"Pre-Columbian Mexico dates to about 8000 BC and is identified as one of six cradles of civilization[18] and was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations such ...
as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya, and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its politically powerful base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan (part of Mexico City), which was administered as the viceroyalty of New Spain. The Roman Catholic Church played a powerful role in governing the country as millions were converted to the faith, although King Charles III expelled the Jesuits in the 1770s.[19] The territory became a nation state following its recognition in 1821 after the Mexican War of Independence.[19] The post-independence period was tumultuous, characterized by economic inequality and many contrasting political changes. The Mexican–American War (1846–1848) led to a territorial loss of part of the huge northern territories to the United States. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, two empires, and the Porfiriato occurred in the 19th century.[19] The Porfiriato ended with the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated in the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of an authoritarian one-party state,[20][21][22][23] once described as the "perfect dictatorship",[24][25][26] that ruled for much of the 20th century until the opposition victories led Mexico to democratic transition in the 1990s.[27][28][29][30]" - (en.wikipedia.org 02.10.2019)
