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Writing system

At the time of the Spanish conquest, Aztec writing used mostly pictographs supplemented by a few ideograms. When needed, it also used syllabic equivalences; Father Durán recorded how the tlacuilos (codex painters) could render a prayer in Latin using this system, but it was difficult to use. This writing system was adequate for keeping such records as genealogies, astronomical information, and tribute lists, but could not represent a full vocabulary of spoken language in the way that the writing systems of the old world or of the Maya civilization could. The Spanish introduced the Roman script, which was then utilized to record a large body of Aztec prose and poetry, a fact which somewhat mitigated the devastating loss of the thousands of Aztec manuscripts which were burned by the Spanish. (See Nahuatl transcription.) Important lexical works (e.g. Molina's classic Vocabulario of 1571) and grammatical descriptions (of which Carochi's 1645 Arte is generally acknowledged the best) were produced using variations of this orthography. The classical orthography was not perfect, and in fact there were many variations in how it was applied, due in part to dialectal differences and in part to differing traditions and preferences that developed. (The writing of Spanish itself was far from totally standardized at the time.) Today, although almost all written Nahuatl uses some form of Latin-based orthography, there continue to be strong dialectal differences, and considerable debate and differing practices regarding how to write sounds even when they are the same. Major issues are whether to follow Spanish in writing the [k] sound sometimes as c and sometimes as qu or just to use k, how to write [kw], and what to do about the [w] sound, which varies considerably from place to place and even within a single dialect. There are a number of other issues as well, such as whether and how to represent vowel length, or to what extent writing in one variant should be adapted towards what is used in other variants. The Secretaría de Educación Pública (Ministry of Public Education) has adopted an alphabet for its bilingual education programs in rural communities in Mexico in which k is used and [w] is written as u, and this decision has been influential. The recently established (2004) "Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas" (INALI) will also be involved in these issues.

History

Also known as Mexican language, or the language of the Mexica (ie. Aztecs), it was not only spoken by the Aztecs but also their predecessors (the Colhua, Tecpanec, Acolhua, and the famous Toltecs in one interpretation of the term). Recently, there have begun to appear more and more suggestions, from several diverse fields of Mesoamerican research, that Nahuatl might have been one of the languages spoken at the legendary Teotihuacan.

Literature

Nahuatl literature is extensive (probably the most extensive of all Amerindian languages), including a relatively large corpus of poetry (see also Nezahualcoyotl); the Nican Mopohua is an excellent early sample of transcribed Nahuatl.

Bibliography


- de Arenas, Pedro: Vocabulario manual de las lenguas castellana y mexicana. [1611] Reprint: México 1982
- Campbell, Joe and Frances Karttunen, Foundation course in Nahuatl grammar. Austin 1989
- Carochi, Horacio: Arte de la lengua mexicana: con la declaración de los adverbios della. [1645] Reprint: Porrúa México 1983
- Canger, Una, 1980. "Five Studies inspired by Nahuatl Verbs in -oa." Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague
- Dakin, Karen, 1982. "Evolución Fonológica del Protonáhuatl." UNAM, Mexico
- Garibay, Angel María : Llave de Náhuatl. México 19??
- Garibay, Angel María, Historia de la literatura náhuatl. México 1953
- Garibay, Angel María, Poesía náhuatl. vol 1-3 México 1964
- Hill, Jane and Kenneth Hill, Speaking Mexicano: dynamics of syncretic language in Central Mexico. Tucson 1986
- Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=91274
- von Humboldt, Wilhelm (1767–1835): Mexicanische Grammatik. Paderborn/München 1994
- Jiménez, Doña Luz (?–1965): Life and Death in Milpa Alta. Norman 1972
- Karttunen, Frances, An analytical dictionary of Nahuatl. Norman 1992
- Karttunen, Frances, Between worlds: interpreters, guides, and survivors. New Brunswick 1994
- Karttunen, Frances, Nahuatl in the Middle Years: Language Contact Phenomena in Texts of the Colonial Period. Los Angeles 1976
- Launey, Michel : Introduction à la langue et à la littérature aztèques. Paris 1980
- Launey, Michel : Introducción a la lengua y a la literatura Náhuatl. UNAM, México 1992
- de León-Portilla, Ascensión H.: Tepuztlahcuilolli, Impresos en Nahuatl: Historia y Bibliografia. Vol. 1-2. México 1988
- León-Portilla, Miguel : Literaturas Indígenas de México. Madrid 1992
- Lockhart, James (ed): We people here. Nahuatl Accounts of the conquest of Mexico. Los Angeles 1993
- de Molina, Fray Alonso: Vocabulario en Lengua Castellana y Mexicana y Mexicana y Castellana. [1555] Reprint: Porrúa México 1992
- de Olmos, Fray Andrés: Arte de la lengua mexicana concluído en el convento de San Andrés de Ueytlalpan, en la provincia de Totonacapan que es en la Nueva España. [1547] Reprint: México 1993
- del Rincón, Antonio: Arte mexicana compuesta por el padre Antonio del Rincón. [1595] Reprint: México 1885
- de Sahagún, Fray Bernardino (1499–1590): Florentine Codex. General History of the Things of New Spain (Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva España). Eds Charles Dibble/Arthr Anderson, vol I-XII Santa Fe 1950–71
- Siméon, Rémi: Dictionnaire de la Langue Nahuatl ou Mexicaine. [Paris 1885] Reprint: Graz 1963
- Siméon, Rémi: Diccionario de la Lengua Nahuatl o Mexicana. [Paris 1885] Reprint: México 2001
- Sullivan, Thelma D.: Compendium of Nahuatl Grammar. Salt Lake City 1988
- The Nahua Newsletter: edited by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies of the University of Indiana (Chief Editor Alan Sandstrom)
- Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl: special interest-yearbook of the Instituto de Investigaciones Historicas (IIH) of the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ed.: Miguel Leon Portilla

See also


- Nahuatl dictionary

External links


- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_iso639.asp?code=nah Ethnologue reports on Nahuatl]
- [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rjsalvad/scmfaq/nahuatl.html Nahuatl Learning Resource List, by Ricardo J. Salvador]
- [http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/nahuatl/nahuatl.html Brief Notes on Classical Nahuatl, by David K. Jordan]
- [http://www.sil.org/americas/mexico/nahuatl/00i-nahuatl.htm Nahuatl (Aztec) family, SIL-Mexico, with subsites on some specific variants]
- [http://www.yale.edu/nahuatl/ Nahuatl Summer Language Institute, Yale University]
- [http://www.acoyauh.com/nahuatl.html Basic Introductory Grammar, by Acoyauh]
- [http://www.mrs.umn.edu/academic/history/Nahuatl/engl-nah.txt English → Nahuatl],   [http://www.mrs.umn.edu/academic/history/Nahuatl/florent.txt Nahuatl → English]   (Florentine Codex Vocabulary 1997, by R. Joe Campbell)
- [http://web.archive.org/web/20030605090411/http://www.acoyauh.com/naheng.html Nahuatl → English]   (Basic Dictionary, by Acoyauh)
- [http://ohui.net/aulex/es-nah/?idioma=en Spanish → Nahuatl],   [http://ohui.net/aulex/nah-es/?idioma=en Nahuatl → Spanish]   (Ohui.net)
- [http://www.ifrance.com/nahuatl/nahuatl.page.html Nahuatl-French dictionary] Includes basic grammar Category:Agglutinative languagesCategory:Languages of MexicoCategory:Pre-Hispanic MesoamericaCategory:Uto-Aztecan languagesCategory:NahuatlCategory:Indigenous languages of MesoamericaCategory:Indigenous peoples of Mexicoja:ナワトル語simple:Nahuatl language

Uto-Aztecan

The Uto-Aztecan languages are a Native Americanlanguage family. The Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the western United States (Oregon, Idaho, Utah, California, Nevada, Arizona), through Mexico. Utah is named after the indigenous Uto-Aztecan Ute people. Classic Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and its modern descendants are part of the Uto-Aztecan family.

