Mexican Wholesale

Mexico is among the many countries contributing earthquake relief aid to Haiti, after that country was hit on January 13th by a devasting 7.0 earthquake. Haiti has a population of between 9 to 10 million people and it is feared that the death toll could run into the thousands.

Mexican Earthquake 1985

Mexican television has given extensive coverage in the last few days to Haiti’s recent quake. And for good reason: many Mexicans still remember the Mexico City earthquake of 1985 which registered an 8.1 on the Richter scale. The result was an incredible toll of death and destruction in one of the world’s largest cities. Haiti’s recent quake brought back memories of Mexico’s own 1985 natural disaster.

The vulnerability of Mexico City to earthquakes
On September 19, 1985, Mexico City was struck by a magnitude 8.1 (Richter) earthquake. Official tallies put the number of deaths at approximately 4,000, but some say that the number was closer to 10,000. Hundreds of buildings collapsed and thousands were damaged. Because most of Mexico City is build over an ancient lake bed, the instability of the subsoil contributed greatly to the damage.

Colonial Mexico City build on an ancient lake bed
When in 1519 Hernan Cortes arrived in the Valley of Mexico, what he and his fellow Spaniards encountered was Tenochtitlan, a city built by the Aztecs on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco. After defeating the Aztecs, the conquistadors founded Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. Lake Texcoco with its two connecting lakes was slowly drained over the coming centuries. Today, the only remaining portion of that former immense body of water is Xochimilco with its famous canals and floating gardens.

What was learned from the quake of I985
It was on the seemingly dry lake bed that that Mexico City was built, growing in time to the present day metropolis of 20 million inhabitants.

Though the surface lake disappeared long ago the subsoil, as part of an historic water basin, continues to be water saturated. This has been known since colonial times, but it wasn’t until the 1985 quake that a truly strict earthquake building code went into effect. Present day contruction now takes into consideration the fact that the underlying ancient lake bed sediments amplify the seismic shaking in the event of an earthquake.

Mexican Volcano Popocatepetl

As requested, I am re-posting this article. It has a beautiful romantic theme that is perfect for the month of February.

The legendary Mexican Volcano’s ‘Popocatepetl’ and Iztaccihuatl with their towering white peaks of snow can be seen on a clear day from the great metropolis of Mexico City. Mexico’s Popocateptl Volcano is a steep volcanic cone located about 45 miles southeast of Mexico City and rises beyond 17,000 feet in elevation. This majestic mountain is breathtaking to the viewers sight and is snow capped year round. Popocateptl Volcano has captured peoples’ imaginations throughout the ages and has a story that reaches back into the mists of time. Next to the Popocateptl Volcano is the Iztaccihuatl Volcano. Iztaccihuatl meaning, “white woman” in Nahuatl. This mountain actually has four peaks, the tallest reaches 17,158 feet and many see the silhouette as resembling that of a sleeping woman.

Iztaccihuatl Volcano is located next to the Popocateptl Volcano. Speaking geographically, these two volcanoes represent the second and third highest mountains in Mexico. Iztaccihuatl is an extinct volcano. Popocatepetl is still active having spewed smoke and ash as recently as 2001. Popocateptl means “Smoking Mountain” in the Nahuatl language. As Aztec mythology has it, Popocateptl and Iztaccihuatl were once humans who were deeply in love. The legend is about two star-crossed lovers, the young brave warrior Popocatepetl and the princess Iztaccihuatl. Iztaccihuatl’s father who was a mighty ruler, placed a demand on Popocatepetl before he could take Iztaccihuatl as his bride. He required that Popocatepetl first engage in a battle against the tribes enemy and return victorious. Some variations of this legend include the stipulation that Popocatepetl must return with the enemys’ head as proof of his success. Story has it that Popocatepetl went off for war with.

Iztacclhuatl waiting for her beloveds’ return. Popocatepetl won the battle and was ready to return to Iztacchuatle when word reached the ruler that the warrior had been slain. Upon hearing the false news, the princess, Iztaccihuatl falls ill and succumbs to her deep sorrow, dying of a broken heart. When Popocatepetl returns to his people with triumph, he encounters his beloveds’ death and he is heartbroken and inconsolable.

Popocateptl carries Iztaccihuatl’s body to the mountains where he has a funeral pyre built for his princess and himself. Grief stricken, he dies next to his beloved. The Gods, touched by the plight of the lovers, turns the humans into mountains so that they can finally be together. Today, they remain with Popocatepetl residing over his princess Iztacclhuatl. On occasion, Popo will spew ash, reminding everyone watching that he is always in attendance and that he will never leave the side of his beloved Izta.

