In the heart of an ancient Aztec jungle, where vibrant colored plants collided with the rolling fields of wildflowers, a young girl named Chantico and her family journeyed to the bustling city of Tenochtitlan. The air hummed with the whispers of a thousand stories as they treaded the well-worn path, their woven baskets filled with treasures – shells, quetzal feathers, turquoise, cacao, obsidian, and jade. The journey was more than a physical journey; it was a dance with nature, a story of Aztec life interwoven with tales of gods and heroes. Amidst the music of rustling leaves and distant calls of exotic birds, Chantico’s family moved forward, guided by the rhythm of the earth and the legacy of their people.

Chantico and her family were from the coastal city of Tlapallan. They were traders, which means they gathered goods and moved them to different cities to sale for a profit. This is how they survived. They were ancient Aztecs in what is now modern day Mexico and worked hard to move their goods whatever the task required. Chantico thought back about their preparations the day before. 

As the sun rose over Tlapallan, her family had gathered their goods and set out on their journey. The salty breeze from the nearby ocean whispered on the wind and seemed to bid them farewell. Chantico’s father carried a woven basket filled with shells, a reminder of their coastal home. Her mother wore a headdress decorated with quetzal feathers, a symbol of honor and prestige.

The road to Tenochtitlan led them through many environments. At first, the sandy shores gave way to vibrant jungles with towering ceiba trees. The family marveled at the intricate web of life around them, from the calls of tropical birds to the rustle of unseen creatures in the underbrush. Chantico’s younger brother, Tlalli, pointed excitedly at the colorful feathers of quetzal birds, their feathers shimmering like precious green and blue gems.

Along the path, they met other traders from nearby villages. Beneath the shade of giant agave plants, they exchanged goods and shared stories and advice, which roads were best, which ones they should avoid. One man let them know the rain had washed out one of the most popular roads, so they should detour lightly. Another family let them know bandits were waiting on a different road. 

While trading goods, Chantico’s family proudly displayed their shells and traded them for cacao beans, which could be made into a delicious chocolate drink. They could also be traded for good money once they reached the city. Around them, the air was thick with the sweet scent of blooming flowers, and the ground beneath their feet was a carpet of colorful petals.

After taking a long rest, drink water from a stream, and eating some meat and vegetables, Chontico and her family packed up and continued along the road. They climbed higher into the mountains. It was hard work, but they encouraged each other. Their legs and lungs were strong from many journeys. As they climbed higher into the hills, they looked out over thick jungle canopy and majestic mountains in the distance. 

Chontico’s clothes were woven from maguey fibers and kept them cool in the warm climate. Her mother wore a skirt adorned with intricate patterns representing the cycles of life, and her father’s shirt was decorated symbols of the sun, a nod to the Aztec belief in the sun god’s protective power. Tlalli, with eyes wide in wonder, wore a small pendant of turquoise around his neck.

As the day turned to dusk, the family decided to camp for the night. A fire was kindled, casting a warm glow on their faces as they settled down, still breathing heavy from the day’s journey. Everyone drank from the gourd of water, passing it around. Around the crackling flames, they feasted on roasted deer meat, flavored with herbs gathered along the way. The rich smells of cacao filled the air as they tasted the precious beans. It reminded them of the other smells and treasures that awaited in Tenochotitlan.

Underneath the glittering sky of stars, the children laid their heads on their parents laps as Chantico’s grandmother began to tell a story:

“Once, in the ancient land of the Aztecs,” she said, “there lived a mischievous god named Tlaloc. Tlaloc had a special job – he was the god of rain. His responsibility was to make sure the earth received the water it needed to flourish. But Tlaloc had a playful side, and he loved to explore the world in disguise.

“One sunny day,” grandmother said, “Tlaloc decided to visit a small village and transformed into a butterfly. As he fluttered through the village, the children couldn’t help but be enchanted by the dazzling display of colors.

Tlaloc, in his butterfly form, soon made friends with a group of children playing by the river. They giggled with delight as he danced around them. The children named him “Ahuizotl,” meaning “joyful one,” because he brought happiness wherever he went.

As the day went on, the villagers noticed something extraordinary happening. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and a gentle rain began to fall. The villagers danced and celebrated in its refreshing embrace.

The children, unaware that their newfound friend was the mischievous rain god Tlaloc, continued to play by the river. Tlaloc, still in his butterfly form, joined them in their games. 

As the sun dipped below the horizon, Tlaloc revealed his true identity to the children. His butterfly form transformed into the god of rain, and a soft drizzle surrounded them. The children gasped in amazement, realizing they had spent the day with a divine visitor, an Aztec god.

Tlaloc chuckled at their surprise and explained his role as the bringer of rain. He thanked the children for their joyful company and promised to return, bringing rain to their village when the earth thirsted for water.

From that day forward, the children in the village eagerly awaited the return of Ahuizotl, the joyful butterfly who brought not only laughter but also the gift of rain.”

Chantico smiled and became sleepy during her grandmother’s story. She loved hearing her grandmother’s soothing voice. As she lay beneath the starry sky, Chantico felt a profound sense of belonging. Wrapped in blankets woven with care, she drifted into dreams of butterfly gods and filled with the promise of a new day.

