Category: Rosarie Salerno

The Pre-Columbian natives of Mexico were mining gold, silver and other minerals long before the Spanish arrived at the New World in 1492. It was not long after the Spanish arrived that they began enslaving the indigenous people...

The areas surrounding Lake Titicaca in the Andes Mountains of South America, near the border of Peru and Bolivia, can trace the domestication of the potato back 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. The lake, with an elevation of 12,500...

August 10, 1644–March 15, 1711 Within 50 years of Columbus’s discovery of the Americas, Spanish Conquistadors overpowered the Native people and their lands. After their conquest, Spain’s aim was to make taxpaying citizens out of...

1651 – 1695 Have you ever wondered who the woman was on the green 200 Peso note? Why is there a picture of a nun? Sor Juana Inés, best known as a poet, is also honored as a scientist, musician, song writer, playwright,...

La Malinche was born circa 1500 CE, the exact date of her birth or death, 1527 (?), is not known for sure. She was born to a nobleman in Oluta, a city in the eastern edge of the Veracruz region of Mexico, on the commemorative...

There is a long history associated with the flags of Mexico. Starting with Columbus and after him the Conquistadors, the Spanish Royal Standard flag was used to represent the King of Spain. About 1785 Charles III chose the...

Spain wanted to expand its borders past the Rio Bravo, today known as the Rio Grande, but did not have much success. For the most part the area north of the river was inhabited by hostile Indians and the terrain was vast and...

The name of the spice known as clove, comes from the French word, clou, meaning nail. Cloves are aromatic dried flower buds from an evergreen tree native to the Maluku Islands located in Indonesia, historically referred to as...

It may sound morbid to the non-Mexican, but the Day of the Dead is a Mexican festival for relatives and friends to come together and celebrate the memory of their loved ones who have passed away. It is believed that on the Day...

Like Water for Chocolate Based upon evidence derived from chemical analysis of the residues found in pottery vessels of Mesoamericans, the drinking of chocolate beverages dates back to at least 3,500 years ago. The Olmecs were...

Have you ever asked yourself what was the opportunistic motivation for Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, in 1492 CE, to fund Christopher Columbus’ ocean voyage to the west? In one word “spices”; the most valuable...

Besides pepper and cloves there was a third spice that helped usher in the discovery of the Americas and an alternate route to the East that previously had only been accessible by a long overland journey on the Silk Road;...