Volcanos Popocaterple and Iztaccihuatle continue being one of Mexico’s most popular tourist sights.

Volcano Iztaccihuatl

Los Niños Heroes

The Niños Heroes (Heroic Children) were six teenage military cadets who died defending Mexico at Mexico City’s Chapultepec Castle (which was the Mexican army’s military academy,) from invading forces from the U.S.in the Battle of Chapultepec on September 13, 1847. Mexico has had many heroes through its long and eventful history but conceivably none have mesmerized the thoughts and stirred the hearts to the extent that Los Niños Heros have. These brave young men fought valiantly for their country during the Mexican-American War but sadly, they died defending México’s honor.

These cadets ranged in age from 13 to 19 years of age. Their commanders ordered them to fall back but the cadets did not and instead they resisted the invaders until they were all dead. The six young men refused to relinquish their posts and bravely met the superior forces of the Americans.

· The last survivor Juan Escuitia born in Tepic between 1828 and 1832 was a second lieutenant in an artillery company, and is said to have draped himself with the Mexican flag before jumping to his death to prevent it from being taken by the enemy.

· The other five were Juan de la Barrera, born in Mexico city in 1828 He was the son of an army general who enlisted at the age of 12 and died defending a gun battery at the entrance to the park. He was 19 and the oldest of the six.

· Francisco Marques, born in Guadalajara, Jalisco in 1834 and was the step son of an army cavalry captain. He applied to the Academy on January 14, 1847 and belonged to the first company of cadets. His bullet riddled body was found on the east flank of the hill. He was the youngest of the six;

· Agustin Melgar born in Chihuahua, Chihuahua between 1828 and 1832. He was the son of Esteban Melgar, a lieutenant colonel in the army and Maria de la Luz Sevilla, both of whom died while he was very young and he applied for the Academy on November 4, 1846. He was able to shoot and kill invaders before taking refuge behind some mattresses in one of the rooms but was mortally wounded.

· Fernando Montes de Oca born in Azcapotzalco, Mx., Mexico between 1828 and 1832 to Jose Maria Monted de Oca and Josefa Rodriguez. He applied to the Academy on January 24,01847 and was one of the cadets who remained in the castle. His personal record reads “Killed for his country on 13 September 1847″;

· Vicente Suarezborn in 1882 in Puebla, Puebla and was the son of Miguel Suarez, a cavalry officer and Maria de la Luz Ortega. He applied for admission to the Academy on October 21, 1845 and was killed at his post in hand-to-hand combat.

They were buried in the grounds of Chapultepec Park in an undisclosed location and on September 27, 1952, they were re-interred at the monument top of the Heroic Cadets in Chapultepec.

This grand monument was raised in their honor, “Los Niños Heroes Monument,” and stands proudly at the entrance to Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. This impressive monument was made of Carrara marble by architect Enrique Aragon and sculptor Erlesto Tamariz in 1952.

In 1947, President Harry S. Truman of the United States visited the “Los Niños Heroes” monument where there was a moment of reverential silence observed by the President as a sign of respect for the young boy cadets. When President Truman was asked why he stopped at the monument his response was, “I respect bravery wherever I see it.”

Monument "Los Ninos Heroes

Maximilian I Emperor Of Mexico

Maximilian I (1832-1867), Emperor of Mexico from 1864-1867, qualifies as one of the country’s most ill-fated rulers. Hailing from a european dynasty, Maximilian was duped into accepting the role of Mexico’s emperor. Brought to the country under false pretenses, the archduke of Austria was led to believe his presence would be welcome by the people of Mexico. In fact, the opposite was true.

Mexico was experiencing the painful residues of a civil war (The War of the Reform) when Maximilian arrived in Veracruz in 1864. Mexico’s president, Benito Juarez, supported wide sweeping reforms for the country. This deeply angered the conservatives and the church who sought to maintain the status quo.

In 1861, President Juarez suspended interest payments to Britain, Spain and France. Juarez took this drastic measure out of necessity to help stabilize the country’s infrastructure. This decision, however, set off a chain of events that ultimately culminated with Maximilian’s arrival.

Maximilian I

In response to President Juarez’ decision, Napoleon III of France persuaded Britain and Spain to join forces with his country and demand repayment from Mexico. The Treaty of London was signed in 1861 for this purpose. However, France had ulterior motives that went beyond the settling of a debt. Napoleon III sought to take advantage of Mexico’s instability by establishing a monarchy in the country.