Family division

Uto-Aztecan consists of 33 languages. I. Hopi : 1. Hopi II. Tübatulabal : 2. Tübatulabal III. Tubar : 3. Tubar(†) IV. Numic (a.k.a. Plateau) : A. Central Numic :: 4. Comanche :: 5. Shoshone :: 6. Timbisha : B. Southern Numic :: 7. Kawaiisu :: 8. Ute : C. Western Numic :: 9. Mono :: 10. Northern Paiute V. Takic (a.k.a. Southern California) : 11. Tongva (a.k.a. Gabrieleño) (†) : 12. Tataviam(†) : A. Cupan :: 13. Cahuilla :: 14. Cupeño :: 15. Juaneño(†) :: 16. Luiseño : B. Serran :: 17. Kitanemuk(†) :: 18. Serrano(†) VI. Aztecan (a.k.a. Nahuatl) : 19. Pochutec(†) : A. General Aztec :: 20. Nahuatl :: 21. Pipil VII. Corachol : 22. Huichol : A. Cora :: 23. Cora :: 24. Santa Teresa Cora VIII. Taracahitic : A. Tarahumaran :: 25. Guarijío :: 26. Tarahumara ::
- Tarahumara Baja ::
- Tarahumara Central ::
- Tarahumara Sureste ::
- Tarahumara Norte ::
- Tarahumara Suroueste : B. Sonoran :: 27. Opata (a.k.a. Ópata) (†) : A. Cáhita :: 28. Mayo :: 29. Yaqui IX. Tepiman (a.k.a. Pimic) :: 30. O'odham (a.k.a. Pima language, Papago language) :: 31. Pima Bajo (a.k.a. Mountain Pima) :: 32. Northern Tepehuan :: 33. Southern Tepehuan(†) Tubar, Gabrieleño, Tataviam, Juaneño, Kitanemuk, Serrano, Pochutec, Opata, and Southern Tepehuan are now extinct.

References


- Campbell, Lyle. (1979). Middle American languages. In L. Campbell & M. Mithun (Eds.), The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment (pp. 902-1000). Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Miller, Wick. (1983). Uto-Aztecan languages. In W. C. Sturtevant (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 10, pp. 113-124). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.
- Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
- Steele, Susan. (1979). Uto-Aztecan: An assessment for historical and comparative linguistics. In L. Campbell & M. Mithun (Eds.), The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment (pp. 444-544). Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Súarez, Jorge. (1983). The Mesoamerican Indian languages. Cambridge University Press.

External link


- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=91274 Ethnologue:Uto-Aztecan]
-

Classical Nahuatl

Classical Nahuatl (also known as Aztec, and simply Nahuatl) is a term used to describe the variants of the Nahuatl language that were spoken in the valley of Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest of Mexico and during the subsequent centuries, and which have survived through a multitude of written sources written by Nahuas and Spaniards in the latin alphabet. :For modern Nahuatl varietes, see Nahuatl language.

Classification

Nahuatl is an Uto-Aztecan language, related to Hopi, O'odham, and Yaqui, among others.

Sounds

Vowels

Consonants

Prosody

Stress generally falls on the penultimate syllable. The one exception is the vocative suffix -e, used only by males, where stress falls on the final syllable, e.g. Cuāuhtlequetzqui (a name, meaning "eagle-warrior"), but Cuāuhtlequetzqué"Hey, Cuauhtlequetzqui!".

Phonotactics

Unlike English, which allows up to three consonants to occur at the start or end of words (e.g. sprints), Nahuatl allows only a single consonant at the start or end of a word, and up two consonants within a word. Also, there are restrictions on which consonants can occur where.

Grammar

Nahuatl is a polysynthetic language.

Writing system

At the time of the Spanish conquest, Aztec writing used mostly pictographs supplemented with a few ideograms. When needed it also used syllabic equivalences; Father Durán recorded how the tlacuilos could render a prayer in Latin using this system, but it was difficult to use. This writing system was adequate for keeping such records as genealogies, astronomical information, and tribute lists, but could not represent a full vocabulary of spoken language in the way that the writing systems of the old world or of the Maya civilization could. The Spanish introduced the Roman script, which was then utilized to record a large body of Aztec prose and poetry, a fact which somewhat diminished the devastating loss caused by the burning of thousands of Aztec manuscripts by the Catholic priests. See Nahuatl transcription. The writing system introduced by the Spanish, as well as a comprehensive study of Nahuatl grammar, has now become inefficient, as the language has evolved into different dialects, to a certain degree, distinct from the Nahuatl spoken in the fifteenth century. Today, in the bilingual education programms in rural communities in Mexico a new writing system is being used, created by the Secretaría de Educación Pública (Ministry of Public Education), which allows for differences among dialects.

History

Literature

Nahuatl literature is extensive (probably the most extensive of all Amerindian languages), including a relatively large corpus of poetry (see also Nezahualcoyotl); the Nican Mopohua is an excellent early sample of transcribed Nahuatl.

Bibliography


- de Arenas, Pedro: Vocabulario manual de las lenguas castellana y mexicana. [1611] Reprint: México 1982
- Carochi, Horacio: Arte de la lengua mexicana: con la declaración de los adverbios della. [1645] Reprint: Porrúa México 1983
- Garibay, Angel Maria : Llave de Náhuatl. México 19??
- Garibay, Angel María, Historia de la literatura náhuatl. México 1953
- Garibay, Angel María, Poesía náhuatl. vol 1-3 México 1964
- von Humboldt, Wilhelm (1767-1835): Mexicanische Grammatik. Paderborn/München 1994
- Karttunen, Frances, An analytical dictionary of Nahuatl. Norman 1992
- Karttunen, Frances, Nahuatl in the Middle Years: Language Contact Phenomena in Texts of the Colonial Period. Los Angeles 1976
- Launey, Michel : Introduction à la langue et à la littérature aztèques. Paris 1980
- Launey, Michel : Introducción a la lengua y a la literatura Náhuatl. UNAM, México 1992
- de León-Portilla, Ascensión H. : Tepuztlahcuilolli, Impresos en Nahuatl: Historia y Bibliografia. Vol. 1-2. México 1988
- León-Portilla, Miguel : Literaturas Indígenas de México. Madrid 1992
- Lockhart, James (ed): We people here. Nahuatl Accounts of the conquest of Mexico. Los Angeles 1993
- de Molina, Fray Alonso: Vocabulario en Lengua Castellana y Mexicana y Mexicana y Castellana . [1555] Reprint: Porrúa México 1992
- de Olmos, Fray Andrés: Arte de la lengua mexicana concluído en el convento de San Andrés de Ueytlalpan, en la provincia de Totonacapan que es en la Nueva España. [1547] Reprint: México 1993
- del Rincón, Antonio : Arte mexicana compuesta por el padre Antonio del Rincón. [1595] Reprint: México 1885
- de Sahagún, Fray Bernardino(1499-1590): Florentine Codex. General History of the Things of New Spain (Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva España). Eds Charles Dibble/Arthr Anderson, vol I-XII Santa Fe 1950-71
- Siméon, Rémi: Dictionnaire de la Langue Nahuatl ou Mexicaine. [Paris 1885] Reprint: Graz 1963
- Siméon, Rémi: Diccionario dße la Lengua Nahuatl o Mexicana. [Paris 1885] Reprint: México 2001
- Sullivan, Thelma D. : Compendium of Nahuatl Grammar. Salt Lake City 1988
- The Nahua Newsletter: edited by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies of the University of Indiana (Chief Editor Alan Sandstrom)
- Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl: special interest-yearbook of the Instituto de Investigaciones Historicas (IIH) of the Universidad Autonoma de México (UNAM), Ed.: Miguel Leon Portilla Category:Uto-Aztecan languagesCategory:Nahuatl

Lingua franca

:A popular U.S. magazine of academic journalism was titled Lingua Franca. A lingua franca is any language widely used beyond its native speakers, primarily for international commerce but extending to other cultural exchanges, such as diplomacy. The origin of the term lingua franca is Latin (literally "Frankish language"), derived from the medievalArab and Muslim use of "Franks" (ancient Germanic people) as a generic term for Europeans during the period of the Crusades. Originally "lingua franca" referred to a mix of mostly Italian with a broad vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic. This mixed language (pidgin, creole language) was used for communication throughout the medieval and early modern Middle East as a diplomatic language; the generic description "lingua franca" has since become common for any language used by speakers of different languages to communicate with one another. In an important sense, the terms "lingua franca" and "diplomatic language" remain distinct; the former refers largely to spoken languages which find common use, while the latter is typically limited to common written systems which do not directly find use among the common public. A prime example is Akkadian, which (as shown in the Amarna letters,~1350 B.C.) was used for correspondence between Egypt and its Canaanite vassals, and neighboring kingdoms, as far away as Babylon. Akkadian, being one of the first "diplomatic languages", contained Sumerograms, from Sumer, the sumerogram being many hundreds of years older, from the beginning of written language. This diplomatic-level communication would, over time, serve language (hence cultural) transculturation, eventually developing the Greek and Romanwriting systems, that we currently use today.