When the sun rose, Chantico and her family continued their journey to Tenochtitlan. As they followed the road over the final hill, the sprawling city emerged on the horizon. In the distance, they could see the step pyramid stretching into the sky. Canals crisscrossed the gigantic city, which was surrounded by bright blue water. 

They followed a road into the city, surrounded by water on both sides. In the city, Chantico marveled at the tall stone buildings, decorated with intricate carvings of their gods and other stories of the Aztec people. All around, the vibrant colors of the city people’s clothing and the glint of precious stones in their necklaces and headpieces reflected the richness of their culture. The animals were even decorated in beautiful clothing and gems. It was more color than Chantico had ever seen. 

Finally, they reached the busy markets of Tenochtitlan. All around them were the latest fashions, clothing, headpieces, jewelry. And the food markets were rich with the smells of new spices, warm tortillas, corn cakes, colorful squash, brown, gold, and orange maize, and spiced beans.

Chantico’s family eventually found other traders they knew and began setting up shop to trade their treasures – shells from the sea that she had gathered, quetzal feathers, turquoise, cacao, obsidian, and jade. She helped her father sort out the goods and lay them out on tables. He did his best to get a good price for everything they had worked so hard to bring with them and by the end of the day his bag was heavy with gold pieces carved with the intricate designs of the Aztec gods. 

Together, they explored the market and bought cornmeal and spiced beans and tortillas, along with some of the tools they needed at home for farming, hunting, and gathering, and a few bowls for meal times. Chantico’s father bought her mother a jeweled necklace and she a doll made of wood with a beautiful red dress. Her brother got a wooden sword, which he swung about playfully. They found a place on the top of a tall building to settle in and eat and rest from the day’s labors.

As the day drew to a close, Chantico looked out over the grand city, marveling at the step temple stretching high above them. It was a hard journey and not easy most of the way, but she was grateful for city and roads and progress that gave them good things to eat and enjoy. She also thought of the stories and legends and symbols that connected her to the heart of the Aztec empire: the people and culture she was proud of.  The road back to Tlapallan would be filled with the memories of jungles, animals, and starlit nights. With each step, Chantico carried the strength and life of the Aztec people, a flame that would light the path for generations to come.

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The first group of people believed to live in the Caribbean islands was the Ciboneys, who came there nearly 4 or 5 thousand years ago. 

Later, the Tainos and the Caribs were two groups of people who lived on the islands. They had come from the Americas thousands of years before. The Caribs were a warrior tribe and wore their hair black and long. They dressed in feathers and necklaces made of their victim’s teeth and painted their bodies red. They fished and hunted to eat and lived in thatched shelters. At one point the Caribs began forcing the Tainos off of the islands.

The Carib people were generally more peaceful and were farmers who cultivated “yucca” and sweet potatoes. They were also excellent hunters using bows and arrows to shoot their prey. 

The Caribbean was discovered by Europeans when Christopher Columbus was in 1492 in search of a new trade route to the east. He landed in the Bahamas and named the island San Salvador. He thought he had found the spice islands of the West Indies and because of his mistake Spain named them as such and they have the same name today. 

When Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas the people living there, also called indigenous peoples, he called “Indians.” They were made up of the Caribs and the Tainos (or Arawaks). Queen Isabella of Spain did not allow the enslavement of these some of these people, but it happened anyway. 

The first settlement by Spain was in Hispaniola in 1493. Their main interest in the islands was gold and mining other precious metals, and here the Spanish built fortresses to protect what they considered to be their property. For this reason, other European countries were not able to settle in these areas, but instead took some of the settlements where the Spanish weren’t as strong. For example, the British colonized Barbados and the French took Martinique and Guadeloupe, and the Dutch controlled Aruban, St. Maarten, and a few other islands in the 1600s. Sadly, most of the native people living on these islands were forced into slavery to work for the settlers and eventually died off because of diseases and how they were treated.

Soon it was found that the Caribbean islands were perfect for farming sugar, so sugar plantations began to be very popular. But because the native people had died off, there were no longer slaves to farm the land. For this reason, slavers moved to Africa and started kidnapping the people there and forcing them into slavery in the Caribbean. Over 10 million African slaves were taken by boat to the Caribbean to be slaves on the sugar plantations! They were packed so tightly into the ships often 12 percent of them died along the way. Once arriving on the islands they were auctioned off and traded. Because of how cruelly they were treated, many of these slaves escaped or led revolts and started their own communities away from the plantations. To this day many of the people living on the islands are descendants of these slaves. In the 1800s slavery was also outlawed by the British and eventually the French and Dutch and Spanish. The cost of producing sugar also grew, so there was a decline in production at this time.

In 1789 slaves led by Toussaint Louverture revolted and took control of their own country of Haiti which later became independent of France in 1804. After Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba also became independent along with Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. 

The Caribbean is also known for its history of pirates. In the early 1600s pirates made their homes on many of the islands. Many of them raised cattle and traded them, which is where the name “buccaneers” comes from because they cured the meat in ovens called “boucans.” They lived in small clans and were made up of many different backgrounds. Many found their home base in Tortuga, off the coast of Haiti. From here they ventured out and attacked ships to steal their goods. 

