por What is the porfiriato?
The Porfiriato is the name of the historical period of Mexico during which Porfirio Díaz ruled, from 1876 to 1911. Within this stage there were four years, from 1880 to 1884, in which the president was Manuel González, although historians agree that it was Diaz who ran the government.
Porfirio Díaz was a soldier and politician who managed to achieve power after rising up against the government of Lerdo de Tejada. Despite the fact that before gaining power he advocated no re-election, he later managed to perpetuate himself in power.
In fact, his departure from power was not voluntary, but the result of an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero, considered the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. His management was marked by ups and downs and chiaroscuro.
On the positive side, the country’s economic recovery, industrialization and infrastructure modernization. On the negative side, the improvements did not include the people, corruption, authoritarianism, and political repression that led to several massacres.
Origin of the Porfiriato
Porfirio Díaz was born in Oaxaca de Juárez in 1830 and, before becoming president, he stood out for his military work.
His participation in the Second French Intervention, especially with the creation of guerrillas that fought the Europeans in the state of Oaxaca, made him well known in the country. He was also one of the protagonists of the recovery of Mexico City.
However, the prestige gained did not help him win the presidential elections, which he ran for before taking power. These defeats made him take up arms twice against the elected governments.
1867 election
The fall of Emperor Maximilian made Mexico recover its full sovereignty, without outside interference. Benito Juárez held the presidency after the imperial defeat.
The following elections were called in 1867. Porfirio Díaz decided to run against Juárez, but he won by a large majority. The defeat affected the military, who left political life for a while.
La Noria plan
In the 1871 elections, Díaz decided to run again. Again, Benito Juárez was his rival and this duo was joined by a new opponent: Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. The result was once again favorable to Juárez, leaving Díaz in second position.
On this occasion, Díaz did not accept the results and began to recruit supporters, especially among the hacendados in his home state. On November 8 of that same year he proclaimed the so-called Plan de La Noria, with which he urged the Mexican military to overthrow Juárez.
At first the rebels advanced very quickly, but then the defeats began.
extraordinary elections
When Díaz’s defeat seemed inevitable, Benito Juárez was killed. Lerdo de Tejada assumed the presidency provisionally and Díaz laid down his arms as there was no longer much point in continuing the fight.
In this way, new elections were called in October 1872. Díaz and Lerdo faced off at the polls, the latter being the winner.
The Tuxtepec Revolution
History repeated itself in the 1876 elections. Lerdo de Tejada announced his candidacy, as did Porfirio Díaz. At the same time, supporters of Díaz began to demonstrate against Lerdo, but were brutally repressed.
This repression caused Díaz to rise up in arms again in January 1876. Many soldiers and the Catholic Church this time supported the so-called Tuxtepec Revolution.
After almost a year of civil war, the Porfirian side entered the Mexican capital in November. On the 21st of that month he became interim president. On May 5, 1877, and after having finally won an election, Díaz became president of Mexico.
history of the porfiriato
First presidential term (1877-1880)
During this first period in the presidency, the politician made an effort to pacify the country. His motto was «order, peace and justice.» To achieve this goal, he managed to get Congress to give him extraordinary powers and used the army to put an end to the caciques.
He replaced numerous military leaders with others he trusted, to end possible rebellions. In just one year, the measures took effect and the country was pacified.
Presidency of Manuel González (1880-1884)
Although in the legislature that lasted from 1880 to 1884, the president of the country was Manuel González, the truth is that it was Díaz who continued to lead the government.
The highlight during his tenure was the large investment in infrastructure aimed at modernizing the country. Thus, the government promoted the implementation of the railway, as well as the telegraph. In the economic field, the creation of two large banks stands out, which later merged to form the Banco Nacional de México.
Faced with these aspects, González had to deal with continuous accusations of corruption and a revolution almost broke out against him. Díaz intervened and saved the situation.
25 years of Porfiriato (1884-1911)
Díaz recovered the presidency after González’s interval, in 1884, and would not leave the post until 1911.
At first, the economic news brought great joy to the government and helped maintain peace and stability. The infrastructures continued to grow and mining and agricultural production were promoted.
However, discontent was growing. Díaz’s authoritarianism and the inequality in the distribution of the wealth generated turned a good part of the population against him. The actions of the army in the strikes of Cananea and Río Blanco spread the discontent.