Languages which have served as a lingua franca

During the Roman Empire and for the following millennium the lingua franca was Greek in the east and Latin in the west. The French language also served as lingua franca later on. French was the language of diplomacy in Europe from the 17th century until its very recent replacement by English, and as a result is still the working language of international institutions and is seen on documents ranging from passports to airmail letters. French was also the language used among the educated in cosmopolitain cities in North Africa such as Cairo, Egypt around the turn of the century until WWII. German served as a lingua franca in portions of Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries, especially in business, politics, science (physics), and sociology. English is the current lingua franca of Western international business and has also displaced French in diplomacy since World War II, a trend arguably advanced by the role of English-speaking countries in the outcome of the war (the de facto status of lingua franca is usually "awarded" by the masses to the language of the most influential nation(s) of the time), and certainly influenced by the massive anglophonic cultural exports from the United States (movies and music). English is also regarded by some as the global lingua franca owing to the economic hegemony of the developed Western nations in world financial and business institutions. The de facto status of English as the lingua franca in these countries has carried over globally as a result. In other regions of the world, other languages perform the function of a lingua franca: Portuguese served as lingua franca in Africa and Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries. Swahili in East Africa, Russian in areas formerly associated with the Soviet Union, German in much of Eastern Europe until after World War II, "Hindustani" (or Hindi, along with English) in India, Malay or Thai in South-East Asia, Bislama in the Pacific Islands, and various Pidgin languages in other locations and times. Classical Chinese served as both a lingua franca and a diplomatic language for Far East Asia, used by China, Korea, Japan, the Ryukyus, Vietnam, Tibet, and Xinjiang in interstate communications until the late 19th century. Currently, among most Chinese speaking communities, Mandarin Chinese serves the function of providing a common spoken language between speakers of different and mutually unintelligible Chinese languages- not to mention between Chinese and ethnic non-Chinese in China. In Switzerland, which has four different official languages, English serves as a lingua franca with citizens and the relatively high (20%) foreign population. Polish was once a lingua franca in various regions of Central and Eastern Europe, mostly due to the political, cultural, scientific and military influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Although not that popular any more due to the Russian language influence, it is still sometimes spoken or at least understood in western border areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania as a second language.

See also


- Business English
- international auxiliary language

In a specific sense

Lingua Franca meaning "Frankish language" was an early language, used in the Mediterranean area from the 14th century or earlier and still in use in the 20th century. Lingua Franca was known by Mediterranean sailors including the Portuguese. When the Portuguese started exploring the seas of Africa, America, Asia and Oceania, they tried to communicate with the natives by mixing a Portuguese-influenced version of Lingua Franca with the local languages. When English or French ships came to compete with the Portuguese, the crew tried to learn this "broken Portuguese". Through a process of change the Lingua Franca and Portuguese wordstock was substituted by the languages of the people in contact. Polari, the gaycantslang in 1950s-1960sBritain, derives partly from Lingua Franca.

External links


- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=pml Ethnologue entry for Lingua Franca]
- [http://www.uwm.edu/~corre/franca/go.html A Glossary of Lingua Franca] Category:SociolinguisticsCategory:Languages of AfricaCategory:Languages of EuropeCategory:Pidgins and creolesja:リングワ・フランカ

7th century

Overview

Events


- Islam starts in Arabia, the Qur'an is documented, and Syria, Iraq, Persia, North Africa and Central Asia convert to Islam.
- Sutton Hooship burial, East Anglia (modern England)
- Xuan Zang (aka Hsuan-Tsang) travelled from China to India, before returning to Chang An in China to translate Buddhist scriptures.
- End of sporadic Buddhist rule in the Sindh.
- Serbs and Croats entered their present territory early in the 7th century AD, settling in six distinct tribal delimitations, and setting up early states.
- Teotihuacan is sacked and burnt.
- The religion of Shugendo evolves from Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto and other influences in the mountains of Japan.
- The Bulgars arrive in the Balkans.
- Arab traders penetrate the area of Lake Chad.
- First English poetry

Significant persons


- Gregory the Great (Pope, 540-604)
- Saint Cuthbert
- Heraclius - Warrior Emperor of Byzantium who won numerous victories against the Sassanids (Persians).
- Emperor Taizong of Tang China
- Muhammad (570-632), Muslim Prophet
- Ali ibn Abi Talib (600-661), cousin of Muhammad, central to Shi'aIslam
- Saint Asaph

Inventions, discoveries, introductions


- The stirrup introduced to Persia from China, late 7th century
- Earliest known record of the game Chatrang, predecessor to Chess

Decades and years

Category:7th century07th centuryko:7세기ja:7世紀th:คริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 7

16th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. See also:16th century in literature

Events


- 1501: Safavid dynasty rules Iran until 1736.
- 1509: The Battle of Diu marks the beginning of Portuguese dominance of the Spice trade.
- 1514: The Battle of Orsha halts Muscovy's expansion into Eastern Europe.
- 1515: The Ottoman Empire wrests Eastern Anatolia from the Safavids after the Battle of Chaldiran.
- 1516-17: The Ottomans defeat the Mamluks and gain control of Egypt, Arabia, and the Levant.
- 1517: The Protestant Reformation begins when Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses in Saxony.
- 1519-21: Hernán Cortés leads the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.
- 1520-66: The reign of Suleiman the Magnificent marks the zenith of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1521: Belgrade is captured by the Ottoman Empire.
- 1523: Swedengains independence from the Kalmar Union.
- 1524-25: Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1526: The Ottomans conquer the Kingdom of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács.
- 1526: Mughal Empire, founded by Babur, rules India until 1857.
- 1527: Sack of Rome is considered the end of the Italian Renaissance.
- 1529: The Siege of Vienna marks the Ottoman Empire's furthest advance into Europe.
- 1531-32: The Church of England breaks away from the Roman Catholic Church and recognizes King Henry VIII as the head of the Church.
- 1532: Francisco Pizarro leads the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
- 1534: Jacques Cartier claims Quebec for France.
- 1534: The Ottomans capture Baghdad.
- 1543: The Nanban trade period begins after Portuguese traders make contact with Japan.
- 1552: Russia conquers the Khanate of Kazan.
- 1553: Macau founded by Portuguese in China.
- 1555: The Muscovy Company is the first major English joint stock trading company.
- 1556: The Shaanxi Earthquake in China is history's deadliest known earthquake.
- 1556: Russia conquers the Astrakhan Khanate.
- 1556-1605: During his reign, Akbar expands the Mughal Empire in a series of conquests and is considered the greatest Mughal emperor.
- 1558-1603: The Elizabethan era is considered the height of the English Renaissance.
- 1558-83: Livonian War between Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Russia.
- 1558: After 200 years, England loses Calais to France.
- 1559: With the Peace of Cateau Cambrésis, the Italian Wars conclude.
- 1562-98: French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots.
- 1566-1648: Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands.
- 1568-1600: The Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan.
- 1569: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is created with the Union of Lublin which lasts until 1795.
- 1577-80: Francis Drakecircles the World and claims California for England.
- 1580: After the struggle for the throne of Portugal, the Portuguese Empire comes to an end and the Spanish and Portuguese crowns are united for 60 years.
- 1582: Yermak Timofeyevich conquers the Siberia Khanate on behalf of the Stroganovs.
- 1584-85: After the Siege of Antwerp, many of its merchants fled to Amsterdam.
- 1585-1604: The Anglo-Spanish War is fought on both sides of the Atlantic.
- 1588: England repulses the Spanish Armada.
- 1589: Spain repulses the English Armada.
- 1592-98: Korea and China repel two Japanese invasions during the Seven-Year War.
- 1598-1613: Russia descends into anarchy during the Time of Troubles.
- 1600: British East India Company chartered.

