Mexico: Spanish Conquest and Rule

PermalinkToday's AMIT,

Lead:  For almost 300 years after 1521, Mexico was a colony of Spain and known as “La Nueva España” or New Spain.  It was the crown jewel in Spain’s holdings in the New World.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: After the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in 1521, Mexico grew to include most of present day Central America and the southwestern United States. The colonial period lasted until the revolt of 1810 – which was led by a priest, Miguel Hidalgo, known today as the father of Mexico’s independence.

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Mexico: Monarch Butterfly

PermalinkToday's AMIT,

Lead: Monarch butterflies are strikingly beautiful, with brilliant orange and black wings, but it is their migration habits over thousands of miles that distinguish this remarkable species.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Each winter, the Oyamel tree forest in central Mexico becomes home to millions of hibernating monarch butterflies. The trees there are large, coniferous and grow at a high altitude. In February/March the hibernating Monarchs come down from the mountains and begin their flight north. In fields and meadows along the way, they lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves of milkweed plants. It takes about a month for an egg to complete four stages of development and become a mature adult. During the caterpillar stage, the Monarch feeds on the milkweed, absorbs certain toxins and this makes them poisonous to predators. This first generation of Monarch butterflies will live for about three to six weeks and continue the northern migration.

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Mexico: Miguel Hidalgo

PermalinkToday's AMIT,

Lead: In 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo led an uprising against Spanish colonial rule in Mexico. Although he was defeated, he became a symbol of Mexican Independence.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.             

Content: Miguel Hidalgo was born in 1753 in the central highlands of Mexico near Guanajuato. Hidalgo was a “criollo” – born in Mexico but with Spanish ancestry. He studied in Valladolid, now Morelia in central Mexico, at first with the Jesuits, and, after their expulsion, at the College of San Nicolas Obisbo where he earned a degree in theology, philosophy and the liberal arts. He was most certainly influenced by the subversive ideas of the Enlightenment. Ordained a Catholic priest in 1778 he taught as well as doing parish work. Hidalgo was a most complex man, some would say poorly managing his passions. He loved gambling, owned multiple haciendas, and fathered several children, but at the same time combined his spiritual duties with a keen sense of social justice. In 1803 Father Hidalgo moved to Dolores, a town in the Mexican highlands of mostly poor indigenous people. He introduced new farming techniques and helped to develop a brick-making and pottery industry.

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Mexico: La Malinche

PermalinkToday's AMIT

Lead:  Reviled as a traitor, La Malinche is alleged to have served as a translator and mistress to Conquistador Hernán Cortés and became the mother of his first son.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Although she lives in folklore and legends, there is actually little known about the life of La Malinche, and the derivation of her name is uncertain. Some historians believe Malinche was a corruption of her given Nahua name – Malintzin.

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Gambling Comes to Nevada

PermalinkToday's AMIT, ,
Lead: Mired in the Great Depression, to create jobs the state of Nevada legalized gambling.

Intro.: "A Moment In Time" with Dan Roberts.

 Content: Nevada was the last area of the continental United States to be explored by Europeans. In the early 1800s British and American fur traders crossed the territory and then returned to trap along the Humboldt River the late 1820s. After gold was discovered in California in 1848, thousands of people crossed Nevada on their way to the Pacific Coast. Acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Nevada became a separate territory after a dazzling silver strike, the Comstock Lode, near Virginia City. The discovery brought thousands seeking a bonanza some of whom stayed and helped make Nevada a state in 1864.

 

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Texas Invades New Mexico

PermalinkToday's AMIT, ,
Lead: After independence the new Republic of Texas experienced some acute growing pains.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836. The disaster of the Alamo was soon followed by the defeat of Mexican General Santa Anna at San Jacinto. Sam Houston's experience as Governor of Tennessee and popularity as the architect of Texas' victory carried him into the Presidency of the New Republic.

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Mexican Muralism

PermalinkToday's AMIT, ,
Lead: At the root of the explosion of graffiti on American public spaces was the revolutionary artistic movement known as Mexican Muralism.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Murals have been around since prehistoric times, but the modern genesis of the term in part originated with the Mexican "muralista" art movement. In the years following the Mexican revolution, during the 1920s and 1930s, native art, often with a powerful political message, began to decorate blank walls all over Mexico. Varying in quality, murals helped turn the cities into works of art. Muralists used open public spaces to call attention to a troubled society’s dreams, needs and hopes, revealing the need for social transformation. These murals could not be quickly eradicated, though the authorities tried. They were in-your-face, provocative, and demonstrated insistent demands by the artists for social justice.

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Mexican Muralism

PermalinkToday's AMIT,
Lead: At the root of the explosion of graffiti on American public spaces was the revolutionary artistic movement known as Mexican Muralism.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Murals have been around since prehistoric times, but the modern genesis of the term in part originated with the Mexican "muralista" art movement. In the years following the Mexican revolution, during the 1920s and 1930s, native art, often with a powerful political message, began to decorate blank walls all over Mexico. Varying in quality, murals helped turn the cities into works of art. Muralists used open public spaces to call attention to a troubled society’s dreams, needs and hopes, revealing the need for social transformation. These murals could not be quickly eradicated, though the authorities tried. They were in-your-face, provocative, and demonstrated insistent demands by the artists for social justice.

Download [76.23 KB]