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Did You Know? Blacks outnumbered Spaniards until after 1810
By common consent, the history of blacks in Mexico is a long one. The first black slave to set foot in Mexico is thought to have been Juan Cortés. He accompanied the conquistadors in 1519. It has been...
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Did You Know? Mathieu de Fossey
Mathieu de Fossey was born in France in 1805, and educated in Dijon. Politically disillusioned following the end of the reign of King Charles X in 1830, Fossey responded enthusiastically to an intrig...
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Did You Know? The World's first aerial bombing: the Battle of Topolobampo, Mexico
In the early years of the twentieth century, the nature of warfare changed dramatically. The deployment of aircraft unleashed a powerful new weapon for warring factions, previously forced to rely only ...
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Did You Know? Trade in Mexico's cacti grew in the 1840s
A young Belgian botanist established a business exporting Mexican cacti to Europe back in the 1840s.
Prickly Pear Cactus Flower
Henri Guillaume Galeotti was born on September 10, ...
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Did You Know? The oldest ballgame in the Americas
Baseball is not the oldest ballgame in the Americas
Forget modern "traditions" like the World Series! Forget soccer, tennis and golf! By far the oldest ballgame in the Americas is the little known ga...
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Did You Know? Puerto Vallarta in Mexico will become an island and float away
Literary-minded travel writers describing Puerto Vallarta as an "island of tourist delights" probably don't realize that their words are closer to the truth than they might imagine. At present, Puerto ...
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Did You Know? Three thousand people died in 1833 Guadalajara cholera epidemic
When Mexico braced herself for the imminent arrival of cholera from South America fifteen years ago, many people believed that the disease had never previously been known here. During the nineteenth ce...
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Did You Know? A fungus from Mexico and the Irish potato famine
There wouldn't be many Irish people in the United States if it wasn't for a Mexican fungus.
The census of 1841 in Ireland recorded a population of about 8 million. This figure was a staggering 300% m...
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Did you know? Mexico's Domesday Book
Mexico's equivalent of the Domesday book was compiled in the sixteenth century.
History shows that conquerors often have very little idea of what they have really acquired until it is firmly within th...
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Did You Know? Bouncing balls and Mexican ingenuity
Rubber balls wouldn't bounce very high if it wasn't for some Mexican ingenuity.
The Morning Glory
Ipomoea alba, the tropical white-flowering morning glory (moonflower or moon vine) is a perennial in ...
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Did You Know? Mexico yachtsman won the first round-the-world yacht race
The first Whitbread Round-The-World yacht race was won by a Mexican.
Most people do not associate Mexico and Mexicans with yachting, but it’s a fact that the first Whitbread Round-The-World Yacht Ra...
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Did You Know? The Hero of Nacozari
November 7, 2007, marks the centenary of the death of Jesús García, the "Hero of Nacozari."
The small town of Nacozari occupies a valley nestled in the foothills of the Western Sierra Madre (Sierra ...
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Did you know? Mexico City's charwoman-businessman: Conchita Jurado
A charwoman-actress once captivated Mexican high society in her alter ego as Don Carlos Balmori.
An elaborate tomb in Mexico City's main cemetery, the Panteón Civil de Dolores, is a lasting reminder ...
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Did you know? Lots of "real" Aztec gold was only tumbaga.
What the Spanish Conquistadors thought was gold was often only an alloy called tumbaga.
As they explored the New World, the early conquistadors were spurred on by the possibility of finding treasure a...
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Did You Know? Mayan pyramid in Tabasco, Mexico, has possible Roman links
ROMANS in Mexico?
I've always tried to maintain an open-minded attitude towards history, but even I was incredulous when I first heard this suggestion. And you certainly won't find it in most history ...
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Did you know? Mexico's first tourists
Father Alonso Ponce and Friar Antonio de Ciudad Real were probably Mexico's first ever tourists.
Father Alonso Ponce de León arrived in Veracruz in September 1584 and spent the next five years travel...
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Did You Know? Mexico's kapok trees aided the U.S. war effort
Mexican kapok trees once helped the U.S. war effort.
During the Mexican dry season, a peculiar and very distinctive leafless tree often attracts attention because it appears to have large balls of flu...
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Did you know? Mexico was a very different place fifty years ago
G. M. Bashford's Tourist Guide to Mexico was first published exactly fifty years ago in 1954. It was one of a spate of motoring book guides written after World War II as Americans began to hit the open...
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Did You Know? Mexico is home to oldest indigenous American domesticated dog breed.
When someone mentions "dogs" and "Mexico" in the same sentence, most people think immediately of the cute Chihuahua, small in proportions and large in personality but commonly dismissed by lovers of larger dogs as a small and unimportant "toy" breed.
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Did You Know? Mexican inventor won first color TV patent.
The world's first patent for a color TV was granted to a young Mexican inventor.
Guillermo González Camarena was just 23 years old in 1940 when he submitted his application in Mexico for a US Patent....
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Did You Know? Mexico tried to prevent Americans from migrating to Texas
Mexico once tried hard to prevent Americans from migrating to Texas.
In recent years, considerable attention has focused on the U.S. government's efforts to stem the flow of Mexicans migrating north o...
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Did You Know? - At One Time Alaska Was Part Of Mexico?
In the second half of the 18th century both the Russians and the British began to penetrate into the Alaskan peninsula, an area considered a Spanish possession as Spain was credited with "discovering" ...
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Did You Know? - Castille Soap
From the late 17th century and throughout the 18th, Castille soap was the reigning soap of Europe. It surpassed even the French soaps that, at their peak, were considered supremely prized elements of t...
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Did You Know? - Henequen - Sisal
One of the greatest gifts the Indigenous peoples of Mexico shared with the world was their discovery and cultivation of natural fibers. One of these, henequén, continues to be used throughout the...
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Did you know? A sacred game
The ancient game of amalla was not mere sport. The ballcourt was a "middleworld" between gods and humans, a battleground for the cosmic tension between life and death, good and evil, sacrifice and...
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