Significant people

British East India Company]
- Nicolaus Copernicus, developed the heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory using scientific methods (1473 - 1543).
- Henry VII of England, founder of the Tudor dynasty. Introduced ruthlessly efficient mechanisms of taxation which restored the kingdom after a state of virtual bankruptcy due to the effects of the Wars of the Roses (1457 - 1509).
- György Dózsa, leader of the peasants' revolt in Hungary (1470 - 1514)
- Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian painter and sculptor (1475 - 1564).
- Thomas More, English politician and author (1478 - 1535).
- Martin Luther, German religious reformer (1483 - 1546).
- Hernán Cortés, Spanish Conquistador (1485 - 1547).
- King Henry VIII of England, founder of Anglicanism (1491 - 1547).
- King Francis I of France, considered the first Renaissance monarch of his Kingdom (1494 - 1547).
- Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Conqueror and legal reformer (1494 - 1566).
- Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the first to reign as King of Spain. Involved in almost constant conflict with France and the Ottoman Empire while promoting the Spanish colonization of the Americas (1500 - 1558).
- Cuauhtémoc becomes last Tlatoani of the Aztec, leads the native resistance against the Spanish and is finally defeated in the siege of Tenochtitlan. He is hanged on February 26, 1525 (1502 - 1525)
- Mary I of England. Attempted to counter the Protestant Reformation in her domains. Nick-named Bloody Mary for her Religious persecution (1516 - 1558).
- King Philip II of Spain, self-proclaimed leader of Counter-Reformation (1527 - 1598).
- Queen Elizabeth I of England, central figure of the Elizabethan era (1533 - 1603).
- Oda Nobunaga , daimyo of the Sengoku period of Japanese civil war. First ruler of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1534 - 1582).
- Toyotomi Hideyoshi , daimyo of the Sengoku period of Japanese civil war. Second ruler of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1536 - 1598).
- Admiral Yi Sun-sin , respected as one of the greatest admirals and military leaders in world history. (1545 - 1598).
- Edward VI of England, notable for further differentiating Anglicanism from the practices of the Roman Catholic Church (1537 - 1553).
- Lady Jane Grey, Queen regnant of England and Ireland. Notably deposed by popular revolt (1537 - 1554).
- Queen Mary I of Scotland, First female head of the House of Stuart (1542 - 1587).
- Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author (1547 - 1616).
- King Henry IV of France and Navarre, ended the French Wars of Religion and reunited the kingdom under his command (1553 - 1610).
- William Shakespeare, English author (1564 - 1616).
- John Donne, English metaphysical poet (1572 - 1631)
- Miyamoto Musashi, famous warrior in Japan, author of The Book of Five Rings, a treatise on strategy and martial combat. (1584 - 1645)
- Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, SomaliImam and general (1507 - 1543).
- Ivan IV of Russia, first Russian tsar (1530-1584).

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

List of 16th century inventions
- The Columbian Exchange introduces many plants, animals and diseases to the Old and New Worlds.
- Introduction of the spinning wheel revolutionizes textile production in Europe.
- Modern square root symbol (√ )
- Copernicus publishes his theory that the Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun (1543)
- Gregorian Calendar adopted by Catholic countries (1582)
- 1513: Juan Ponce de León sights Florida and Vasco Núñez de Balboa sights the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean.
- 1519-22: Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano lead the first circumnavigation of the World.
- 1540: Francisco Vásquez de Coronado sights the Grand Canyon.
- 1541-42: Francisco de Orellana sails the length of the Amazon River.
- 1597: Opera in Florence by Jacopo Peri

Decades and years

Category:16th centuryCategory:Centuriesko:16세기ja:16世紀th:คริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 16

NEW WORLD

:New World is also a 1990 album by Kelly Family.New World is an album by Do As Infinity, released 2001.

Tracklist

# new world # GURUGURU # Desire # We Are. # Snail # 永遠 (Eien) (Eternity) # rumble fish # Holiday # 135 # Wings 510 # SUMMER DAYS # Yesterday & Today (Strings Orchestral Version) Category:2001 albums

Nahuatl dialects

Nahuatl dialects and dialect groupings

The Uto AztecanNahuatl language can be grouped into two rough dialect continua, labelled the central and the peripheral dialects. The first attempt to classify the Nahuan dialects was made by Juan Hasler classifying on the basis of a sole feature namely the variance of the phoneme which in Classical Nahuatl and many other dialects is /tł/ in some southern dialects is /t/ and in a some northern dialects /l/. He assumed that since the /tł/ had been shown by Benjamin Lee Whorf to be derived from proto Uto-Aztecan
- /ta/ that the group of /t/ dialects were conservative and the /tł/ and /l/ dialects more innovative. This claim was shown to be false, when it was establish that the t-dialects had also undergone the
- /ta/>/tł/ change and had later changed it back to /t/ in some positions. Haslers "tetradialectology" was discredited because it, made mistaken assumptions, rested on dubious materials and was based on one sole trait which did not prove useful to establishing isoglosses. In her article "Nahuatl dialectology: A survey and some suggestions" (IJAL 54.1. 28-72.) Una Canger summarised research in Nahuatl Dialectology and suggests some diagnostic traits serving to establish to dialect contiua a central and a peripheral one peripheral. Her suggested classification was supported by the enormous dialectological survey conducted by Yolanda Lastra de Suaréz published as "Las Areas Dialectales Del Nahuatl Moderno" She proposes to subdivide the Peripheral dialects into an eastern, western and a La Huasteca area. Her classification stands as the most accepted to this day. The central area is the valley of Mexico where the Aztec empire was founded and where it expanded from. Classical nahuatl as it was spoken by the people of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital was one of the central dialects, as are the dialects spoken in that area today. The central dialect area includes the dialects spoken in Morelos, Estado de Mexico, Southern Hidalgo, Northwest Puebla and Tlaxcala. The central dialects are generally considered to be innovative. The Peripheral dialects are Nahuatl dialects spoken in the areas most distant from the center of the Aztec empire. There is much diversity within the peripheral dialects and various subdivisions within the periperal group have been proposed. Peripheral dialects are spoken in Durango, La Huasteca, Guerrero, Tabasco, and Vera Cruz.

