10, 1870
Dr. Angel Iglesias Domínguez, a pioneer of animal vaccination in Mexico, dies in Mexico City. A teacher of medicine, he was a member of the Mexican Commission that went to Europe to invite Maximilian to come to Mexico.
10, 1922
Mothers’ Day is celebrated for the first time in Mexico. The celebration is promoted by Rafael Alducin, the then Editor of the Mexico City daily Excélsior. In the U.S., the first celebration of Mothers’ Day was in 1908.
11, 1535
King Charles V of Spain decrees the founding of three Royal Mints in the New World, including one in New Spain.
U.S. declares WAR on Mexico!
11, 1846
U.S. President James K. Polk officially declares war on Mexico. Skirmishes had broken out in the north a month earlier and U.S. troops were already on Mexican soil.
12, 1908
The musician and composer Melosio Morales dies in Mexico City. Morales composed several symphonies and operas including Romeo y Julieta (1863) and Cleopatra (1891).
13, 1942
A German submarine attacks and sinks the Mexican oil barge “Potrero de Llano” in the Gulf of Mexico. On May 28, having received no satisfactory reply to its complaint over the sinking, Mexico formally declares war on Germany and its allies Japan and Italy.
14, 1983
Miguel Alemán Valdés, president from 1946 to 1952 dies in Mexico City at the age of 79. Foreign investment boomed during his presidency, helping to finance substantial improvements to infrastructure, especially reservoirs and highways.
15, 1847
U.S. General Williams Jenkins Worth, on behalf of General Scott, takes the city of Puebla, securing the city prior to the advance on Mexico City. As a result of this war (referred to by Mexican historians as the American Intervention), the U.S. gained Texas, New Mexico and California.
15, 1918
The first celebration of Teachers’ Day, celebrated annually on this date every year since.
15, 1932
Mexico joins the League of Nations.
16, 1833
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna becomes president for the first time. He goes on to serve as president no fewer than eleven times during the nineteenth century!
PRESIDENT FINALLY RESIGNS.
With the Revolution breaking out all around him, President Diaz, who has been in power almost continuously for over thirty years, announces to the nation his intention of leaving office. (May 17, 1911) Subsequently, on May 21, Diaz signs the pact of Ciudad Juarez, in which he and his vice-President resign, and his former External Affairs minister, Francisco Leon de la Barra, assumes the interim presidency. Francisco I. Madero, the Revolutionary President, also resigns (complicated times, these!) as part of the deal. The same treaty promises private persons reparations for damages suffered at the hands of revolutionary forces. After a public rally in the zócalo of Mexico City on May 24, protesting the delay in Diaz’s departure from the presidential palace, Diaz formally resigns to his own ministers (May 25) and the following day leaves, with his family, for exile in France.
19, 1816
The Spanish government reconsiders the expulsion of the Jesuits from New Spain (which took place in 1767) and permits them to return.
19, 1969
The country’s highest ever temperature is recorded: 59 degrees C. (in the shade!) in Nazas, Durango.
21, 1534
Juan de Zumárraga receives royal approval to found the first library in the Americas.
21, 1895
Lázaro Cárdenas is born in Jiquilpan, Michoacan, near the south-east corner of Lake Chapala. Cárdenas becomes President in 1934 and during his presidency, which lasts until 1940, nationalizes both the railroads and the oil companies.
23, 1892
The “lnteroceanic Railway” between Mexico City and Veracruz is opened. The original plan (never realized) was to continue the line to link Acapulco to Veracruz via the capital.
24, 1939
Francisco Sarabia breaks the Mexico City-New York flying time record, making the journey, non-stop, in 10 hours, 46 minutes and 5 seconds. He dies two weeks later (June 7) when engine failure causes his plane, “El Conquistador del Cielo” to fall into the Potomac River on his return flight to the U.S.
DRASTIC WATER SHORTAGES IN AZTEC CAPITAL
26, 1521
As Spanish conquistador Cortés’ forces continue their siege of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, they deliberately break the Chapultepec aqueduct (the city’s main fresh water supply) in order to force the Aztecs to surrender.
28, 1864
“Emperor” Maximilian and his wife, Carlotta, arrive in Veracruz (from Europe) to take the reins of the Mexican “Empire”. His reception is so cool that he has to wait another day before disembarking.
30, 1920
Bubonic plague appears in Veracruz. The outbreak is quickly brought under control by the authorities.
continued on next issue
30, 1984
One of Mexico’s top investigative journalists, Manuel Buendia, 58 years old, is assassinated in broad daylight in the middle of a tourist zone in Mexico City. Buendia had gained a worldwide reputation for straightforward, honest reporting. No-one has ever been brought to trial for his murder.
The main source for this series is:
Efemérides Mexicanas by Noé Solchaga Zamudio and Luisa A. Solchaga Peña,
published in two volumes by Editorial Avante, Mexico City, 1983.
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