The Missions

By David Fitzpatrick from the May 2011 Edition The Founding of the Franciscan Missions Fray Junipero Serra One of the most influential religious figures in the history of Mexico was Fray Junipero Serra who contributed greatly to the development of the Catholic Church in New Spain and personally founded a number of missions in Central […]

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The Missions

By David Fitzpatrick from the April 2011 Edition The Catholic Missions in Mexico and other parts of Latin America The early Spanish colonizers of Latin America considered it important to establish a permanent, functioning, European style community as quickly as possible. Since the introduction of European Spaniards in sufficient numbers seemed difficult, if not impossible, […]

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Moving the Borders

By Manzanillo Sun Writer from the January 2011 Edition Part 3: The War The Mexican-American War, which broke out in May 1846, pitted a very large, modern nation with a state-of-the-art military establishment against a pre-industrial society of severely limited resources. The result was essentially a foregone conclusion. The powerful American forces attacked simultaneously on […]

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Moving the Borders

By David Fitzpatrick from the December 2010 Edition Part 2: The Count-Down to War In the mid 1840s, Mexico was experiencing a period of political turbulence. At one point, the bitter rivalries between factions verged on civil war. In a series of revolving-chair government changes, there were four presidents in a period of one year. […]

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