Bibliography


- BOAS, Franz. 1917. El dialecto mexicano de Pochutla, Oaxaca. IJAL 1. 9-44.
- CAMPBELL, Lyle. n.d. La dialectologia pipil. Ms. : .
- CANGER, Una and DAKIN, Karen. 1985. An inconspicuous basic split in Nahuatl. IJAL 51. 358-361.
- CANGER, Una. 1980. Five Studies inspired by nahuatl Verbs in -oa. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague 19. Copenhagen:
- CANGER, Una. 1988. Nahuatl dialectology: A survey and some suggestions. IJAL 54.1. 28-72.
- CANGER, Una. 1988. Subgrupos de los dialectos nahuas. Smoke and Mist: Mesoamerican Studies in Memory of Thelma D. Sullivan. Ed. by J. Kathryn Josserand and Karen Dakin, eds.. 473-498. Oxford: BAR International Series 402. Part ii.
- DAKIN, Karen and RYESKY, Diana. 1990. Morelos Nahuatl Dialects: Hypotheses on their historical divisions. Morelos en una economia global. Proceedings of the Congress in Cocoyoc, Morelos, November 19023, 1989. Submitted in January, 1990.
- DAKIN, Karen, and SULLIVAN, Thelma D. 1980. Dialectologia del nahuatl de los siglos XVI y XVI. Rutas de intercambio en Moseamerica y el Norte de Mexico, XVI Round Table, Saltillo, September 9-15, 1979. V. II. 291-297.
- DAKIN, Karen. 1974. Dialectologia nahuatl de Morelos: Un estudio preliminar. Estudios de cultura nahuatl 11. 227-234.
- HASLER, Juan. 1961. Tetradialectologia nahua. A William Cameron Townsend en el Vigesimoquinto Aniversario del Instituto Linguistico de Verano. 455-464. Mexico: Instituto Linguistico de Verano.
- HASLER, Juan. 1975. Los dialectos de la lengua nahua. America Indigena 35. 170-188. : .
- HASLER, Juan. 1955. Los cuatro dialectos de la lengua nahua. Revista mexicana de estudios antropologicos xiv, 1a parte. 149-152.
- LASTRA DE SUAREZ, Yolanda. 1979. Nahuatl dialect areas. Presentation to the Friends of Uto-Aztecan Working Conference, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropologicas, June 22, Mexico
- LASTRA DE SUAREZ, Yolanda. 1981. Stress in modern Nahuatl dialects. Nahuatl Studies in Memory of Fernando Horcasitas, Texas Linguistic Forum 18.1. 19-128. Austin: The University of Texas, Department of Linguistics.
- LASTRA DE SUAREZ, Yolanda. 1986. Las areas dialectales del nahuat moderno. Mexico: Instituto de Investigaciones Antropological, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
- WHORF, Benjamin L. 1937. The origin of Aztec tl. American Anthropologist 39. 265-274.

Nahuatl Dialects Recognised by SIL

Sierra Puebla NahuatlGuerrero NahuatlEste Huasteca NahuatlIstmo-Mecayapan NahuatlCoatepec NahuatlPuebla Norte NahuatlClassical NahuatlMichoacan NahuatlPuebla Central NahuatlTabasco NahuatlTetelcingo NahuatlTenango NahuatlTlalitzlipa NahuatlIstmo-Cosoleacaque NahuatlMorelos NahuatlCentral NahuatlIstmo-Pajapan NahuatlHuaxcaleca NahuatlPipilPuebla Sureste NahuatlOmetepec NahuatlTemascaltepec NahuatlHuasteco NahuatlIxhuatlancillo NahuatlOaxaca Norte NahuatlSanta Maria la Alta NahuatlDurango NahuatlOrizaba NahuatlTlamacazapa Nahuatl List I. Nahuan subgroup members, sorted by number of speakers: (name [ethnologue subgroup code] – location(s) ~approx. number of speakers)
- Huasteca Este [NAI] – Hidalgo, Western Veracruz, Northern Puebla ~450,000
- Huasteca Oeste [NHQ] – San Luis Potosí, Western Hidalgo ~450,000
- Guerrero [NAH] – Guerrero ~200,000
- Orizaba [NLV] – Central Veracruz ~140,000
- Puebla Sureste [NHS] – Southeast Puebla ~135,000
- Puebla Sierra[AZZ] – Puebla Highlands ~125,000
- Puebla Norte [NCJ] – Northern Puebla ~66,000
- Central [NHN] – Tlaxcala, Puebla ~50,000
- Istmo-Mecayapan [NAU] – Southern Veracruz ~20,000
- Puebla Central [NCX] – Central Puebla ~18,000
- Morelos [NHM] – Morelos ~15,000
- Oaxaca Norte [NHY] – Northwestern Oaxaca, Southeastern Puebla ~10,000
- Huaxcaleca [NHQ] – Puebla ~7,000
- Istmo-Pajapan [NHP] – Southern Veracruz ~7,000
- Istmo-Cosoleacaque [NHK] – Eastern Morelos, Northwestern Coastal Chiapas, Southern Veracruz ~5,500
- Ixhuatlancillo [NHX] – Central Veracruz ~4,000
- Tetelcingo [NHG] – Morelos ~3,500
- Michoacán [NCL] – Michoacán ~3,000
- Santa María de la Alta [NHZ] – Northwest Puebla ~3,000
- Tenango [NHI] – Northern Puebla ~2,000
- Tlamacazapa [NUZ] – Morelos ~1,500
- Coatepec [NAZ] – Southwestern México (State), Northwestern Guerrero ~1,500
- Durango [NLN] – Southern Durango ~1,000
- Ometepec [NHT] – Southern Guerrero, Western Oaxaca ~500
- Temascaltepec [AZZ] – Southwestern México (State) ~300
- Tlalitzlipa [NHJ] – Puebla ~100
- Pipil [PPL] – El Salvador ~100
- Tabasco [NHC] – Tabasco

Mexico

The United Mexican States or Mexico (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or México; regarding the use of the variant spelling Méjico, see section The name below) is a country located in North America, bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. It is the northernmost and westernmost country in Latin America, and also the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.

History

Main article: History of Mexico

Pre-Hispanic Times

Hunter-Gatherer peoples are thought to have discovered and inhabited Mexico more than 28,000 years ago. Ancient Mexicans began to selectively breed corn plants around 8,000 B.C. Evidence shows the explosion of pottery works by 2300 B.C. and the beginning of intensive farming between 1800 and 1500 BC. For more than 3,000 years, Mexico was the site of several Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztec, the Olmec, Teotihuacan, the Toltec, Mixtec, Zapotec and the Mayan. These indigenous civilizations are credited with many inventions: pyramid-temples, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, writing, highly-accurate calendars, fine arts, intensive agriculture, engineering, an abacus, a complex theology, and the wheel. Archaic inscriptions on rocks and rock walls all over northern Mexico (especially in the state of Nuevo León) demonstrate an early propensity for counting in Mexico. These very early and ancient count-markings were associated with astronomical events and underscore the influence that astronomical activities had upon Mexican natives, even before they possessed civilization. In fact, the later Mexican civilizations would all carefully build their cities and ceremonial centers according to specific astronomical events. At different points in time, three different Mexican cities were the largest cities in the world: Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan, and Cholula. These cities, among several others, blossomed as centers of commerce, ideas, ceremonies, and theology. In turn, they radiated influence outwards onto neighboring cultures. Cholula] Cholula] While many city-states, kingdoms, and empires competed with one another for power and prestige, Mexico had four major, unifying civilizations: The Olmec, Teotihuacan, Toltec, and the Mexica. These four civilizations extended their reach across Mexico and beyond like no others. They consolidated power and distributed influence in matters of trade, art, politics, technology, and theology. Other regional power players made economic and political alliances with these four civilizations over the span of 4,000 years. Many made war with them, but almost all found themselves within these four spheres of influence. Latecomers to Mexico's central plateau, the Mexica, or Aztecs, as they were sometimes called in memory of Aztlán, the starting point of their tribes wanderings, never thought of themselves as anything but heirs of the brilliant civilizations that had preceded them. For them, highly-civilized arts, sculpture, architecture, engraving, feather-mosiac work, and the invention of the calendar were due to the former inhabitants of Tula, the Toltecs, who reached the height of their civilization in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The Mexica, one of the Aztec groups, were the first people in the world to practice mandatory education for all people, regardless of gender, rank, or station. There were two types of schools: the telpochcalli, for practical and military studies, and the calmecac, for advanced learning in writing, astronomy, statesmanship, theology, and other areas. The Aztecs' religious beliefs were based on a fear that the universe would cease functioning without a constant offering of human sacrifice. This belief was common throughout nahuatl people. As a result, Aztec warfare was conducted with an aim to only injure the enemy, so that he could later be sacrificed, and weapons were constructed with this in mind. This penchant for human sacrifice proved to be the undoing of the Aztecs, for when they confronted the Spaniards, who fought to the death, their less effective weapons made resistance difficult. In order to acquire captives in time of peace, the Aztec resorted to ritual warfare, or flower war. Tlaxcalteca and other nahuatl nations were forced into such wars, so they joined the Spaniard forces against the Aztec. The small Spanish force was reinforced with thousands of indian allies, who were schooled on European warfare.