Today, the Caribbean is more civilized and has become a tourist destination for people all over the world. It has large hotels and caters to visitors who want to come to spend time on the beaches, enjoy the warm, crystal blue water, and do other water activities such as snorkeling and scuba diving. The Caribbean is also known as a prime destination for cruise ships that are constantly docking to unload tourists to enjoy the beautiful tropical weather and scenery of the islands.

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Shortest Path from Europe to Asia

In the 1500s explorers were trying to find a faster way to get from Europe to East Asia. Columbus thought he’d found the way when he ran into America, but it turns out you have to go all the way around the American continent in order to travel from Europe to Asia. If you look at the American continent you realize that there is a very skinny section of land near the middle, which came to be known as the Isthmus of Panama. An isthmus is a skinny section of land. Explorers thought if they could find a river going from the East side of America to the West, this would be another way they could go through America without having to sail all the way around the bottom. To find a route like this would save many, many days at sea. But unfortunately, no such easy route was found. The isthmus had many mountains and thick jungles, so ships would have to continue sailing all the way around the bottom of the American continent.

One way to get from the East side of America to the West would be to build a canal. A canal is a man-made passage through land that has to be dug out. You may have canals near your home, but this would be a much bigger canal! One such canal called the Suez Canal had been dug in Egypt to connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean. It was a huge effort and took 10 years, but the engineer who made it possible thought he might do the same in Panama. His name was Count Ferdinand Von Lesseps. 

Ferdinand Von Lesseps

Ferdinand and his team traveled to Panama and started preparing to dig, but soon realized how difficult it would be. First of all, the stretch of land from East to West is 50 miles, which is incredibly long. Can you imagine digging a 50-mile-long canal? But the biggest problem was the continuous rain and worst of all, the mosquitos! Have you ever been bitten by a mosquito? It’s annoying and a little painful, right? Well, that was only half the problem with the mosquitos in Panama. The real problem is that they carry diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. So with the rain causing mudslides and the mosquitoes spreading diseases, Ferdinand did not see a way that a sea-level canal could be built. 

Fortunately, there is more than one type of canal. One is a sea-level canal where they dig all the way down to sea level, which means the point where the sea meets the land. The other option is a lock canal. A lock canal is pretty amazing and we’ll learn more about it in a minute. Ferdinand believed they could still build it using a lock canal, but unfortunately, the people paying for the canal changed their mind and in 1888 he and his team had to return back to France.

Teddy Roosevelt

Years later the United States and President Teddy Roosevelt started to take interest in the construction of a canal across the isthmus. At this time the United States was beginning to grow in influence and Roosevelt saw this as a way to do something big and amazing and to make it much faster to ship goods between the East and West coasts of the country. Many businesses were also interested in making the canal work. 

In 1902 the United States paid $40 million dollars to take over what the French had started, but their plans were cut short when the Colombian government decided to not let them build the canal. As you can imagine Teddy Roosevelt and the businesses backing him up were not happy. At the same time, Panamanians who lived in the area wanted to break away from Colombia. The company behind the building of the canal called the Panama Canal Company definitely helped the rebellion along to make sure the new government would let them build the canal. They, with the support of President Roosevelt and the U.S. military, helped the rebels defeat the Colombian army, so they could have their own country, which would become Panama. For example, the U.S. sent a warship to make sure the Colombians didn’t win.

U.S. Purchases the Land

With Panama in control over the land where the canal would be built, the U.S. then bought the land from Panama for $10 million and promised to pay them $250,000 a year afterward. This was called the Hay-Banau-Varilla Treaty after U.S. Secretary of State John Hay. The treaty was a big success for the United States but afterward made the people of Panama wonder if they should have given up their land to a foreign country.

Immediately, the Panama Canal Company got to work yet again trying to construct a sea-level canal. They didn’t learn from the mistakes of Ferdinand and France and ran into many of the same problems, such as diseases spread by mosquitoes.

John Stevens

In 1905 an engineer named John Stevens took over the project. He decided to hire workers from West India, ordered new equipment, and devised better ways to use the railroad to cart off the dirt. He saw the same problems as the French with rain and landslides, decided a lock canal would be the best way to do it, and convinced President Roosevelt to use one instead.

Lock Canals Explained

The amazing thing about a lock canal is that it doesn’t require a canal to be dug all the way down to sea level, instead, it lifts the boat up over the land by forcing the water to rise. This can be hard to describe using words alone, so be sure to check out a video about it, but picture a huge ship moving between different areas of the canal, gates closing on each section of the canal, and water being flooded into each new area so the boat is lifted high enough to move into the next section. It’s a pretty amazing feat of engineering and was going to be the best way to make the Panama Canal work. 

The other problem to be solved was removing the mosquitos so people stopped dying from malaria and yellow fever. Dr. William Gorgas realized that it was the mosquitos carrying the disease, so he undertook a huge effort to eliminate mosquitoes in the area. He cleaned out pools of water where mosquitoes bred and used chemicals to remove them from people’s homes. Yellow fever ended entirely and after his efforts, very few people contracted malaria. 

