9781422286890

Mexico’s Gulf States

Timeline 1150 B . C . Mexican civilization begins with the Olmec Indians. 1000 B . C . Mayan agricultural society begins.

1450 Aztecs conquer the Totonacs in Veracruz. 1518 Hernán Cortés lands on the coast of Tabasco. 1542 Mérida is founded by the Spanish. 1596 Villahermosa is settled by the Spanish. 1821 Mexico becomes independent from Spain. 1822 Tabasco becomes a state.

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1847–1904 The Caste War is fought.

1863 Campeche becomes an independent state. 1872 Mexico City-Veracruz railway is completed. 1898 Chetumal is founded to block arms shipments to Mayan rebels. 1910–1921 Mexican Revolution. 1937 Birth of the union movement in Veracruz. 1974 Quintana Roo becomes a state. 2006 Archaeologists announce the discovery of a stone tablet in Veracruz that may represent the oldest example of New World writing; Felipe Calderón becomes president of Mexico. 2007 In March, President Calderón meets with U.S. President George

W. Bush in Mérida, where they set out a framework for U.S. aid to help Mexico wage the narco war; Hurricane Dean, a category 5 storm, strikes the Yucatán Peninsula, forcing over 30,000 people to evacuate; widespread floods hit Tabasco and the neighboring state of Chiapas, killing several people.