The Spanish Era

The arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century and their defeat of the Mexica in 1521 marked the beginning of the 300 year-long colonial period of Mexico as New Spain. After the fall of Tenochtitlan, it would take decades of continuous war to pacify Mesoamerica. Particularly fierce were the "Chichimeca wars" in the north of Mexico (1576-1606). The colonists brought with them the Catholic faith, to which the population seemingly converted rapidly, but soon they found the natives had adopted "the god of the heavens", as they called it, as just one of their gods. While it was an important god, because it was the god of the conquerors,they did not see why they had to abandon their old beliefs. As a result, a second wave of missionaries began a process attempting to completely erase the old beliefs, and thus wiped out many aspects of Mesoamerican culture. Hundreds of thousands of codices were destroyed, priests and teachers were persecuted, and the temples and statues of the gods were destroyed. The Mesoamerican education system was set aside and replaced by church education; even some foods associated with religion, like amaranto, were forbidden. Eventually, the natives were declared minors, and forbidden to read and write, so they would always need a white man in charge of them to be responsible of their indoctrination. Although officially they could not become slaves, the system, known as encomienda, came to signify the oppression and exploitation of natives, although its originators did not set out with such intent. Due to some horrifying instances of abuse against the indigenous peoples, Bishop Bartolome de las Casas suggested bringing black slaves to replace them. Bartolome later repented when he saw the treatment given to the black slaves. Unlike most English-speaking colonists of North America, Spanish colonists married the natives, and were even encouraged to do so by Queen Isabella during the earliest days of colonization (in Cuba, specifically). The first Spanish colonists were mainly male, so they took native women, and sometimes black women, although rarely. After the native population was decimated by epidemics and forced labor, black slaves were imported, and for a time they even outnumbered the white population. However, they eventually mixed with the population. There are still a few black communities (see Afro-Mexican), but few modern Mexicans are aware of this. As a result of these unions, as well as concubinage, a vast class of people known as "Mestizos" and mulatos came into being, of Amerindian, black, and Spanish descent. But even if mixes were allowed, the white population tried to keep their status. A system was created to keep each mix in a different social level. This was "El sistema de castas" (the caste system). Each different mix had a name and a different privileges or prohibitions. There were even two different kind of whites, those born in Spain, or "peninsulares", and in a lower level, those born in America or "criollos". Mestizos and mulatos were next, and then the other mixes. In this system, Native Americans had the lower status, even lower than free black people. The Spanish "peninsulares" tried by all means to keep their status, even if they took native women. Those who could afford also tried to have a Spanish wife, who was sent to Spain to give birth, thus preventing their children became criollos. Mestizos and criollos were not allowed in the upper levels of the government, and eventually they joined forces for the independence of México. With independence, the caste system and slavery were abolished. Mestizos, while they no longer have a separate legal status from other groups, comprise approximately 60% of the population. In modern México, mestizo has became more a cultural term, since a Native American that abandons his traditional ways is considered a mestizo, also most Afromexicans prefer to be considered mestizo, since they feel more identified with this group. During the following centuries, under Spanish rule, a new culture developed that combined the customs and traditions of the indigenous peoples with that of Catholic Spain. Numerous churches and other buildings were constructed in the Spanish style, and cities were named after various saints and objects of veneration, such as "San Luis Potosí" (after St. Louis) and "Vera Cruz" ("True Cross"). Spanish settlers brought with them smallpox, typhus, and other diseases. Most of the settlers had developed an immunity from childhood, but the indigenous peoples had not. There were three separate epidemics that decimated the population: Smallpox (1520-1521), measles ( 1545-1548) and typhus (1576-1581). Of the estimated 15 to 20 million of the original prehispanic population, less than two million survived. The New Spain of the end of XVI century was an underpopulated country with abandoned cities, which would be the main cause of collapse of the Mesoamerican cultures.

Mexican Independence

On September 16, 1810, independence from Spain was declared by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest in the small town of Dolores, causing a long war that eventually led to independence in 1821 and the creation of the First Mexican Empire. After independence, Spanish possessions in Central America which also proclaimed independence were all incorporated into Mexico from 1822 to 1823, with the exception of Chiapas. Soon after achieving its independence from Spain, the Mexican government, in an effort to populate its sparsely-settled hinterlands, awarded land grants in a remote area of the northernmost state of Coahuila y Tejas to hundreds of immigrant families from the United States, on the condition that the settlers convert to Catholicism and assume Mexican citizenship. It also forbade the importation of slaves, a condition that, like the others, was largely ignored. The Empire soon fell to rogue republican forces led by Antonio López de Santa Anna. The first Republic was formed with Guadalupe Victoria as its first president, followed in office by Santa Anna. As president, in 1834 Santa Anna abrogated the federal constitution, causing insurgencies in the southern state of Yucatán and the northernmost portion of the northern state of Coahuila y Tejas. Both areas sought independence from the Mexican government. While negotiations eventually brought Yucatán to again recognize Mexican sovereignty, Santa Anna's army turned to the northern rebellion. The inhabitants of Tejas, calling themselves Texans and led mainly by relatively recently-arrived English-speaking settlers, declared independence from Mexico at Washington-on-the-Brazos, giving birth to the Republic of Texas. Texas won its independence in 1836, further reducing the territory of the fledgling republic. In the 1840s, Mexico was invaded and defeated by the United States, which demanded and received roughly one-half of the country's remaining territory, from which were formed the modern states of California, Nevada, and Utah, and most of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado (see Mexican-American War). In the 1860s, the country again suffered a military occupation, this time by France, seeking to establish the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria as Emperor of Mexico, with support from the Roman Catholicclergy and conservative criolloss. The Second Mexican Empire was then overthrown by the ZapotecBenito Juárez, with diplomatic and logistical support from the United States and the military expertise of General Porfirio Díaz. General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated the French Army (arguably the most powerful in the world at the time) at the city of Puebla on May 5, 1862, celebrated as Cinco de Mayo ever since. However, after his death, the city was lost in early 1863, following a renewed French attack which penetrated as far as Mexico City, forcing Juárez to organize an itinerant government. 1863 to 1867. In mid-1867, following repeated losses in battle to the Republican Army, Maximilian was captured and murdered by Juárez's soldiers, along with his last loyal generals, in Querétaro. From then on, Juárez remained in office until his death in 1872. After Juárez's death, Mexico experienced economic growth under the conservative and pro-European rule of Porfirio Díaz. Foreign investment allowed the development of the oil industry and the construction of a railroad system across the country. This period of relative peace and prosperity is known as the "Porfiriato". His mandate, however, was mostly undemocratic and benefited the middle and upper classes, while the Amerindian indigenous population continued to live in precarious conditions. Growing social inequalities, restricted freedom of the press, and his insistence to be reelected for a fifth term led to massive protests. His fraudulent victory in the 1910 elections sparked the Mexican Revolution. Revolutionary forces defeated the federal army, but were left with internal struggles, leaving the country in conflict for two more decades. The creation of the National Revolutionary Party (which later became the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI), in 1929 ended the struggles, uniting all generals and combatants of the revolution. During the next four decades, Mexico experienced impressive economic growth, and historians call this period "El Milagro Mexicano", the Mexican Miracle. This was in spite of falling foreign confidence in investment, first through the assumption of mineral rights and subsequent nationalisation of the oil industry into Pemex during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas del Río. However the management of the economy collapsed several times afterwards. Accused many times of fraud, the PRI's candidates held almost all public offices until the end of the 20th century. It was not until the 1980s that the PRI lost the first state governorship, an event that marked the beginning of the party's loss of hegemony. Through the electoral reforms started by president Carlos Salinas de Gortari and consolidated by president Ernesto Zedillo, by the mid 1990s the PRI had lost its majority in Congress. In 2000, after seventy years, the PRI lost a presidential elections to a candidate of the National Action Party (PAN), Vicente Fox. On September 19, 1985, an earthquake measuring approximately 8.0 on the Richter scale struck Michoacán and inflicted severe damage on Mexico City. Estimates of the number of dead range from 6,500 to 30,000. (See Great Mexican Earthquake.) On January 11994, Mexico became a full member of the North American Free Trade Agreement, joining the United States of America and Canada in a large economic bloc with two counties vastly more prosperous. On March 23, 2005, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America was signed by the elected leaders of those countries.