George Washington Goethals

By 1906 a new engineer Lt. Col. George Washington Goethals was running the Panama Canal project. One of the most difficult areas of the canal digging was the Culebra Cut, a large mountain range that would need to be dug away. Can you imagine digging away a mountain? The workers used dynamite to blast away at the rock and this work became extremely dangerous as explosions caused landslides. 

Most days 6,000 workers were busy digging and blasting away at the mountain to clear the 9 miles of the mountain range. Fortunately, they had some of the newest equipment for excavating such as enormous steam-powered cranes, steam shovels, hydraulic rock crushers, and pneumatic power drills. Without these updated technologies building the canal would have taken much longer. 

Gatun Lake

Another important part of constructing the Panama Canal was using Gatun Lake to fill the locks. Remember, in order to move a ship up through the locks it had to be filled with water. That would require a lot of water! To do this they would open a canal to the lake and let gravity pull the water into the lock and lift the ship. One of the reasons they had to blast their way through the mountain range was to get access to Gatun Lake. 

One of the final projects building the canal was constructing the locks, which involved pouring concrete and building the gates. Each of the 3 sets of locks was 110 feet wide by 1,000 feet long. It would take 8 minutes for each lock to fill with water to raise it or lower it to the height it needs to move the ship through the canal and 8 to 10 hours to move through the entire canal from ocean to ocean. This might seem like a lot of hours to you, but then remember that it shortened the trip from New York to San Francisco by 8,000 miles and 67 days! That is a major improvement! 

In 1913 two steam shovels digging from opposite directions met in the middle completing the canal, and in October the President at the time, Woodrow Wilson sent a telegram giving the final order to explode the Gamboa Dike, which flooded the dry canal to allow ships to pass through. 

Opening Day

The Panama Canal officially opened on August 15, 1914. It cost nearly $350 million to build and was the most expensive construction project in U.S. history up to that point. Around 56,000 workers were involved in its construction and around 5,600 lost their lives due to the dangerous circumstances.

Panama Canal Authority

Later in 1977 President Jimmy Carter turned full control of the canal over to the Panama Canal Authority and the Panamanian government. Around 14,000 ships now pass through the Panama Canal every year saving them thousands of miles if they had to go around the end of South America. And of course, it costs to take a ship through the canal, an average $150,000 dollars, which makes sense because most of them are transporting goods to sell and it saves them lots of money for the shortcut. The most expensive ship to go through the Panama Canal was $450,000 due to its size and the lowest toll paid was 36 cents paid by a man named Richard Halliburton who wanted to swim through the canals! Of course, anyone can visit the canal today by cruise ship. 

I hope you enjoyed learning about the Panama Canal. I’m amazed by the people who designed and built it. Today we have their sacrifices to be grateful for!

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Do you live in a big city? Or do you live in a small town? Or do you live far away from everyone else? I grew up in a medium-sized town, but it always fascinates me to visit big cities. It’s amazing to see a city be able to function with so many people in such a small area. For example, if you visit one of the biggest cities in the United States like New York, many people live and work in skyscrapers, which reach very high into the sky. They do this so more people can fit within a small geographical area. And usually, everything you need to survive such as grocery stores is nearby. If you grew up in a small town, you may have lots of space but also have to drive a little further for groceries.

Before Cities

Have you ever wondered how big cities came to be? Throughout human history, cities didn’t always exist. If you were to travel back into history 10,000 years ago most people lived in small tribes or communities and either hunted and gathered or farmed a small area of land. Even for many years before farming early humans moved often, hunting animals for or gathering nuts and seeds, and berries for survival. It was a pretty hard life! They were always on the move because once the animals and other food in the area were gone, they had to be on their way. They lived in shelters or caves and did whatever they could to just barely get by. It’s hard to imagine, but humans lived this way for a VERY, VERY long time. Just think about that a moment and then think of where we are today. How did that change happen? It has taken about 12,000 years. Big changes in history often take time.

Early Farming

But eventually, these humans who hunted and gathered food for a living figured out ways to plant seeds to grow their own food! It seems obvious how to go about it today but it wasn’t for them. But once they did figure this out, instead of always having to move they could stay in one place and plant wheat and harvest it, which means to cut it down, then turn it into something like bread to eat. They also figured out new ways of watering their crops using irrigation. Irrigation is digging a ditch from a stream or river to their farms. Domesticating animals was another way they survived. Domesticating means to keep animals in an enclosed area and grow the group of animals so they didn’t have to hunt them. Animals such as goats, pigs, and cows were domesticated. So over time some humans moved less and were able to live in small towns living off their farms and animals in the same place. This is often called the Neolithic Age, which means New Stone Age.

In some areas of the world, these small communities began to grow into larger ones. This usually happened because they lived in an area with lots of water, like a river, and very good soil. Good soil made their crops grow and gave them more food. There was also lots of fish to eat and fresh water for drinking. It was easy to move around using the river and easy to trade with other towns. For these reasons and others, the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East was a popular area for humans to settle 10,000 years ago. It was called The Fertile Crescent because it’s shaped like a crescent or moon. It has fertile, or good, soil because of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that flow around it. 