Once Britain and Spain learnt of France’s true intent, they withdrew from the treaty. Napoleon III remained resolute and French soldiers were promptly dispatched to Mexico. The Battle of Puebla occurred during this time, a rare Mexican victory over a foreign country. This famous engagement gave birth to the tremendously popular Cinco de Mayo holiday so widely celebrated today.

Despite Mexico’s success at the Battle of Puebla, the French soon emerged victorious and took command of Mexico City. This occupation was welcomed by the conservatives and members of the clergy who hoped to have their powers restored by the forthcoming monarchy.

Maximilian was enjoying the life of a country gentleman when Napoleon III approached him concerning the role of emperor. A member of the Imperial Habsburg-Lorraine family of Europe, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria had a received a fine education. However, he possessed a naive nature that led him into dangerous circumstances. As a result, Maximilian became embroiled in an international melee that would have no happy ending.

Napoleon III convinced Maximilian that Mexico had authorized his appointment. In truth, a mockery of a vote had been staged. Led to believe their presence would be welcomed, Maximilian and his wife Charlotte looked forward to their new home and dominion. They set sail for Mexico.

Maximilian was crowned Emperor on April 10, 1864. Both he and his wife immersed themselves in Mexico’s culture. Charlotte changed her name to the Spanish equivalent and was known as Empress Carlota. A humanitarian at heart, Maximilian could not help but notice the great disparity between the country’s rich and poor. To the great dismay of those who had put him in power, Maximilian supported the liberal social reforms set forth by President Benito Juarez.

The United States had been embroiled in its own civil war during the French occupation of Mexico. However, once this war was over, the United States made it clear that they recognized Benito Juarez as Mexico’s legitimate president and reminded France of the Monroe Doctrine. As a result, Napoleon III was successfully pressured to withdraw his troops from Mexico.

Without military support, the Maximilian monarchy was destined to fail. Empress Carlota returned to Europe to beg Napoleon III and the Pope to reconsider their decision. Her pleas fell on deaf ears and these futile attempts proved to be the downfall of Empress Carlota’s sanity. She lived out her life in Europe, in seclusion, never to see her husband again.

Maximilian was encouraged to flee for his life. He adamantly refused, fully committed to Mexico and her people. Maximilian had grown to love his adopted country and felt responsible for her future. Before long, Maximilian was captured and sentenced to death. Pleas came from around the world, imploring President Juarez to spare Maximilian’s life. These pleas were in vain. Maximilian was executed by a firing squad on June 19, 1867. A famous chapter in Mexico’s history had come to an end.

Maximilian I Emperor Of Mexico

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo

Diego Rivera was arguably one of the greatest Mexican painters of the 20th Century, and certainly the most well known. He is credited in modern times for reviving the art of painting frescos in Latin America and the United States, and was a leader in the Mexican mural movement.

Jose Diego Rivera Barrientos was born in Guanajuato on 8th December 1886. He had a twin brother, Jose Carlos, who died at eighteen months old, and a younger sister. When he was six, the family moved to Mexico City. Showing an early talent, Rivera received a scholarship to attend the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts but, after student riots, he was expelled. He was then granted a travel scholarship to study in Europe. He arrived in Spain in 1907, and then went to France. After arriving in France he met Angeline Beloff, who gave birth to his only son, Diego, in 1916.

Trotsky and Rivera

He participated in exhibitions for the Societe des Artistes Independants between 1910 and 1912, and in 1914 held his only solo exhibition in France. In 1919 his daughter Marika was born to Marevna Vorobieva, although he was still with Angeline. In 1920 he travelled to Italy to study renaissance art, and specifically frescos. The next year he finished with Angeline and went home to Mexico.

One of his first frescos in Mexico was a work at the National Preparatory School in 1922, at which time Frida Kahlo was a student there. He went on to paint a series of frescos for the Ministry of Education, and one at the National Agriculture School. Also in 1922 he married for the first time, Guadalupe Marin, with whom he had two more daughters, Lupe and Ruth.

He became politically more active in 1923, joining the Mexican communist party and also forming the Union of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors. The reason Rivera painted frescos was because he wanted to take paintings out of galleries and to share it with the people. He felt that art was something everyone could enjoy. Most often his frescos were images of the Mexican revolution, or his Marxist beliefs. In later years frescos in Mexico and the USA would cause outrage by stating that ‘God is dead’, criticizing the Holy Family, and prominently showing Lenin in his paintings.

