67 Comments
Jul 13Liked by Tomas Pueyo

BTW, there is a mini-series called "Hernán", in Spanish and Nahuatl (subtitled), about Cortés and the Spanish conquest of the Empire. It's pulpy but brings Tenochtitlan to life wonderfully. And it's quite a story.

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I didn’t know! I’ll look into it!

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Jul 13Liked by Tomas Pueyo

That show was phenomenal. Btw does anyone really believe the early 16th century firearms won the day over precision arrows? I believe really weapon was much smaller

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Jul 14·edited Jul 14Author

And steel armor and germs

Guns, germs, and steel

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Jul 14Liked by Tomas Pueyo

And horses and the Mexica’s battle strategy which was based on procuring captives

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The Aztecs made a lot of enemies in their rise to power. Cortes had tens of thousands of enthusiastic native allies, with the Spanish acting as shock troops. Many of the native leaders were subsequently granted titles of nobility and intermarried with Conquistadors to form the ruling class of colonial Mexico.

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True!

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Funny how everyone ignores the truth. I didn't get the second answer. My experience says having sufficient food gave them time to build the pyramids. Obvious right?

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Tomas, the passion of your writing is infectious, and the education this piece provides is just amazing (as with the others I’ve read)! Thank you so much for what you do. More!!!

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I’m glad to hear!

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Jul 13Liked by Tomas Pueyo

Yeah. Thanks Tomas. Another real eye opener

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Loved this article! I saw a similar analysis for why most of the US population lives from the Missouri River East, and on the west coast.

I have also visited the Chihuahuan Desert frequently between Texas and Mexico and can attest tonthr fact that it would be almost impossible to live in most of north-central Mexico.

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Yes one day I’ll write the US series…

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Looking forward to it.

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Jul 13·edited Jul 13Liked by Tomas Pueyo

There's just one thing though - despite the marvelous geopolitical perspective on Mexico, the maps that flashed back and forth gave me a bit of sensory overload which I am prone to. Also, I love maps, but it takes me a while to study them, and that was difficult if they were flashing. This is only meant as constructive feedback; not criticism. Otherwise, a wonderful article.

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Same as Al. They were very informative, but I would’ve loved the chance to freeze them to stop the flashing.

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Thanks for the feedback. The value of the flashing is to better compare the same areas across maps. But I can also add static versions in the future.

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These maps are fantastic! Thanks for putting this together! Fun and informative post 🙏🏽🙏🏽💙🧡

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Wow! What a great development of multiple ideas.

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Jul 13Liked by Tomas Pueyo

I live here and your analysis is spot-on! Popocatépetl is active, some periods ofconstant exhalations. I have a cell phone app from ospo.noaa.gov that tracks the ashfall zones. The Mexican government also has a web site cenapred.gov.mx that gives volcano updates.

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It’s such a foreign experience for most people!

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Thanks for giving us the source in the gov website. I apreciate it.

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It’s official name is Centro Nacional para la Prevención de Desastres.

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Jul 14Liked by Tomas Pueyo

Ok I love that style of farming. So unique!

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That was the biggest surprise when I was looking into this!

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I loved this presentation! Very easy to follow, and pleasing on the eyes. Thanks for taking the time to create and share this!

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Fantastic. Thanks so much. We spend January through to mid March in Mexico, San Patricio in Jalisco.

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Fascinating read as an expat living in Guadalajara, gracias!

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It’s arid, danger abounds, heat and poisonous varmints are common, and Mexico City is where it’s at, after all.

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Jul 15Liked by Tomas Pueyo

I was always curious why there was small activity on sea before Columbus

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Jul 14Liked by Tomas Pueyo

Thank you very much! Never knew how to read such complicated maps, so it's really enlightening to see how you do so and link them together to explain something.

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Nobody really explains that a school. What a shame!

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Jul 13Liked by Tomas Pueyo

Excellent work! Thank-you. Art is as much about what is left out as it is about what is included. You are a master at focusing on the signals of geography, the forces that underly the noise of history.

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And there are other aspects to it worth mentioning! But they must belong to other pieces

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Jul 13Liked by Tomas Pueyo

Another great, unique, and fascinating piece.

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