First settlements

People in these areas settled down and soon many people were making lots of food and living nearby each other. The amazing thing about humans is when many humans are living and working nearby each other and putting their minds together, they share ideas, and come up with new ideas about how to solve problems! This is what happened in the Fertile Crescent. People became better at farming, better at domesticating animals, and soon figured out better ways to build things like pots for their food and bricks for their homes. They shaped clay into stronger bowls. This is called pottery. Bricks were made using clay and mud and other materials and then cooked in the sun or hot furnace to make them rock hard. 

Eventually, their homes changed from small huts to strong brick buildings that didn’t fall over as easily. They built buildings to keep their grain safe. They built beautiful temples to their gods. They built walls to keep their cities safe. Other humans who were still hunting and gathering and on the move saw the nice things of the city and wanted to take them. The people of the cities designed better weapons and better walls to protect themselves from these tribes and from other cities. 

Sumerians of the Fertile Crescent

In the Fertile Crescent in a region called Mesopotamia, many of these big cities grew very, very big. These people are often called the Sumerians, but they lived in many different cities with names such as Eridu, Uruk, Kish, Ur, and Akkad. Some of these cities had tens of thousands of people living in them, which was huge at the time! In the center of each of the cities was a gigantic temple. There the priests who ran the city lived and worked. Big cities required many people to make decisions and keep track of all of the work that needed to be done. They traded items with nearby cities and began to keep track of their money and other goods by using sticks to make marks on clay tablets. This early version of writing was called cuneiform.

As people in cities put their heads together they became better at shaping metals, too. This is called metallurgy. Very hot fires were created in furnaces and used to extract and mold the metal. Advances in metallurgy led to what is called The Bronze Age. Bronze was a very hard metal made from combining tin and copper. Bronze gave them stronger tools, made stronger bowls, vehicles such as chariots, and weapons when needed. This is also the time when the wheel became very popular and was used for carts and chariots, which made it much easier to move things around.  

Indus River Valley

The Sumerians weren’t the only people to build big cities during the Bronze Age. In what is now India, the people of the Indus River Valley built very impressive cities, too. Most big cities were very dirty and didn’t have clean water. You can imagine with all of the body waste that goes into toilets what a stinky and dirty place some big cities became. The people of Mohenjo-Doro recognized this problem and designed their city with canals on every street to move the dirty toilet water out and the clean water in. Their homes had clean water, bathtubs, and the city stayed very orderly and clean.

Two of the major cities were Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, which had around 30,000 people living there. The Harappans traded goods with the Sumerians and other nearby cities. They created their own beautiful style of pottery and used an early form of writing. Like the Sumerians, they made hard bricks by heating them in a fire and used these bricks and math to build their orderly cities. They dug deep into the earth to bring water up and into their homes. This is called a well. They found ways to store the water when there was lots of rain to use later. Unlike other cities, the Harappan people lived fairly equally and yet comfortably. The Indus River Valley people were very advanced for their time.

Yellow River Valley of China

Moving further east, in what is now China, the big cities formed around the Yellow River. Like the Tigris and Euphrates River, the Nile, and the Indus River, the Yellow River gave the people of China water to drink and often flooded to provide rich soil to plant their crops. Like the other cities, the Chinese learned how to mine deep in the earth and mined minerals such as tin and copper. They used these to make bronze, the very hard metal we talked about before. This gave them stronger tools, which helped them farm and mine and cut trees better. The ancient Chinese also developed their own form of writing and beautiful pottery. They wove better cloth for better clothing. Their cities slowly grew and became powerful in the area and with them came more inventions such as the compass, papermaking, the waterwheel, and gunpowder. Some of these technologies weren’t invented in Europe and other places in the world until a thousand years later.  

The Americas

Big cities weren’t only springing up in the Old World — China, the Near East, and India. Far across the ocean in the New World, the Americas, cities were popping up in areas like the Andes, which is modern-day Peru. These people also figured out how to plant huge farms for food. These farms gave them enough food so not everyone had to be a farmer, but could become an expert at a craft like making pottery, making cloth, or different kinds of tools. Some of the people in the cities became very good at math and used their knowledge to build amazing buildings and roads that connected their cities. Others used their tall stone temples to study and create maps of the stars. This is called astronomy. 

Other places that saw growth at this time were Mesoamerica and of course, Egypt, which we’d love to get into but not in this episode. If you want to learn more about Ancient Egypt be sure to check out our episode about Pyramids.  

Take a moment to think about how these places and people grew from small groups of farmers into major cities. Then think about the size of cities today. What is different about cities now? In what ways are they the same?  

Be sure to check out our related episodes about Mayan Civilization, Ancient Greece, Great Wall of China, and the Pyramids.