In 1925 a painting he entered into the Pan American exhibition won a prize. This lead to further exhibitions and ultimately to commissions to paint murals for the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Rockefeller Centre, among other places. Eventually he fell out of favour, because he could or would not separate his painting from his politics. The mural painted at the Rockefeller Centre was removed because it showed Lenin, and the centre was picketed. He later recreated the mural in Mexico.

In 1927 Rivera travelled to the Soviet Union to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. When he returned to Mexico he split up with his wife and later that same year met Frida Kahlo. He married her in 1929, the same year he was made director of the Academy of San Carlos, from which he was expelled over twenty years before.

Famous Painting By Diego Rivera

His marriage to Frida Kahlo was tempestuous, both had affairs, and there were rumours of domestic violence. When Trotsky died after having an affair with Kahlo, both were investigated as suspects, although eventually cleared. They divorced but were unable to stay apart, remarrying and staying together until Frida’s death in 1954. After her death he married his agent at the age of 69. Mexico celebrated his 70th birthday in 1956. Diego Rivera died in 1957 of heart failure.

Painting By Diego Rivera

Frida Kahlo Painting

Frida Kahlo was born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon in Mexico City on 6th July 1907, although she often gave her date of birth as 1910. She was the daughter of a German-Jewish photographer father and a Mexican Catholic mother. At the age of six she was stricken with polio, which left her with a permanent weakness in her right leg. She grew up wanting to be a doctor, but a serious bus accident in 1925 destroyed that dream. She broke her pelvis, collarbone and several ribs. Her already weak right leg was fractured in eleven places. Kahlo needed more than thirty operations and spent so much time in bed that she taught herself to paint to combat the boredom.

Frida had first met her future husband, Diego Rivera, while she was a schoolgirl at the National Preparatory School – he had been commissioned to paint a mural in the auditorium. She showed him some of her early work and he encouraged her to continue painting. They married in 1929. After their marriage Kahlo travelled with Rivera across the United States and Mexico when he took commissions for his murals, but theirs was a tortured marriage, including rumours of domestic violence and adultery on both sides. One well founded rumour is that she had an affair with close friend and well known communist activist and writer Leon Trotsky. Both Kahlo and Rivera were investigated when Trotsky died under suspicious circumstances, although neither were charged. Frida and Diego divorced in 1940, but unable to be apart they remarried in 1941.

Also in 1940 she participated in the International Exhbition of Surrealism in Mexico City. In 1943 she was made a professor of painting at the School of Fine Arts. At the Annual National Exhibition at the Palace of Fine Arts in 1946 Frida won a prize.

She only held one full exhibition in Mexico, and that was in 1953. She was in poor health and her doctors advised her not to attend. She instead had herself taken to the gallery in an ambalance and set up a bed inside, where she held court. Later in 1953 her right leg had to be amputated, which left her suffering from depression. She died on 13th of July 1954. No autopsy was performed so it is hard to say what she died of, although possibly she took her own life, as she had attempted to end her life more than once before. After her death her house, now known as the Blue House, became the Frida Kahlo Museum.

Frida Kahlo used painting as an outlet for her feelings of anger and pain. She began painting after her terrible accident and continued throughout her torturous marriage. Frida expressed her own suffering, and the suffering, both physical and emotional, of all women, through her art.

Frida Kahlo And Diego Rivera On Their Wedding Day

Tecpan of Ocomo

The inhabitants of the village of Oconahua, Jalisco, have a secret. A thousand years ago, their pueblito, located 75 kilometers west of Guadalajara, was a grand city covering 500-600 hectares, and their ancestors ruled all of western Mexico from a magnificent edifice covering 15.6 square kilometers and today known as El Palacio de Ocomo.

Archeologist Phil Weigand, who has been studying and excavating ruins in western Mexico for most of his life, first suspected there was something archeologically significant in Oconahua over 50 years ago.

“My wife Acelia was born nearby and came to Oconahua as a child,” says Weigand. “In 1958, local people told us, ‘There used to be a building here called Ocomo’ and we were curious. We took a look and were impressed how monumental this site was. The ruins of this one building measure 125 by 125 meters and encompass some 50,000 cubic meters.”