Government and politics

Main articles: Government of Mexico, Politics of MexicoPolitics of Mexico The 1917 Constitution provides for a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Historically, the executive is the dominant branch, with power vested in the president, who promulgates and executes the laws of the Congress. Congress has played an increasingly important role since 1997, when opposition parties first formed a majority in the legislature. The president also legislates by executive decree in certain economic and financial fields, using powers delegated from Congress. The president is elected by universal adult suffrage for a six-year term and may not hold office a second time. There is no vice-president; in the event of the removal or death of the president, a provisional "emergency" president is elected by Congress, whose first task is to summon the Congress for a session to choose an interim president; the first task of that interim president is to call for elections within the next 18 months. However, in the event of a very short unavailability of the president (e.g. in the case of minor surgery) the executive power is handed to the president of the Supreme Court, who at the same time relinquishes temporarily his role as such. On July 2, 2000, Vicente Fox of the opposition "Alliance for Change" coalition, headed by the National Action Party (PAN), was elected president. Fox began his six-year term on December 1, 2000. His victory ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party's (PRI) 71-year hold on the presidency. The three most important political parties in Mexico are the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN), and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

Political divisions

:Main article: States of Mexico :See also: Mexican state name etymologies. Mexico is divided into 31 states (estados) and a federal district. Each state has its own constitution and its citizens elect a governor as well as representatives to their respective state congresses. governor
The Federal District is a special political division in Mexico, where the national capital, Mexico City, is located. It enjoys more limited local rule than the nation's "free and sovereign states": only since 1997 have its citizens been able to elect a Head of Government, whose powers are still more curtailed than those of a state governor. Much of the capital city's metropolitan area overflows the limits of the Federal District.

Major cities

The following is a list of the biggest Metropolitan Areas of Mexico in order of population: #Mexico City, Distrito Federal (22.0 million) #Guadalajara, Jalisco (4.7 million) #Monterrey, Nuevo León (3.6 million) #Puebla, Puebla (2.6 million) #Tijuana, Baja California (1.5 million) #León, Guanajuato (1.2 million) #Toluca, México (1.2 million) #Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (1.1 million) #Torreón, Coahuila (1.1 million) #San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí (0.8 million) #Mérida, Yucatán (0.8 million) #Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro (0.8 million) #Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes (0.7 million) #Cuernavaca, Morelos (0.7 million) #Chihuahua, Chihuahua (0.7 million) :Population figures according to INEGI (National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information) 2000

Geography

Chihuahua, Chihuahua]] Main article: Geography of Mexico Situated in the southwestern part of mainland North America and roughly triangular in shape, Mexico stretches more than 3000 km from northwest to southeast. Its width is varied, from more than 2000 km in the north and less than 220 km at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the south. Mexico is bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. Mexico is about one-fourth the size of the United States. Baja California in the west is a 1,250-km peninsula and forms the Gulf of California. In the east are the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche, which is formed by Mexico's other peninsula, the Yucatán. The center of Mexico is a great, high plateau, open to the north, with mountain chains on the east and west and with ocean-front lowlands lying outside of them. (See list of mountains in Mexico). list of mountains in Mexico The terrain and climate vary from rocky deserts in the north to tropical rain forest in the south. Mexico's major rivers include the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) and the Usumacinta on its northern and southern borders, respectively, together with the Grijalva, Balsas, Pánuco, and Yaqui in the interior.

Economy

Yaqui.]] Main article: Economy of Mexico According to the World Bank, Mexico is the 12th nation in the world in regard to GDP and the highest per capita income in that region; and is firmly established as an upper middle-income country. Since the economic debacle of 1994–1995 the country has made an impressive economic recovery. According to the director for Colombia and Mexico of the World Bank, the population below the poverty level has decreased from 24.2% to 17.6% in the general population and from 42% to 27.9% in rural areas [http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/301198.html]. Mexico has a free-market economy with a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. The number of state-owned enterprises in Mexico has fallen from more than 1,000 in 1982 to fewer than 200 in 1999. The administration of President Ernesto Zedillo (1994–2000) continued a policy of privatizing and expanding competition in sea ports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity, natural gas distribution, and airports which was initiated by his predecessors Miguel de la Madrid and Carlos Salinas. A strong export sector helped to cushion the economy's decline in 1995 and led the recovery in 1996–1999. Private consumption became the leading driver of growth, accompanied by increased employment and higher wages. Mexico still needs to overcome many structural problems as it strives to modernize its economy and raise living standards. Income distribution is very unequal, with the top 20% of income earners accounting for 55% of income. Following 6.9% growth in 2000, real GDP fell 0.3% in 2001, with the US slowdown the principal cause. Positive developments in 2001 included a drop in inflation to 6.5%, a sharp fall in interest rates, and a strong peso that appreciated 5% against the US dollar. Trade with the US and Canada has tripled since NAFTA was implemented in 1994. Mexico has opened its markets to free trade as no other country in the world, having lifted its trade barriers with more than 40 countries in 12 Free Trade Agreements, including Japan and the European Union. However more than 85% of the trade is still done with the United States. Government authorities expect that by putting more than 90% of trade under free trade agreements with different countries Mexico will lessen its dependence on the US. The government is seeking to sign an additional agreement with Mercosur.

Demographics

MercosurMercosur]] MercosurMain article: Demographics of Mexico With an estimated 2005 population of about [http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/127113.html 106.5 million], Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. Mexico is ethnically and culturally diverse. According to the CIA World Factbook, about 60% of the population is mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white), another 30% is Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian, and 9% is white (or of European descent). The remaining 1% includes Afro-Mexicans and others. Mexico is also home for many other Latin American groups: mostly Argentines, but also Brazilians, Cubans, Nicaraguans,Colombians and Venezuelans. The PRI governments in power for most of the 20th century had a policy of granting asylum to fellow Latin Americans fleeing political persecution in their home countries. Mexico also has a sizeable population of Asians numbering around 200,000, many of them being Chinese and Japanese. There are also a small amount of Lebanese. According to the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas ("The National Council for the Development of Indigenous People") the Amerindian population in Mexico is approximately [http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/127113.html 12.7 million]. However, the Mexican government does not collect racial information during censuses. In 2004, the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatic had estimated this figure to be 12,089,094 of indigenous people of which, more than one million do not speak Spanish and almost five million are bilingual ([http://www.inegi.gob.mx/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/integracion/sociodemografico/mujeresyhombres/2004/myh_2004.pdf INEGI, 2004]). Judging by the proportion of people speaking indigenous languages the states with a higher proportion of indigenous people are Yucatán (37.3%), Oaxaca (37.1%), Chiapas (24.6%) and Quintana Roo (23%). The states of Aguascalientes (0.2% ), Coahuila (0.2%), Zacatecas (0.2%) and Nuevo León (0.5%) have the lowest proportion of speakers of indigenous languages ([INEGI, 2004]). Mexico is the country where the greatest number of U.S citizens live outside the United States. This may be due to the growing economic and business interdependence of the two countries under NAFTA, and also that Mexico is considered an excellent choice for retirees. A clear example of the latter phenomenon is provided by San Miguel de Allende and many towns along the Baja California peninsula and around Guadalajara, Jalisco. The official figures for foreign-born citizens in Mexico are 493,000 (since 2004), with a majority (86.9%) of these born in the US (with the exception of Chiapas, where the majority of immigrants are from Central America). The five states with more immigrants are Baja California (12.1% of total immigrants), Federal District (11.4%), Jalisco (9.9%), Chihuahua (9%) and Tamaulipas (7.3). More than 54.6% of the immigrant population are 15 years old or younger, while 9% are 50 or older. 4.2% of male immigrants and 3.8% of female immigrants did not have formal education while 20.2% of male immigrants and 17.7% of female immigrants had a college degree [INEGI, 2004. Life expectancy in Mexico increased from 34.7 for men and 33 years for women in 1930 to 72.1 for men and 77.1 years for women in 2002. The states with the highest life expectancy are Baja California (75.9 years) and Nuevo Leon (75.6 years). The Federal District has a life expectancy of the same level as Baja California. The lowest levels are found in Chiapas (72.9), Oaxaca (73.2) and Guerrero (73.2 years), although the first two have had the highest increase (19.9 and 22.3% respectively). The mortality rate in 1970 was 9.7/1000 people and by 2001 the rate had dropped to 4.9/1000 for men and 3.8/1000 for women. The most common reasons for death in 2001 were heart problems (14.6% for men 17.6% for women) and Cancer (11% for men and 15.8% for women).