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Have you seen the movie Coco? If so, do you remember the song “Remember Me”? It goes “Remember me, though I have to say goodbye. Remember me, don’t let it make you cry. For even if I’m far away, I hold you in my heart, I sing a secret song to you each night we are apart.” It’s the song that made the singer Ernesto de la Cruz famous (even though he did get smashed by the giant bell!). That’s what we all want, we all want to be remembered by our family and friends. The movie Coco is about a holiday in Mexico called Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. It is all about remembering the ancestors and loved ones that have passed on before us. This holiday is a celebration that shows death is not the end of our relationships, that our loved ones continue to be a part of our lives as we remember them. 

The beginning of Dia de los Muertos goes way back to the Aztec people who lived in what is now central Mexico hundreds of years ago. The Aztec didn’t consider death the end of existence, instead they saw it as the next stage in life. At the time, they used skulls to honor their own dead relatives thousands of years before modern celebrations began. By the 1500s, Europeans had discovered the Americas and the Spanish explorers found the Aztecs. Battles between the two people led to the Aztecs being conquered by the Spaniards. The new rulers brought with them their Catholic faith. Often what happens in places like Mexico is holidays change based on the latest religion. This is just what happened with Dia de los Meurtos as the celebrations of the native people became a Catholic holiday named All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Still today, November 1^st is Dia de los Inocentes (which celebrates children) and November 2^nd is Dia de los Muertos (which celebrates adults). The parties and festivities sometimes start the day before on October 31^st. During the Days of the Dead, it’s believed that the dead can leave the spirit world and visit loved ones in the real (or mortal) world.

Have you ever made something to show a family member that you love them? This is one of the most important traditions that happens during Dia de los Muertos. Families build altars to honor family members. The Spanish word for “offering” is “ofrenda.” These ofrendas are very special and sacred, and is a tradition that is very respected. Families spend these days gathered around the ofrenda praying and telling stories about their dead ancestors. Sometimes ofrendas are set up in public spaces, like schools or libraries, but they are mostly seen in private homes for the family. Ofrendas have pictures of dead loved ones, along with their things from when they were alive and their favorite foods and drinks, for example. Because they believe the soul can be around during these days, the family makes it a place that the loved one would want to come and visit. During the festival, it is common for families to go to the cemetery to clean and decorate the tombstones of ancestors and set up an ofrenda there as well. Ofrendas and graves are usually decorated with Mexican orange marigolds, which today in Mexico is sometimes called “Flor de Muerto” (the Flower of the Dead). It’s believed these marigolds attract souls to the ofrendas, and that the bright petals with their strong smell can help guide souls from the cemetery to their families. 

Take a moment to think of your favorite holiday! Is there special food you enjoy that time of the year? Do you have a favorite food that you like to eat during that holiday? Dia de los Muertos is the same. Food is a huge part of Dia de los Muertos! Food is eaten by the living and given as an offering to the dead on ofrendas. A favorite food on this holiday is tamales. Another favorite is a sweet bread called Pan de Muerto. It is shaped like a bun and is topped with sugar. Drinks are a huge part of the holiday as well, with families enjoying the favorite drinks of their loved ones. Atole is a common drink for the adults, along with champurrado being drank by everyone, it is a warm and thick masa drink. A very popular herbal tea called Agua de Jamaica is also enjoyed, it is made from the flowers and leaves of the Jamaican hibiscus flower.

If I said, “Imagine a pumpkin,” which holiday comes to your mind?  Something that helps you remember or think of something else is a symbol. What other holidays can you think of a symbol for? The most well-known symbol for Dia de los Muertos is the calavera, or the skull. They are used everywhere, from masks to chocolate to sugar skulls! Traditionally sugar skulls are made to represent the soul of the deceased loved one. The colorful design represents their personality, and the name is written on the forehead. They are placed on the family’s ofrenda and sometimes taken to the cemetery and placed by the grave of the loved ones. Sometimes the Pan de Muerto is formed into the shape of a skull and decorated with white frosting to look like twisted bones.

Being a kid during Dia de los Muertos is a lot of fun! In some parts of Mexico, especially the bigger cities, kids go door to door and ask people on the streets for calaveritas. Calaveritas are small gifts of money or candy. The tradition is like trick or treating in the United States. Kids also get to help build the ofrendas for their ancestors. After the ofrenda is built, kids and families go to the cemetery for a big party. A delicious feast is eaten while the family cleans tombstones, tells stories, talks to ancestors, and sings songs. Here kids get to learn more about their family members who passed on before they were born.

At the heart of all the fun and excitement of Dia de los Muertos, is the fact that the holiday is really about remembering and honoring those in our families who have passed on. By remembering them, we make sure our loved ones still have a place in our lives. We also make sure these memories are shared with the next generation. It’s a wonderful celebration that should be honored and respected. If you decide to use some of the Dia de los Meurtos traditions with your own family, take some time to do your own research and learn more about it, so you can do it according to tradition. If you were to build an ofrenda for someone in your family this year, who would be on it and what stories would you tell?

