Student Articles

The Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that inhabited the Valley of Oaxaca from the 6th century BC until approximately 1500 AD. While the civilization ended centuries ago, the Zapotecs in Mexico are still a very much active indigenous community within the country. The Zapotec population is of almost 1,000,000 people.

The Mayan civilization formed a hugely influential part of pre-Hispanic Mexican culture. Their advanced, developed methods and carefully constructed society reached the highest state of development between the years of 250-900 AD. However, the Mayans continued to exert their power right up until the Spanish conquest.

Octavio Paz was born March 31, 1914, to a distinguished Mexican family. His paternal grandfather was a prominent liberal intellectual and one of the first Mexican authors to directly address the indigenous theme. Thanks to his grandfather’s literary links, Paz came into contact with literature from an early age. His father, who was of a mixed Spanish and indigenous background, was also politically active and had joined the agrarian uprisings led by Emiliano Zapata.

The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is a protected area that comprises of over 50,000 hectares of mountainous pine-oak forests that lie northwest of Mexico City along the Trans-Mexican Volcanic belt. Not only is it an important conservation area, but it is also a World Heritage Site. Here, every winter, millions of migrating monarch butterflies make this area their home. The biosphere aims to not only protect the Monarch butterflies but also the ecosystem that they belong to.

The Mexican Vine Snake (Oxybelis aeneus), also known as the Brown Vine Snake, is a small, mildly venomous snake that lives throughout most of southern, eastern and western Mexico, excluding Baja California.

Tacos are probably one of the most famous components of Mexican cuisine. Traditional Mexican tacos are corn or wheat tortillas that are folded or rolled around a filling. There are an incredibly versatile dish that can be filled with anything thing including vegetables, cheese and a variety of meat, often accompanied by salsa, guacamole and herbs.

The Mexican Morelet's Crocodile is a modest sized crocodile that is native to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. It is also commonly known as simply the Mexican crocodile or the Central American Crocodile; however it has many names in Spanish including Cocodrilo de Pantano, Lagarto negro, Lagarto de El Petén and Lagarto Panza. The Morelet portion of the name comes from the French naturalist P.M.A Morelet who discovered the species in Mexico in 1850.

The Mexican Collared Lizard, also biologically known as Crotaphytus dickersonae, is a colorful species of lizard that is closely related to iguana lizards and native to northern Mexico.

Mexican food is famous throughout the world, and perhaps one of its most characteristic features of Mexican cuisine is its use of spice. Mexican chili peppers are a basic ingredient in a huge range of Mexican dishes.  Without Mexican chilies, many of these Mexican food delights would not be the same!

The Mayans were a truly advanced civilization. Known for their complex language, art, architecture and mathematical systems, they also had an elaborate and an accurate Mayan calendar system.  The Mayan calendar dates back to at least the 5th century BCE and was in common use throughout pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.  In fact, the Mayan calendar was as the first fully developed calendar in existence.