The full impact of what he had found did not hit Weigand until seven years later when he first laid eyes on a copy of the Quinatzín Codex, a sixteenth-century pictorial document from Mexico originally written on paper made from the amate fig tree. The codex showed the plan of the  Palace Of Texococoin the Valley of Mexico. Such a palace is always a U-shaped, lavish, monumental building, also known as a tecpan. The codex was decorated with prehispanic glyphs as well as notes in Spanish. It shows the building full of people and describes what each one is doing. For example, it depicts King Quinatzín face to face with a Chichimeca, carrying on a conversation.

Weigand immediately realized that the ruins in Oconahua followed the same architectural plan as the tecpan shown in the codex, the only difference being that the Ocomo Palace was far older than the one at Texcoco, having been built between 500 and 1100 A.D. during several phases of construction. On the unusual size of Oconahua’s palace, Weigand says:

“The only tecpan bigger than this one may have been the Palace of Moctezuma, which they say measured 200 meters on each side, but this can’t be verified because it’s buried underneath the Zócalo in Mexico City and we can’t get at it. That makes El Palacio de Ocomo the largest visibletecpan to be found anywhere. It’s about the same size as the Palacio de Gobierno in Guadalajara, indicating the highly important nature of the building. The Ocomo Palace is so big that you could fit the Tzintzuntzan Palace (of the Purépecha kings) inside its courtyard.”

According to Dr. Frances Berdan, Professor of Anthropology at California State University, palaces like that of Ocomo were big buildings with high walls, an enormous courtyard, innumerable rooms, patios and many baths, with walls of stuccoed adobe or beautiful stones and everything sumptuously painted. Based on the comments of Hernán Cortés, we know that a tecpan was home for the local ruler and his wives and likewise served as a government meeting center, with maze-like corridors, meeting rooms for historians, philosophers and poets, a treasury, rooms filled with weapons and quarters for royal wives, children, servants, cooks and visitors. Cortés says the palace was bustling with crowds of people: 600 nobles every day in addition to hundreds of guards, laborers, artisans, entertainers, judges, plaintiffs, warriors and zookeepers. Says Dr. Berdan, “The palace was meant to impress and intimidate royal visitors, whether friendly allies or fierce enemies. It surely did.”

In its apogee, Oconahua probably had at least 8,000 inhabitants, whereas today it has less than 2000. Archeological evidence indicates there were many other buildings around the Ocomo Palace, including a pyramid where religious ceremonies took place. Unfortunately, the local church was built directly on top of the ruins of this pyramid (using the paving stones of the palace, by the way) so no investigation of the site can take place.

It seems every time a citizen of Oconahua digs a hole in his back yard, he finds some kind of treasure. The archeologists have been shown many such items, including a precious polychrome vessel and another container filled with semi-precious turquoise gemstones. The archeologists used a system called Neutron Activation to identify the origin of this turquoise and were amazed to find it came from Cerrillos, a town near Santa Fe, New Mexico, suggesting that Ocomo was indeed once a center for widespread business and commerce.

Exactly why the civilization of Teuchitlán fell, no one is quite sure. However, it is evident that a reorganization took place and the Palacio de Ocomo became the center of a new empire. The arrival of new technologies such as the bow and arrow and later metallurgy probably influenced this process. There is evidence in the tecpan that copper was being worked here and, before the arrival of the Spaniards, these people had discovered how to work iron, something the Aztecs in the Valley of Mexico knew nothing about.

Local legends say Oconahua had many stone stelae, each as tall as a person and topped with a feather head-dress. People say that a Franciscan appeared in the village in 1890 and was very upset about these large statues, calling them diabolical and insisting they be destroyed and thrown into a nearby arroyo. In the 1980’s the Weigands investigated this arroyo and indeed found fragments of the stelae. They noted that many local people keep pieces of these statues in their homes, even to this day.

When Phil and Acelia Weigand suggested initiating an excavation of the Ocomo Palace, municipal authorities in Etzatlán put up strong resistance, claiming there was nothing of archeological importance in Ocanahua. In fact, it was only in 2007 that a team of archeologists under the direction of Monte Smith Márquez, were given permission to begin the job, financed by the Jalisco Secretariat of Culture. Márquez and the other excavators are former students of Weigand at the Colegio de Michoacán.

Today the excavations are well underway and you can watch the archeologists slowly liberating the well-preserved foundations of the ancient tecpan. They now know that its core is made of adobe, faced with either stone and plaster on the outside or finished cantera on the inside. If you visit the site, be sure to stop at the plaza in Oconahua to see an artist’s conception of this monumental building. “The scale model is a bit imaginative,” says Weigand, “but it gives a good idea of what the magnificent Palacio de Ocomo must have looked like.”