To this must be added the effects of the international economic crisis that arose in 1907, which also affected Mexico. In 1910 the Mexican Revolution broke out and, after defeating Díaz’s supporters, the Porfiriato ended.
Main characteristics of the Porfiriato
Arts
During the Porfiriato there was a boom in the various areas of artistic expression, and in general, these can be divided into two periods within the Porfiriato. During the first period, from 1876 to 1888, the inclination was towards nationalism, and later, from 1888 to 1911, the tendency was a preference towards French culture.
Literature, painting and theater were the main arts produced during the Porfiriato. Thus, in literature they had great influence from the modernist Rubén Darío, and a large part of the writers leaned towards a marked sentimentality.
In the visual arts, the painter José María Velasco stood out, who was mostly a landscape painter, portraying the Valley of Mexico, haciendas, volcanoes and characters from Mexican society, as well as Oaxaca provincial scenes.
Two tendencies arose in the theater, one cultured and the other popular, both characterized by socioeconomic conditions.
Education
During the Porfiriato, special importance was given to history, and it was a means to achieve national unity. The philosophy that encouraged them was the positivist one, very much in vogue at the time.
The exhibition of pre-Hispanic monoliths in the national museum was inaugurated in 1887. In addition, in 1901, the secretary of public instruction Justo Sierra created the departments of ethnography and archeology in the museum.
In 1904 the Mexican School of Archaeology, History and Ethnography was presented, with samples of pre-Hispanic culture to the world.
By 1891, the Education Regulations Law was promulgated, which established education as secular, free and compulsory. In turn, to control that parents and guardians comply with the obligation to take children to school, Vigilance Committees were established.
On May 26, 1900, the law creating the National University of Mexico (currently UNAM) was promulgated. In this way, the schools of Medicine, Engineering and Jurisprudence, which had operated separately for more than 40 years, were brought together, together with the National Preparatory School, in a single institution.
The Catholic Church
During the Three Years’ War (1858-1861) in Mexico, a set of laws were issued, known as the reform laws, whose objective was to separate the church from the government.
However, the Catholic Church recovered much of the power lost with these laws. Porfirio Díaz declared himself a Catholic, and restored privileges to the church.
Under Porfirio Díaz, the Catholic Church continued to collect tithes. This practice affected small landowners, since the church received seeds as a tithe from indigenous people and the small landowners themselves.
Thus, the church sold the seeds at low prices, the buyers preferring their prices to those of the producers.
Economy
When Porfirio Díaz came to power, he inherited considerable debts, national and foreign, as well as a bankrupt public treasury. For this reason, the finance ministers took actions to fix finances, among which are: creation of new taxes that did not hinder trade, greater control of income or reduction of public spending, among others.
The administration of the country’s resources was done with public and private participation. In 1882 the Banco Nacional de México emerged as a result of the union of the Banco Mercantil Mexicano and the Banco Nacional Mexicano.
This bank collected taxes, was in charge of the General Treasury and granted loans to the government. The objective was for Mexico to enter the international economy as an exporter of agricultural or mineral products.
Mexico became a major exporter of raw materials and the first Industrial Revolution took place in the country.
Maritime and port activity
Between 1884 and 1889, the navy was in a deplorable state. In 1897 the Military Naval School was inaugurated, which prepared officers for the Navy. The companies Transatlántica Mexicana, the Mexicana de Navegación and the Naviera del Pacífico were also created.
Due to the increase in maritime traffic, other ports such as Veracruz, Manzanillo, Tampico, among others, were conditioned. During the Díaz government, the work in the maritime and port sector was carried out continuously.
Various lighthouses were built on the Mexican coast, the best location for the port of Campeche was studied, and improvements were made to the port of Manzanillo.
Society
The main characteristic of Mexican society during the Porfiriato was the deep social inequality. Economic stability was achieved, but at the cost of leaving a good part of the population behind and the suppression of freedoms.
On the one hand, Mexico City was consolidated as the cultural and political center of the country. Great architectural works appeared and high society enjoyed culture.
But the workers never noticed the economic improvement. Labor exploitation was the norm, and what they earned was not enough.
Indigenous peoples also saw their rights diminished. Part of their lands were taken from them and sold to foreign capital.
Repression and authoritarianism
Violent repression was widely used,…