In the rest of the country the natives were agriculturists, which helped to support the more dense populations. Some of these tribes were the Maya of the Yucatan, Totonac, Huastec, Otomi, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Tlaxcalans, Tarascans, and Aztecs. Some of these groups made advanced civilizations with fancy buildings and temples used for religious, political, and commercial purposes. The Mayan cities of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Palenque, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, Tzintzuntzan of the Tarastec, and Monte Alban of the Zapotecs are a few examples.

By 1100 AD the Toltecs had taken over a lot of central and southern Mexico and had built their capital at Tula in the Mesa Central. They also built the city of Teotihuacan kind of by present-day Mexico City. At about the same time,

Spanish Conquest From when Hernando Cortez took over until 1821, Mexico was a colony of Spain. Cortez first came into the Valley of Mexico on the Mesa Central in 1519 after marching over land from Veracruz, the town he had started on the coastal plains. With less than 200 soldiers and a few horses, the first take-over of the Aztecs was possible only with the help that came from the big Indian armies that Cortez put together from some of the Aztecs' enemies. After a short first success at Tenochtitlan, the Spanish were driven from the city on the Noche Triste or, Sad Night but came back in 1521 and destroyed the city and strongly defeated the Aztecs. Within a short time the rest of central and southern Mexico and much of Central America were conquered from Mexico City.

When the Spanish came to central Mexico, the Aztecs controlled most of the central part of Mexico through a state payment system that got taxes and stopped them from being able to act independently from conquered tribal groups. The Aztecs moved into the central part of Mexico from the north and accomplished a tribal story by establishing a city where an eagle with a snake in its beak rested on a cactus. This became

Some topics in this essay:
Mexico Aztecs, Spanish Mexico, Mesa Central, Vicente Guerrero, Hidalgo Costilla, Spanish Indian, Tarascans Aztecs, Sad Night, Mexico July, Aztec Empire, central mexico, southern mexico, santa anna, mexico city, monte alban, central southern, central southern mexico, padre hidalgo, mesa central,