Chichen Itza: heart of the Maya

PLACES
Every civilization must possess to be named as such an urban center where there raised their best buildings , have lived their best players and their culture has survived above . As for the Incas, Machu Picchu , Chichen Itza was a major city that surprisingly survived the passage of time to be a witness of what was once a great and wonderful Native American civilization . While it did ( as usual ) for several years numerous " looting " Today is protected by the Mexican government . Chichen Itza , a jewel.
Chichen Itza is one of the major archaeological sites of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico , located in the municipality of Tinum , in the state of Yucatan. Important and renowned relic of the Mayan civilization , the main buildings there remain correspond to the time of the decline of Mayan culture known to archaeologists as the post-classical period .
The massive architecture that has survived until today and today is emblematic of the site, has a distinct Toltec influence . The god who presides over the site , according to Mayan mythology , is Kukulcan Mayan representation of Quetzalcoatl , god made ​​the Toltec culture pantheon . That said , consider that Chichen Itza was a city or a ceremonial center , which went through various periods constructive and influences of different peoples that occupied and that boosted since its founding.
Chichen Itza Mayan culture observatorioLa mexico Chichen Itza archaeological site was inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 1988. The July 7, 2007 , was recognized as one of the New Seven Wonders of the Modern World , by private initiative without the support of Unesco , but with the recognition of millions of voters around the world.
His story : Chichén Itzá was founded around 525 AD , during "the first drop or fall small eastern referring chronicles " for the chanes of Bacalar (later called Itza ) and later still Cocomes . They set up their capital.
Toward the end of the Late Classic period , in the ninth century , Chichen became one of the most important political centers Mayab land . For the beginning of the Postclassic ( from 900 to 1500 ) , the city had established itself as the main center of power in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Mayan Chichen Itza buildings show a large number of architectural and iconographic elements that some historians have called mexicanized . The truth is that it is visible the influence of cultures from the Mexican plateau , and mixing with the Puuc style , from the heights of the peninsula , the Classic Maya architecture . The presence of these elements from the cultures of the highlands were conceived a few years ago as a result of a mass migration or conquest of the Mayan city by Toltec groups . However, more recent studies suggest they may have been the cultural expression of a political system widespread and prestigious during the early Postclassic Mesoamerica .

Chichen Itza in the post- Maya. In the sixteenth century the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Montejo and the Franciscan Diego de Landa , made ​​the first visits of Europeans in the area and gave a detailed account of the existence of the city.
Chichen Itza Mayan mexico saqueoEn 1840 John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood visited the archaeological site of Chichen Itza, in that time the area was within the estate of the same name that belonged to Juan Sosa . In 1894 , Edward Herbert Thompson purchased the Hacienda Chichén- Itzá , conducted studies and explorations in the area, especially in the sacred cenote . During this work many objects found were inadvertently sent to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University but later , due to the intervention of the Mexican government , some of the objects were returned. This was a time of looting of one of the most important treasures of Mexican history .
When Thompson died in 1935 the estate passed to his heirs although the control and jurisdiction , and the systematic exploration and maintenance of extensive archaeological site is run by provision of law , the National Institute of Anthropology and History, the agency Mexican federal government

Battle of the Alamo: until the last drops dead

HISTORY
In every conflict there is an event that functions as a turning point. It may not be the one that determines the final result, but one that modifies the statuo quo, and causes an abrupt change enough to alter the winner. A large contingent of Mexican army besieged for 13 days Texian resistance in a building that would become famous over time: the Alamo. I can not encourage me to judge any of the two sides, as each sought to defend what he considered his own, but without doubt, the Alamo is held up as a symbol of the resistance of a group of brave men who chose to die but not leave their cause.
The Battle of the Alamo was a military conflict crucial in the Texas Revolution which consisted of a siege of 13 days, since its inception on February 23 until the final assault of March 6, 1836, and faced the army of Mexico , led by President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, against a secessionist militia Texans, mostly American settlers (naturalized Mexican) in San Antonio de Bexar in Mexican province of Coahuila and Texas. All belligerents in favor of the Republic of Texas were killed, except for two people, which inspired many settlers and adventurers Texans-Americans-to join the army of Texas, desirous of revenge, from the cruelty shown by Santa Anna during the siege, the Texans defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolutionary movement.
Several months prior, Texians had taken all federal troops out of the Coahuila and Texas, approximately 100 Texans then garrisoned at the Alamo. The Texian force grew slightly with the arrival of reinforcements led eventually by the co-commanders James Bowie and William Barret Travis. On February 23, approximately 1500 Mexican soldiers marched into San Antonio de Bexar, site currently sits San Antonio, as the first step in a campaign to retake Texas. For the next 12 days, the two armies were involved in several skirmishes with minimal casualties. Aware that his garrison could not withstand the attack of such a large force, Travis wrote several letters asking for more men and supplies, but only 100 reinforcements arrived.
On the morning of March 6, the Mexican Army advanced on the Alamo, after rejecting two attacks, Texians were unable to fend off a third. Because Mexican soldiers scaled the walls, most Texans soldiers fled to the interior buildings. Defenders unable to reach these points were slain by the Mexican cavalry as they attempt to escape. It is likely that a small group of Texans (five to seven of them) had been surrendered; yet these were executed instantly. Most eyewitness accounts reported from between 182 and 257 Texians dead, while most historians of the Alamo agree that there were between 400 and 600 Mexican soldiers wounded or killed in combat. In the end, many noncombatants were sent to Gonzales to spread the word of the Texian defeat. The news sparked panic and the Texian forces-settlers-most of the new Republic of Texas fled from the advancing Mexican army.

In the nineteenth century, in Texas, the Alamo complex gradually became know as the place of battle. The Texas Legislature purchased the land and buildings in the early part of the twentieth century and designated the Alamo chapel as Texas State Shrine. The Alamo is now the most popular tourist site in Texas. It has also been the subject of numerous non-fiction works from 1843.