Neocolonialism During the Porfiriato
Necolonialism During the Porfiriato
In the early sixteenth century, Spain conquered Mexico and turned it into one of their most lucrative colonies. In the search for land, labor and natural resources, Spain found everything they were looking for in Mexico. During the colonial period, Mexico was simply another kingdom of the vast Spanish Empire. As Spain largely benefited, the indigenous civilizations of Mexico were ravaged and left to be entirely dependent on their foreign counterpart. It wasn’t until the independence movement in the early nineteenth century that Mexico seemed to have some hope of being released from the hands of imperialism. Unfortunately, following independence, Mexico suffered from a half a century of economic stagnation and political disruption. However, the economy took a turn for the better when Porfirio Diaz took control in 1877. Under his presidency, Diaz was able to modernize the Mexican economy through the construction of railroads and the extraction of natural resources. Although this period saw major benefits, the costs were monumental and almost entirely reliant on foreign investments. On paper, Mexico may have been an independent nation, but by the time of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, the country was largely dependent on another empire—the United States. Consequently, the early twentieth century in Mexico was a new colonial period.
Mexico is naturally home to an abundance of resources that aren’t readily available in the U.S.. Once it was revealed that the U.S. could potentially profit largely off of the extraction of these resources, they immediately started devising a plan to do so. In a document written by a United States Consulate, U.S. motivations in Mexican commerce were exposed:
Having shown by this short statement that the productions of mining are inexhaustible; that the products of agricultural industry and cattle raising are innumerable...naturally it arises the question of how this immense wealth could be turned to
In the early sixteenth century, Spain conquered Mexico and turned it into one of their most lucrative colonies. In the search for land, labor and natural resources, Spain found everything they were looking for in Mexico. During the colonial period, Mexico was simply another kingdom of the vast Spanish Empire. As Spain largely benefited, the indigenous civilizations of Mexico were ravaged and left to be entirely dependent on their foreign counterpart. It wasn’t until the independence movement in the early nineteenth century that Mexico seemed to have some hope of being released from the hands of imperialism. Unfortunately, following independence, Mexico suffered from a half a century of economic stagnation and political disruption. However, the economy took a turn for the better when Porfirio Diaz took control in 1877. Under his presidency, Diaz was able to modernize the Mexican economy through the construction of railroads and the extraction of natural resources. Although this period saw major benefits, the costs were monumental and almost entirely reliant on foreign investments. On paper, Mexico may have been an independent nation, but by the time of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, the country was largely dependent on another empire—the United States. Consequently, the early twentieth century in Mexico was a new colonial period.
Mexico is naturally home to an abundance of resources that aren’t readily available in the U.S.. Once it was revealed that the U.S. could potentially profit largely off of the extraction of these resources, they immediately started devising a plan to do so. In a document written by a United States Consulate, U.S. motivations in Mexican commerce were exposed:
Having shown by this short statement that the productions of mining are inexhaustible; that the products of agricultural industry and cattle raising are innumerable...naturally it arises the question of how this immense wealth could be turned to
Bibliography: Chasteen, John Charles. Born in Blood and Fire. Edited by Justin Hoffman. 3 ed. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2011. Raat, W. Dirk, and Michael M. Brescia. Mexico and the United States : Ambivalent Vistas (4th Edition). Athens, GA, USA: University of Georgia Press, 2010. Skilton, Julius A. "United States Department of State / Index to the Executive Documents of the House of Representatives for the Second Session of the Forty-Fifth Congress, 1877- '78(1877-1878)." (1878). United States Department of State/Executive documents printed by order of the House of Representatives (1870) .http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS187071.p0301&id=FRUS.FRUS187071&isize=M&q1=mexico%20commerce