9781422286883

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The Olmecs, an early Mexican tribe, carved this giant head out of rock and placed it in their sacred city at La Venta, Mexico. Mexico has a rich cultural heritage, drawing on both native and Spanish traditions.

Native and Spanish Government until 1810 T he complex story of Mexico’s governments began thousands of years ago, long before the political parties and the revolutions of the modern era. Starting around 1200 B . C ., the native peoples of the area we now call Mexico ruled over great empires. These peoples included the Olmecs, the Zapotecs, the Maya, the Toltecs, and the Aztecs. The Olmec civilization dominated the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico from about 1200 to 400 B . C . Historians did not know about this culture until the 19th century, when a farmer in the state of Veracruz found the first of several huge stone heads, representing Olmec rulers. The Olmecs carried on trade with other parts of Mexico, and built important political centers at San Lorenzo and La Venta. From about 500 B . C . until A . D . 700, the Zapotecs ruled from Monte Albán in Oaxaca, a southern state on the Pacific coast. Then the empires of the Maya and Teotihuacán dominated Mexico from about A . D . 250 to 900. The Maya ruled over the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. They built great pyramids, temples, observatories, and other buildings at centers such as

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