Mexico

Maya Civilisation — the stargazers of Mesoamerica

The Maya Civilisation (c. 2000 BCE – 1500 CE) was one of the most intellectually sophisticated cultures in the ancient world — without metal tools or the wheel, they built monumental cities, developed the only complete writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas, and created a calendar more accurate than the contemporary European one.

Maya Civilisation in Mexico

The Maya built the Americas' most sophisticated writing system, astronomy, and architecture across southern Mexico and Central America.

Olmec Civilisation — the mother culture of Mesoamerica

The Olmec Civilisation (c. 1500–400 BCE) was the first major Mesoamerican culture — the "mother culture" that created the artistic, religious, and calendrical foundations that all later civilisations — Maya, Aztec, Zapotec — would build upon, most famously the colossal stone heads of their rulers.

Zapotec Civilisation — the first city-builders of the Americas

The Zapotec Civilisation (c. 700 BCE – 700 CE) was one of the oldest urban cultures in the Americas — centred on Monte Albán in the Valley of Oaxaca, they built a planned city of 25,000 people, developed the first writing system in Mesoamerica, and created a calendrical tradition that influenced all later Mesoamerican cultures.

Teotihuacán — City of the Gods

At its peak around 450 CE, Teotihuacán was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas and one of the largest in the world.

Mesoamerican Invention of Zero and the Calendar

The Maya independently invented the concept of zero and developed one of history's most accurate calendar systems centuries before Europe.

Toltec Empire — the warriors who inspired the Aztecs

The Toltec state (c.950–1150 CE) centred at Tula in Mexico, whose warrior culture and myths became the foundation legend of the later Aztec civilisation.

Aztec (Mexica) Empire and Tenochtitlán

The Aztec Empire built the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas — Tenochtitlán — on an island in a lake at 2,240 metres altitude.

Aztec Empire — the Triple Alliance of Mesoamerica

The Aztec Empire (1428–1521 AD) ruled central Mexico through the Triple Alliance of city-states, built Tenochtitlan into one of the largest cities on earth, and practised large-scale ritual sacrifice until Hernán Cortés's conquest ended it.

Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Hernán Cortés's conquest of the Aztec Empire with 500 soldiers and indigenous allies transformed Mesoamerica permanently.

Fall of Tenochtitlán — the Aztec Empire ends

The August 1521 Spanish and allied indigenous siege and conquest of the Aztec capital, ending one of the world's great pre-Columbian civilisations.

Our Lady of Guadalupe — The Most Visited Catholic Shrine in the World

The apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531 fused Catholic and indigenous Aztec spiritual traditions into a uniquely Mexican religious identity.

Mexican Independence and Hidalgo's Grito

Father Miguel Hidalgo's 1810 call to arms launched an 11-year independence struggle that ended Spanish colonial rule.

Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) overthrew the 30-year Díaz dictatorship and produced a new constitution guaranteeing land reform and workers' rights.

Mexican Muralism — revolution painted on walls

Mexican Muralism (c. 1920–1940 CE) was the most politically engaged art movement of the 20th century — Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros painted vast public murals depicting Mexican history, indigenous culture, and revolutionary politics on government buildings across Mexico and the United States.

Diego Rivera and the Mexican Muralism Movement

Diego Rivera's vast public murals transformed government buildings into political art, making Mexico's muralism the most influential art movement of the 20th century Americas.

Frida Kahlo — The Iconic Mexican Artist

Frida Kahlo's intensely personal, surrealist paintings drew on Mexican folk art and her own physical and emotional suffering to create an iconic body of work.