Term | Definition |
Hacendados | Wealthy Mexican landowners |
Padre Miguel Hidalgo | Began the movement for Mexican Independence in 1810 |
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna | President of Mexico during the Mexican American War |
Benito Juarez | Mexico's first Indian president, 1858- 1872 |
Manifest Destiny | The American idea that it was our right and destiny to expand westward to the Pacific |
Napoleon III | The French leader who invaded Mexico in 1862 |
Maximilian | Austrian relative of Napoleon III who was installed as Mexico's emperor in 1864 |
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo | Ended the Mexican American War on February 2, 1848, gave the U.S. approximately 1/2 of Mexico |
Porfirio Diaz | Mexico's president/dictator from 1876- 1911, known for modernizing Mexico and oppressing the poor |
Rurales | Porfirio Diaz' police force |
Francisco Madero | Ran against Porfirio Diaz in the 1910 elections, then called for a revolution to fight for "Land and Liberty" |
Tierra y Libertad | The "lema" of Francisco Madero |
Pancho Villa | A leader of the Mexican Revolution from the north, an outlaw whose real name was Doroteo Arango |
Emiliano Zapata | A leader of the Mexican Revolution from the south who fought for land reform |
PRI | Mexico's main political party |
1810 | Father Hidalgo started the movement for independence from Spain |
1910 | Francisco Madero ran against Porfirio Diaz for president. The election was a fraud. |
Agustin de Iturbide | Mexico's first emperor after winning its independence |
criollo | someone born in Mexico to Spanish parents |
mestizo | someone with mixed Spanish and Indian parents or ancestors |
peninsular | someone born in Spain to Spanish parents |
el Grito de Dolores | Father Hidalgo's "lema" |
Porfiriato | The time that Diaz was president is referred to as this. |
Tenochtitlan | The city built by the Aztecs, now Mexico City |
Huizlilipochtitli | The Aztec god of the sun and war |
1519 | The year Hernan Cortes invaded Mexico |
Tlaxcala tribe | Indians who helped to conquer the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan |
Constitution of 1917 | created a government with three branches, similar to that of the US |
Soldadera | a female soldier of the Revolution of 1910 |
Victoriano Huerta | The leader of the palace guards who had Francisco Madero and his VP shot, then took over as president of Mexico |
General Scott | American general who invaded Mexico City |
5 de mayo | the date when the French were defeated at Puebla in 1862 |
James Polk | The American president during the Mexican American war, famous for his support of the idea of Manifest Destiny |
Remember the Alamo | An American grito meant to gain support for the annexation and Independence of Texas |
20 de noviembre | The date recognized as the beginning of the Revolucion of 1910 |