The post History of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Close your eyes and imagine that you are hiking through a dense jungle in Mexico.  The leaves around you are thick and wet. You use a sword to chop your way ahead. Sometimes you stumble and fall on roots or get stuck in vines that block your path. The weather is hot and humid. Your body is covered in sweat. You are thirsty and your muscles are tired and ache, but you keep moving. You keep pressing on. A long line of fellow Mexicans are hiking with you, moving quietly towards your goal. You and your fellow soldiers are determined to defeat the Spanish who rule your country. You want them to leave so you can rule it yourselves. Leading your group is a priest who has great ideas of how Mexico can be independent, can become its own country, free from Spanish rule.  You are following one of the most famous Mexican men in history: Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, also known as the “Father of Mexico.”

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Mexican Catholic priest who called for a revolution, or rebellion, against the Spanish government in 1810.  Hidalgo, as he is commonly known, is thought of as the “Father of Mexican Independence” due to his role in helping the mexican people fight against Spanish rulers. 

In 1753 Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was born near Guanajuato, Mexico.  At that time, the name of the country was not Mexico, but rather it was called “New Spain” because Europeans from Spain had settled in the area and claimed it as their own. But most of the people living in Mexico weren’t from Spain, they and their ancestors had lived there long before the Spanish arrived and conquered their lands. 

Miguel was the second son of Cristobal Hidalgo y Costilla and Ana Maria Gallaga Mandarte y Villasenor.  Miguel’s dad was an administrator, or government worker of the hacienda, or town. 

When Miguel was growing up, his family was fairly rich, so he had a good, easy life.  He was considered to be a “creole” person, which means his ancestors were Spanish.  He had loving parents and had fun with his older brother Jose Joaquin.  

When Miguel was 12, his father sent him and his brother Jose Joaquin to the city of (Vaya-dolid) Valladolid to go to school.  Miguel studied religion and after completing a lot of courses on various religious topics, or courses about God and the meaning of life, he became a Catholic priest in 1778.  

After he was a priest, Miguel Hidalgo became known as Father Hidalgo. He returned to his hometown university to teach philosophy, which means the study of how humans think, and theology, which means the study of God.  

Now that Miguel was an adult and a priest, he was able to travel and meet people.  He loved to learn and was particularly interested in European ways and thinking.  This was not the normal path for a Mexican Catholic priest in the 18th century!  Most priests stayed in their church area and spent their days praying.  But Miguel was too curious about the world and too social to stay in one place and not ask questions and learn new things. This is the best way to learn new things, be curious and ask questions! 

Even thought he was different from most priests at the time, Miguel became the rector, or leader, of the church of San Nicolas in 1790.  Unfortunately though, the other priests in the area did not like the way he behaved, so he was only in the role as rector for two years. 

Father Hidalgo moved on to lead the churches in the towns of Colima and then San Felipe Torres Mochas and later Dolores. Besides studying, he also grew grape vines and olive trees in the church gardens.  He opened a pottery-making studio, or art area, and taught himself to make pots. He had many hobbies to keep his life interesting. 

Father Hidalgo was very giving and showed compassion for poor people in the towns where he lived.  Compassion means concern for someone’s suffering. Father Hidalgo put on classes to teach poor people skills that they could use to make money, like carpentry, or woodworking, and blacksmithing, which means to make things out of iron or metal. 

Because of his interest in learning and philosophy, Father Hidalgo became very involved with the small group of educated people that lived in his town.  These educated people had gone to university and learned about politics and government and they weren’t happy with the way that Spain was controlling their country of New Spain. Remember at this time Spain controlled Mexico and didn’t let them vote or make their own decisions.  

In 1808, a new Spanish leader named Joseph was put in charge of the Spanish territories, including New Spain, where Father Hidalgo lived.  The people of New Spain did not like their new rulers, as they were mean and greedy.  He and his friends planned to remove the Spanish rulers from being in charge and get their old king, the King of Spain, released and put back in place as their leader. 

The Spanish rulers learned that there was a secret plot to take over, so Father Hidalgo and his friends had to speed up their plans. In Dolores, Father Hidalgo climbed to the top of the church where he lived and with all of his might rang the church bell.  This was the signal that their fight against their Spanish rulers had begun. Then, he went outside the church and waved a banner of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe. This was September 16, 1810 and became a famous event called the Grito de Dolores or “Cry of Dolores”. This was the beginning of the Mexican people’s fight for freedom.

Father Hidalgo’s second in command was a military captain named Ignacio Allende.  Together Father Hidalgo and Captain Allende led a group of creole and first nations men into towns and cities near where they lived.  They gathered more men in the towns and cities and slowly the size of their group grew.  With each town they moved through, the group took control of the Spanish government and replaced it with their own. 

Unfortunately as the group grew bigger, so did it’s problems.  Father Hidalgo’s goal was to take power back from the Spanish. But the group of men that became his followers grew more and more violent.  The Catholic Church was not happy about what they saw happening.  They removed Father Hidalgo from his role as priest and member of the Church.

Miguel was no longer called “Father Hidalgo” anymore, but that didn’t stop him from his mission of removing the Spanish from power in his country.  Miguel and his followers continued to move through more cities until they finally arrived at Mexico City, the biggest city in Mexico.  

