17. HISTORY. Pre-Conquest Period.— The history of Mexico divides itself into three parts: aboriginal Mexico under the domination of its native Indian rulers, from the border land of prehistoric times to 1521; Spanish oc cupation from 1521 to 1821 and independent Mexico from 1821 to the present.
A score of distinct aboriginal tonves and more than 100 dialects still spoken within the confines of the Mexican Republic are evidence of the presence of numerous races that over ran the country at various periods during its prehistoric existence. These early races seem to have had considerable influence upon the traditions, mythology and customs of the people who followed them in the country. From the confused movement of the shadowy peoples of the past stand forth the forms of several more or less distinctly cultured races whose written and traditional records, legends and folklore reach hack to the dim border land beyond which all is mythical. During the early semi historical part of this period the great Nahna race, beginning its many years of wandering from the north, crossed the Mexican boundary in the 6th century and continued southward. These migrations were participated in by nu merous tribes or nations. The first of these, the Toltecs, came from the semi-mythical land of Old Tlapallan under the leadership of their high priest and chief, Heumatzin, he of the big hands, and arrived at Tulancingo (a short distance north of Mexico City) in 720, after 176 years of wandering. Soon afterward they established populous centres at Tula, San Juan, Teotihuacan, Cholula and numerous other places and extended their power over a wide reach of country. They are said to have been a highly civilized race, to have been builders of great and handsome cities and to have ex tended organized commerce for hundreds of miles beyond their own territory which, at the height of their power and prosperity, stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific and far southward to the border of the domains of the Maya of Yucatan, Chiapas and Campeche. They had a settled form of government and complicated, far-reaching codes of law which included military, political, social and religious regulations; and these, in their turn, were sup ported by racial customs and dogmas. See
MEXICO — MYTHOLOGY ; MEXICX) LITERATURE.
While the Nahua held the central portion of what is modern Mexico, the Maya and other kindred races occupied the south, stretching from Campeche, Yucatan and Chiapas south and west to the Pacific and into Guatemala, where they established a civilization rivaling that of the Toltecs. Between the Maya on the south and the Toltecs on the north lay the Zapoteca and the Mixteca, almost as far ad vanced as they in the arts and sciences and the principles of government. All four peoples were skilled workers in metals and excellent makers of pottery and woven fabrics. They recorded their histories, traditions, religious formulas, tribute rolls and important events in complicated hieroglyphics which varied with the different races. They were good agricul turists, excellent builders and organizers and they maintained extensive and well-apportioned armies and systems of public instruction. All education was in the hands of the priests and administered from the temples, thousands of which, rising from high, truncated, pyramidal structures, covered the land. These temples were specially numerous and of notable mag nificence in the Aztec land and Yucatan. See MEXICO — ARCHITECTURE ; Mexico ART.
Civil wars, internal dissensions, famine and plague are given as the causes of the disruption of the Toltec empire which came to an end in 1116, after nearly 400 years of existence. A part of the Toltec population is said to have migrated southward and to have entered the land of the Maya. It is certain, however, that many remained behind and lost their identity in the Chichimeca and other less cultured races who occupied the valley of Mexico and sur rounding country. From this union sprang the famous Texcocans, whose capital, Texcoco, on the lake of the same name, preserved the civil ization of the early Nahua and finally became the most noted centre of culture in the Mexican empire.