El Día de Independencia
by Divine_Miss_M for CVN
Back on Earth, people of Mexican descent celebrate the anniversary of Mexican independence from Spain on September 16th. After Christopher Columbus discovered America, Spain decided to conquer the lands in the New World, and gathered gold and riches for themselves. This they did very thoroughly, naming the conquered territory(what became Mexico) Nueva España, or New Spain.
For approximately three centuries, Spain ruled New Spain, which was a highly stratified society. Peninsular Spaniards, or Gachopines, were those born in Spain who occupied the top caste. They were followed by the Criollos, those born in Mexico of Spani parents. Next were the Mestizos, mixed blood offspring of Spanish and Natives; Indios (Native Indians,) and/or Negros, African slaves. As is true of all caste systems, each socio-ethnic group had its own privileges and duties.
One Criollo who did not like this caste system was a 57-year old parish priest named Don Miguel Hidalgo y Castilla. He tried to make things better for the natives. In defiance of the laws, he had taught the Indians to plant olives and grapevines, as ell as make pottery and work leather. The Spanish viceroy had ordered his grapevines and trees cut down.
In 1810, several Criollos, influenced by the American Revolution and the French philosophers Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu, decided to start a revolt. Their plan was not the bloody 10-year revolution that happened, but more of a bloodless shifting of allegiances and overthrow of the Gachopines class. If that had succeeded, though, Mexico still would have been tied to Spain.
Father Hidalgo was a member of this group, which also included the corregidor of Queretaro, his wife, Ignacio Allende and a group of army officers. Their plan was to start the revolt later in the fall, but some criollo officers who had refused to join the revolutionary movement alerted their Gachopine superiors. Father Hidalgo was immediately targeted for arrest on September 13. His co-conspirators showed up to warn him, which left him with three options: he could wait to b arrested, flee his home or call on the Indian and Mestizo classes, totally changing the planned revolt. Shortly before dawn on the morning of September 16, 1810, Hidalgo rang the church bell to call the Indians to mass. He called for the Indios and Mestizos to retaliate against the Gachopines. His message ended with the cry “Mexicanos, Viva Mexico!”. Thus began the Mexican Revolution. Mexico gained its’ independence on September 21, 1821, an event which might never have happened had Father Hidalgo not led the Mestizos and Indios of Dolores.
To learn more about this story you may go to the following links:
http://www.inside-mexico.com/laentrevista2.htm
http://www.mexonline.com/grito.htm
http://www.inside-mexico.com/featureindep.htm
You can see some really cool pics at:
http://www.inside-mexico.com/featureindep.htm