.
Some were stripped of their property. He incorporated territory from adjacent provinces into the province of Pánuco; these actions brought New Spain on the verge of a civil war between Guzmán and supporters of Cortés' led by Governor of New Spain Alonso de Estrada, when Estrada sent an expedition to reclaim the lands expropriated by Guzmán. During the court case against Cortés in 1529, Guzmán accused Cortés himself of being a traitor and a rebel. Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, who had traveled with Guzmán to Hispaniola, in turn accused Guzmán of being allied with the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez and having been a sworn enemy of Cortés before setting foot in New Spain; as governor Guzmán instituted a system of Indian slave trade in Pánuco. During a raid along Río de Las Palmas in 1528 he allowed every horseman to take 20 Indian slaves and each footman 15. In 1529 he gave out individual slaving permissions amounting to more than 1000 slaves. Guzmán did not allow Spaniards to sell slaves for export except in exchange for livestock, but he gave more than 1500 slave licenses in an eight-month period.
The slaving operation in Pánuco expanded when Guzmán became President of the Royal Audiencia of Mexico and he had Indian slaves smuggled into Pánuco and shipped on to the Caribbean. Indian slaves were branded on the face. Taking Indian slaves was not explicitly outlawed in the period before 1528. Beginning in 1528, Indian slaving operations came under increased royal control but were not prohibited; the regulations of September 19, 1528, required slave owners to present proof of the legality of the taking of any slaves before branding. In 1529 the Crown began an investigation into the slaving enterprises of Guzmán. In spite of his lack of success as governor, in 1529 he was appointed President of the First Audiencia, which the Council of the Indies and the Crown instated to check the ventures of industrious private individuals, such as Cortés, in New Spain. In the years following the conquest of Central Mexico by Hernán Cortés, New Spain had been governed by a military government with the objectives of maximizing personal economic gains by the Spanish conquistadors.
Hoping to establish a more orderly government, to reduce the authority of Cortés, secure the authority of the Spanish crown in the New World, on December
