This book uses key words in the Mexican language as gateways to the cultural and historical elements that created the unique character and personality of Mexicans—the good and the bad—and made Mexico one of the most fascinating countries in the world, part Western and part Oriental.
The introduction provides a scathing review of the evils perpetrated on the 25 million original Indian inhabitants of Mexico by the Spanish administrators in an unholy alliance with the Catholic Church.
The Spanish government in league with the Church promoted the policy of Spanish men breeding with as many Indian girls and women as possible to produce a new race of people. By the end of the first generation of mixed-bloods resulting from this policy the mixtures were treated as outcasts, forbidden to own or ride horses, to appear in the center of cities or to engage in any profession,
Within the first 100 years following the arrival of the Spaniards in Mexico the Indian population had fallen to around 1 million as a result of European diseases and and harsh slave-labor conditions that disrupted families and killed hundreds of thousands men. [It is now about 8 million.]
Virtually total discrimination against the growing mixed-blood population of Mexico prevailed for almost 200 years…following which many of the Mixtures moved into the northern regions of the country, becoming cattle ranchers, cowboys and bandits. But by the early 1900s the number of mixed-bloods exceeded that of the Spaniards and they began to come into their own.
Despite the inhumane conditions perpetrated by the Spanish Administrators and the Church for over 300 years on the mixtures and surviving Indians the mainstream culture that finally evolved from this incredible situation included deeply embedded institutions of arts, crafts, dancing, music, singing that have since distinguished the Mexican people and made Mexico unique in the world. As the Mexicans themselves say, Como Mexico no hay dos! – There is no other place like Mexico!
This is a valuable handbook for businesspeople, educators, students and travelers. To order a printed copy [$14.95], click on Amazon.com. To order an ebook copy [$4.95], click on this Amazon.com.
When the traditional Japanese way of doing business began to fail in the late 1980s, putting the brakes on the economic juggernaut that had made the country the second largest economy in the world in just 20 years following the end of World War II, Japanese businesspeople began to adopt selected Western practices. This process was speeded up in the 1990s when competition from South Korea, Taiwan and China became an even greater threat, resulting in a hybrid business system that continues to evolve today.
