MIGUEL ROMERO SANCHEZ

摘要

Mexico is a land of incredible beauty and rugged terrain. The country has active volcanoes that rise more than 19,000 feet above sea level and tropical jungles that are essentially impenetrable. The geologic forces that gave rise to the rugged terrain also blessed Mexico with tremendous mineral wealth. The modern history of Mexico begins with the arrival of Hernando Cortez and the conquest of the indigenous nations in the 1520s. Upon Cortez's landing on the Veracruz coast, Moctezuma, the head of the Aztec empire, sought to convince the Spanish to leave by sending Cortez a treasure. The diaries of the Cortez expedition describe this bribe: "A wheel like the Sun, as big as a cartwheel, with many sorts of pictures on it made of gold. Another wheel of greater size made of silver, twenty gold ducks, and many articles of gold and silver."