Religion

Guadalajara, Jalisco] Mexico is predominantly Roman Catholic (about 89% of the population), with 6% adhering to various Protestant faiths (mostly Pentecostal), and the remaining 5% of the population adhering to other religions or professing no religion. Some of the country's Catholics (notably those of indigenous background) syncretize Catholicism with various elements of Aztec or Mayan religions. The Church of Jesus Christ
Nahuatl Language

Nahuatl language

Nahuatl (pronounced in two syllables, NA-watl ) is a term applied to some members of the Aztecan or Nahuan sub-branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, indigenous to central Mexico. Often the term Nahuatl is used specifically with reference to the language called Classical Nahuatl, which was the language of the Aztec empire and therefore used as a lingua franca in much of Mesoamerica from the 7th century AD until the late 16th century, at which time its prominence and influence was interrupted by the Spanish conquest of the New World. However, it also serves to identify a number of modern Nahuatl dialects (linguistic variants, some of them mutually unintelligible) that are still spoken by at least 1.5 million people in what is now Mexico. All of these dialects show influence from the Spanish language to various degrees, some of them much more than others. No modern dialects are identical with that of Classical Nahuatl, but those spoken in and around the Valley of Mexico are more closely related to it than are peripheral ones.

Overview

Nahuatl is the most widely spoken group of Native American languages in Mexico. As is the case with most other Mexican indigenous languages, many of the speakers of Nahuatl are bilingual, having a working knowledge of the Spanish language. In the past, a significant number of the Nahuatl speakers outside the Valley of Mexico were bilingual in languages other than Spanish, speaking both Nahuatl and, as their mother tongue, some other indigenous language. A famous example of bilingualism was Malintzin ("La Malinche"), the native woman who translated between Nahuatl and a Mayan language (and who later learned Spanish as well) for Hernán Cortés.

Classification

Sometimes a distinction is made among Nahuan languages between Nahuatl (variants with the characteristic tl phoneme), Nahuat (variants which have t in its place), and Nahual (variants which have l instead). Although the classification implied by emphasizing these differences is currently not given as much weight as in the past, the terms are still used. Sometimes Nahuan is used for the family as a whole; others use the term Aztecan for the family, or Nahua for the family and in any context where one does not want to specify the tl/t/l differences. Most commonly, however, Nahuatl is used as a generic name for the family or any variant of it. Nahuatl is related to the languages spoken by the Hopi, Comanche, Paiute or Ute, Pima, Shoshone, Tarahumara, Yaqui, Tepehuán, Huichol and other peoples of western North America, as they all belong to the Uto-Aztecan linguistic stock or language family consisting of 61 individual languages. This is a grouping on the same order as Indo-European, including a number of language families such as the Aztecan or Nahuatl family.

Genealogy


- Uto-Aztecan 5000 BP
-
  - Shoshonean (Northern Uto-Aztecan)
  - Sonoran
  -
  - Aztecan 2000 BP (a.k.a. Nahuan)
    - Pochutec — Coast of Oaxaca
    - General Aztec
      - Pipil (a.k.a Nawat, Southern Nahuan) — Pacific coast of Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador
      - Nahuatl
      -
- Central dialects
      -
- Peripheral dialects
      -
  - La Huasteca :
- Estimated split date by glottochronology (BP = Before the Present). :
  - Some scholars continue to classify Aztecan and Sonoran together under a separate group (called variously "Sonoran", "Mexican", or "Southern Uto-Aztecan"). There is increasing evidence that whatever degree of additional resemblance that might be present between Aztecan and Sonoran when compared with Shoshonean is probably due to proximity contact, rather than to a common immediate parent stock other than Uto-Aztecan.

Geographic distribution

glottochronology A range of Nahuatl lects are currently spoken in an area stretching from the northern Mexican state of Durango to Tabasco in the south. Pipil, a language closely related to the Nahuatl lects, is spoken as far south as El Salvador.

Phonology of Nahuan languages

The phonemic inventories of the different Nahua dialects and languages do not vary greatly. The table below shows a standardised phonemic inventory based on the inventory of Classical Nahuatl. Many modern dialects lack some of these or include others.

Consonants

Table of Nahuatl consonants

Vowels

Table of Nahuatl vowels

Grammar

The Nahuatl languages are agglutinative, polysynthetic languages that make extensive use of compounding, incorporation and derivation. That is, it can add many differentprefixes and suffixes to a root until very long words are formed. Very long verbal forms or nouns created through incorporation and accumulation of prefixes are not uncommon in literary works. This also means that new words can be created at a moment's notice. The typology of Nahuatl has, by a minority of linguists, been regarded as oligosynthetic. This was first proposed in the early 20th Century by Benjamin Whorf, but was largely dismissed by the linguistic community by the mid-1950s.

Vocabulary

:See the list of Nahuatl words and list of words of Nahuatl origin at Wiktionary, the free dictionary and Wikipedia’s sibling project.

Simple Greetings


- Tlanextili --- Good morning
- Chotlakili --- Good evening
- Kinejki tinemi? --- How are you?
- Qualtzin ninemi --- I am fine.
- Tlaxtlaui --- Thank you

Words loaned to other languages

:Main article: words of Nahuatl origin Nahuatl has provided the English language with some words for indigenous animals, fruits, vegetables, and tools. The two most prominent are undoubtedly chocolate and tomato, but there are others, such as coyote and avocado and chile or chili. The brand name Chiclets is also derived from Nahuatl. Most of these borrowings are second-hand, coming first through Spanish. Due to extensive Mexican-Philippine contacts, there are an estimated 250 words of Nahuatl origin in the Tagalog language. Some of them are: kamote (sweet potato), sayote (chayote), tiyangge (seasonal market), tatay (tatli, father), nanay (nantli, mother), guava (guayaba), tsokolate (chocolate), tsonggo (monkey), and the village of Zapote in Las Piñas City, Philippines. Nahuatl has been an exceedingly rich source of words for the Spanish language, as the following samples show. Some of them are restricted to Mesoamerica, but others are common to all the Spanish-speaking regions in the world and some have made their way in to the English language via Spanish language: :achiote, acocil, aguacate, ajolote, amate, atole, axolotl, ayate, cacahuate, camote, capulín, chamagoso, chapopote, chayote, chicle, chile, chipotle, chocolate, cuate, comal, copal, coyote, ejote, elote, epazote, escuincle, guacamole, guachinango, guajolote, huipil, huitlacoche, hule, jacal, jicama, jícara, jitomate, malacate, mecate, mezcal, mezquite, milpa, mitote, mole, nopal, ocelote, ocote, olote, paliacate, papalote, pepenar, petaca, petate, peyote, pinole, piocha, popote, pozole, pulque, quetzal, tamal, tianguis, tiza, tomate, tule, zacate, zapote, zopilote. More Nahuatl words found in the English vocabulary include: avocado: from ahuacatl (fruit); aztec: from azteca(tl) (race, sing.); cacao: from cacahuatl (fruit/nut); chilli: from chilli (vegetable); chocolate: from xocolatl (drink); coyote: from coyotl (dog, mammal); tomato: from (xi)tomatl (fruit/berry); mesquite: from mizquitl (tree); ocelot: from ocelotl (mammal). Many well-known toponyms also come from Nahuatl, including Mexico (mëxihco) and Guatemala (cuauhtëmallan).