Mexico --Politics, Environment and Society

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

PAGE LIMIT: 400 words max (about a page and a half): this should include answers to all questions.

Your answers should be in your own words and not copies of the relevant passages in the

readings. Assignments must be handed in at the end of class. Late assignments and assignments outside of the classroom, will not be accepted.

Hanns Prem, 1992, Spanish Colonization and Indian Property in Central Mexico, 1521-1620 Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 82, No. 3, pp. 444-459

All

pp 444-447: What were the encomiendas, who owned them, and why did they eventually decline in importance? What was the utopian ideal of the city Puebla de los Angeles (modern day Puebla), and why did it fail?

pp 447-452: What was the land ownership history in the Valley of Mexico? What were the major processes that contributed to the loss of land by indigenous peoples?

pp. 452-end: How did indigenous peoples resist Spanish land claims? What differences exist between different areas in terms of Spanish control of land? How might this be important to our understanding of Modern Mexico?

Bazant, Jan

1977 A Concise History of Mexico. London: Cambridge University

Press.

pp. 5-15, 18-19, 62-94.

1. The author states (p. 5) that "revolutions are often promoted by

segments of the upper class, who see their interests endangered by

political or economic events and as a result become critical of the

conditions." How does this generalization apply to the Mexican struggle for

independence from Spain?

2. What were the major issues that the liberals and conservatives were

contesting in Mexico in the nineteenth century? Who were some important

liberal and conservative leaders?

3. Why did the French invade Mexico in the 1860s? To what extent did the

invaders receive support from Mexicans?

4. Chapter 3 is called the "the Liberal Revolution." What does "liberal"

seem to mean in this context? (Hint: Is it the same as what "liberal" means

in contemporary U.S. politics?) What about 'revolution'

5. How would you characterize the French occupiers of Mexico in the 1860s?
Liberal? Conservative?