In this subject you will learn about the history of Mexico from the contact period to the near present. This history of Mexico is a colourful but also a troubled one, and recurring issues causing problems were the legal status of indigenous Mexicans, the question of the distribution of land and resources, the power of the military, and the infamous 'caudillismo', the one-man rule so typical for many Latin American countries. In order to investigate these problems, you will examine the conquest with its often fortune-seeking conquistadores as well as Spanish rule over what was then known as New Spain. You will learn about Mexico's turbulent Independence era and the aftermath, with massive land losses, as well as a reform period under its first president of Indigenous ancestry. You will learn about famous men of the Mexican Revolution, such as Pancho Villa or Emiliano Zapata as well as less well-known figures such as Lazaro Cardenas, who expropriated the assets of foreign oil companies in Mexico . You will also learn about the uprising by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and its attempts to resolve issues which date back to the conquest period.

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