Mexico, Which Knew Civilization Before the European Conquest

What we ought to know about the homelands of the Lebanese overseas:

The Woman's Voice is pleased to have opened this section, in which it will continue to publish important information from the countries where the Lebanese overseas dwell:

The Indian people who inhabited the Mexican Republic before the European conquest were not ignorant of the reason for their existence. Hence we find that a progressive movement embraced every branch of activity and production. They were versed in the science of astronomy, and were passionate about carving, engraving, and ornamentation; they built massive temples, lofty towers, and crouching pyramids that testify to the strength of a religious creed, pagan though it was at the time. The student observes that those buildings were raised on the most beautiful principles of engineering. Before the conquest, this people was the most renowned of the American peoples for weaving and for the making of gold and silver vessels, and it was well acquainted with agriculture and with the herbs from which medicines are extracted.

They enjoyed freedom of thought and speech and held the speaking of truth sacred — so much so that the historian who did not write the truth met with execution. Their respect for woman reached the point of veneration. It is not strange, then, that we should liken them to the founders of the first civilizations who lived on the shores of the Mediterranean.

The republican union is composed of twenty-eight provinces and is called the Mexican Republic. Geographically it lies in North America, bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the United States, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and on the south by Guatemala and British Honduras. Its area is seven hundred sixty-three thousand nine hundred forty-four square kilometers, and its population is nineteen and a half million. Its capital is Mexico City, which counts a million and a quarter. The races that inhabit Mexico fall into three groups: the original Indians, who are thirty percent; the Indians mixed by intermarriage, who are sixty percent; and ten percent of the white race. The official language of the country is Spanish, except for a very few Indians in the interior who preserve their Indian tongue.

The first to conquer the land of the Aztecs (Mexico) was Hernan Cortez, the adventurous Spanish commander, and that was in the year 1519. He landed on the eastern shores of that country at what is known today as Veracruz. And in order to cut off every hope his men had of returning to Spain and escaping in the sailing ships anchored at the shore, he burned a large part of his fleet — as Tariq did, to destroy his men's hope of returning to their homelands. The Indians could do nothing but flee in terror from the face of these intruders; but before long the two parties began, little by little, to come to an understanding.

The Indians then honored their guests by showering precious gifts of gold and silver upon them. But the glittering gold only increased the greed in the conquerors' hearts, and they set about subduing them by force and seizing their wealth, to send it to Spain and to her king so as to enjoy those riches. Yet these adventuring conquerors were not tempted by gold alone: they were also dazzled by the enchanting scenery of that land. They had afterward to return to their homelands, and their propaganda about that spot knew no end, so that many Spaniards were induced — or compelled — to emigrate with their families, carrying with them their culture, their customs, and their beliefs, to build themselves a second homeland; and they began to mingle with the Aztecs by way of marriage, so that the enmity the Aztecs harbored toward the Spaniards might melt away.

The excellence of Mexico's climate and the purity of its air fit it to be among the healthiest countries to live in. Most of its great cities lie on the slopes and crests of hills, overlooking green plains stretched out at the feet of high, towering mountains; in its situation and the excellence of its climate it resembles Mount Lebanon, with its mountains, hills, valleys, winding ways, and plains.

As for the fruit found in Mexico, it is the most delicious fruit of all; it resembles our own fruit that grows in the heights of Baskinta, al-Mazraa, and Mayrouba. The country is fitted to be among the best of the American lands for the cultivation of any crop whatever. Hence one sees its government and its people — and especially the President of its Republic, General Avila Camacho — encouraging the peasant and extending to him the hand of material and technical assistance, to raise his standard of living and revive his spirits, so that he may increase his produce, using modern methods to till his lands. Mexico is famous for its luxuriant gardens, its fragrant flowers, and its calm lakes — as beautiful Xochimilco bears witness — and the Mexicans call it "the land of flowers."

That is why we find the spirit of the Mexican people merry and joyful, like its sweet-scented flowers.

And just as Mexico is rich in its natural wealth, so is it rich in its mineral wealth: it is counted among the first nations in the extraction of gold and silver, to say nothing of the extraction of abundant quantities of tin, zinc, iron, arsenic, copper, and graphite; and its petroleum wealth is very great indeed. The Mexican people is a peaceable people so long as a comfortable life and tranquility are assured it; but if its sanctity is violated and its dignity touched, you will see it like the eagle closing upon its prey, like the lion devouring its meal.

Mexico's independence came in 1821, after numerous revolts launched by Father Hidalgo; and since the Mexican people loves liberty by instinct, republican rule was proclaimed in 1823, and it has practiced it and preserved the democratic order down to our own day.

Mexico today holds more than thirty thousand of our sons, working in commerce and industry. They have their material and moral standing, and they enjoy very good relations with the Mexican government and the Mexican people.