Description

---

A Traveller’s History of Mexico offers a complete and expert history of the country from the earliest times right through to the present. It will be welcomed by all those who visit Mexico to see its stunning Aztec and other pre-conquest remains as well as by students studying the Spanish conquest and its effects.Kenneth Pearce begins with life before the major civilizations of the area took hold then shows the growth of the first elite groups of the Olmecs and Mayans; their culture was finally subsumed into the mighty Aztec Empire which, in its turn, was tragically ended by the arrival of Cortes and might of Spain. The crushing burden of colonial rule driven by greed and oppression leads to further unrest for many centuries. The nineteenth-century War of Independence finally leads to the founding of the Mexican Republic. The author ends his survey with a portrait of the country facing the new millennium with a rising population and problems with drugs and corruption. This is a rich and colorful story of a nation full of life and vigor with a many-layered cultural heritage. Illustrated with maps and line drawings, this handy paperback is fully indexed with a chronology of major events and a gazetteer cross-referenced to the main text.

About the Author

---

Kenneth Pearce is the author of The View from the Top of the Temple: Ancient Maya Civilization and Modern Maya Culture published by the University of New Mexico Press. The book traces the religious beliefs of the contemporary cultures of Mexico and Guatemala to those of the ancestral Maya. His current project develops the rise and fall of the Aztec Empire from archival documents written by descendants of Mexican royalty and other ruling groups in the Valley of Mexico. He lives in California and visits and stays in Mexico frequently.