How to get there

Take highway 15 west out of Guadalajara and follow the signs for Ameca. After passing the large sugar refinery at Tala, turn right onto the road to Teuchitlán and Etzatlán. Turn left toward Oconahua when you are 6.4 kilometers past Etzatlán. The little town is just four kilometers to the south. Two blocks after entering the town (on Matamoros Street) turn right onto Hidalgo and, just before the plaza, right again onto Independencia. Go four blocks and you will be very close to the ruins (located at 13 Q 587007 2294210, UTM coordinates, WGS84 datum). If in doubt, ask anyone in Oconahua for El Palacio de Ocomo. by  John Pint © 2009

Ocomo Palace Excavations John Pint

Mexicos Last Prince

Wow! What a story! In 1864 the Archduke Maximilian von Habsburg, accompanied by his ambitious and beautiful wife Charlotte, arrives in Mexico City. Louis Napoleon had previously sent thousands of French troops to the financially and politically unstable country. Even though Mexico is ruled by a democratically elected president, Benito Juárez, Maximilian is installed as Emperor of Mexico. Juárez must go into hiding.

Maximilian was brother to the powerful Kaiser Franz Joseph (head of the house of Habsburg) and Maximilian’s wife Charlotte was the daughter of the powerful King Leopold of the Belgians; she was also first cousin of Queen Victoria of England, and she was granddaughter of King Louis-Philippe of France. At “the hard, unripe age of twenty-three,” Charlotte gloried in pomp. Even though Charlotte “was not his first love…he would trust his life to her.” For her sake Maximilian accepted the throne of Mexico. Charlotte was also childless.

This is a true story.

Angelo de Iturbide was the son of Mexico’s first emperor, Augustín de Iturbide. Augustín Iturbide, who had been a hero in the revolution from Spain, had, following that successful revolution, declared himself emperor. Forced to abdicate and to go into exile (in Europe, of course), he “very improvidently returned” shortly to find himself facing a Mexican firing squad). His son Angelo had been serving in Washington, D.C. as a Mexican diplomat, and Angelo decided the time was right to return to Mexico City, bringing with him his American wife Alice Green and their two-year old son, Prince Agustín de Iturbide, named after his grandfather, the first emperor.

What better choice as Heir Presumptive than this young prince who carried the blood of Mexico’s first emperor. Almost immediately after Maximilian and his barren wife Charlotte took custody of the Prince, the boy’s father and mother began to regret their complicity and began what became international efforts to regain their child.

C.M. Mayo, a name familiar to many readers of MexConnect, was invited some years ago to a lunch in Mexico City, and “There in the dining room was an unusually handsome antique portrait of a youth.” The youth was Agustín de Iturbide y Green, “the prince of Mexico.” A few months later Mayo was reading Jasper Ridley’s Maximilian and Juárez when she came upon a chapter titled “Alice Iturbide.” Mayo writes, “My surprise at finding my own countrywoman, long ago at the apex of this Mexican aristocracy – both antagonist and victim, motivated and blinded by who knew what medley of ambition, avarice, love, borrowed patriotism or naïveté – so intrigued me I knew at once I wanted to explore and expand the story into a novel, “getting the facts as straight as possible but also, and this was the most interesting to me, telling an emotional truth.”

Then began her research in earnest, reading the main works on the period, discovering that “the rise and fall of the Second Empire, Carlota’s descent into madness and Maximilian’s last days and execution, have been told and retold in movies, TV series, documentaries, as well as plays, operas, epic poems, and novels – but never, apart from a couple of problematic articles, has the story of the little prince been told on its own. She also discovered original documents in historical archives in both Mexico and the United States, even including “several letters from Angel de Iturbide, anxiously requesting that he and his family be permitted to return to Mexico.”

By the time Mayo had the cast (a large one) of characters in place, she also had dramatically deepened her understanding of the political and cultural history of Mexico, and broadened her knowledge of the details of daily life in mid-19th century Mexico, even such details as what was served at the lavish dinners in the homes of the Mexican aristocracy: “Cream white trout on a bed of pickled lime-skins, sweetly mild poblano chiles stuffed with sautéed walnuts and minced beef and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, and duck, and goose, and quail, pheasant in butter-nutmeg sauce with crisp diced peppers.”

I have read a few sweeping historical novels that have remain inside of me forever. Tolstoy’s War and Peace is one of those, Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities is another, Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago is another, and now The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire is another.