There, the Spanish were ready with their army. Gunshots rang out, smoke filled the air, a battle broke out between the Spanish army and Miguel’s army. Soon Miguel and his army had to retreat or move back to safety, in a city called Guadalajara.  There, Miguel formed a new small government that declared that they were in charge.  One of the first things his government did was declare an end to slavery and promise to return lands to the Indigenous people.  These were very modern ideas for the time. 

In Guadalajara, Miguel also started a newspaper called El Despertador Americano, which means “The American Alarm Clock.”  The newspaper published stories and information about the revolution.  Revolution means a forced overthrow of the government. They were determined to become free from Spanish rule. 

In January 1811, Miguel and his men gathered at Calderon Bridge outside of the city of Guadelajara to meet a small Spanish army for a battle.  The Spanish army was well trained and well armed. Weapons were fired. The Spanish had a better army and Miguel and his soldiers had to run away.  After this loss, Miguel’s friend, Captain Allende, became the new leader of the group of rebel fighters.

But some of the survivors of the battle followed Miguel north to join a group that was setting up in what is now the American city of San Antonio.  Along the way they were captured by the Spanish army near a town called Coahuila. The group members were put on trial and were found guilty of fighting against the ruling Spanish.

Miguel and his fellow soldiers had fought bravely but did not survive to continue fighting with their fellow countrymen. But the revolution that he started continued even after he was gone.  In 1821, Mexico eventually won the war against Spain and became independent. If you live in the United States, this event was similar to Independence Day when Americans became free from British and the King’s rule.

September 16 is now celebrated as Mexico’s Independence Day, similar to the 4th of July in the United States. This is the day Mexico became its own country. Every year on this date, Mexican people celebrate their heritage and brave people like Miguel Hidalgo who fought for their freedom.  Usually the President of Mexico will do the same thing Hidalgo did, go to the church’s bell tower and ring the bell to signal the start of the war of Independence called the “Grito de Dolores” or “Cry of Dolores.”

After he died, Miguel’s remains were buried in a monument in Mexico City, now called the Angel of Independence monument.  This monument celebrates the “Father of Mexican Independence” which is Miguel Hidalgo’s nickname.  There is also a state in Mexico named after Miguel, called Hidalgo, and the town that Miguel was originally a priest at is now known as “Dolores Hidalgo.”

We can learn a lot from Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. He was very curious and was always learning. He also had many hobbies to keep life interesting. He was also very brave and risked his life to push out the Spanish rulers who controlled his country.  He was organized and a strong leader, and passionate about freedom, and because of this he had many people who followed him into battle and believed in his cause.  Because of his bravery and beliefs, Miguel is now remembered as the “Father of Mexican Independence.” 

Learning about Miguel is also a great chance to learn more about Mexico, it’s people and its culture. Mexico has a vibrant culture with delicious food, music, dancing, and artwork. Family is very important in a culture where they take care of each other and meet often to eat and enjoy time together. Mexican culture has also become a big part of American culture, seeing that over 36 million people living in the United States are of Mexican ancestry.  Be sure to look up some videos about Mexico and Mexican culture. One of our family’s favorite movies is Pixar’s “Coco.” Be sure to check it out if you haven’t yet.

Thanks for listening to this episode about Miguel Hidalgo and be sure to tune in next Monday for a new episode!

The post History of Miguel Hidalgo for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

The history of chocolate began with the ancient Olmec and Mayan peoples of Central and South America.  The Mayan people were a large group of Indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America and the ancient Olmecs lived in southern Mexico before that. 

Back then, chocolate was very different than it is today.  It was a drink that people enjoyed. But it was not sweet.  It was bitter, which means having a sharp taste and was not sweet. 

Chocolate is made from cacao fruit, which comes from cacao trees that grow in hot places like Central and South America. This is why chocolate first came from these areas.  The beans from inside the cacao fruits are called cocoa beans after they are dried and roasted.  This is one of the first steps in the process of making cacao fruit beans into chocolate. 

Olmec and Maya

Historians think that ancient Olmec and Maya people ground cocoa beans into powder and used it to make a chocolate-flavored drink.  The reason they think this is that there are traces of this type of powder found in old pots from ancient Olmec times.  This was around 15,000 B.C., which is a very very long time ago.

However, there is no written history from this time.  So it is not clear whether Olmec people made these drinks just for their flavor, or if it was part of a ceremony.  

The Olmec people passed their love of cacao on to their neighbors in Central America, the Mayans.  The Mayan people loved chocolate so much that they used it in their drinks and in their food.  They often made it into a thick, sweet, and spicy drink, using honey to sweeten it.  And they sometimes added chili peppers to make the drink spicy.  Have you ever tried spicy hot chocolate?  If not, it is something that you can find in some cafes today and is quite delicious, if you like spicy things.

Mayas

After the Mayan people, the Aztec people came to live in the Central American and Mexican areas.  They also developed a love of chocolate.  The Aztec people loved chocolate so much that they believed that cacao plants had been given to them by the gods.  They used cacao in some of their religious ceremonies.  They felt very lucky to have this drink. 

One of the things that people probably liked about cacao in the old days and that people still like about it today is that it contains caffeine. Caffeine is an ingredient that is found in tea and coffee plants that is a stimulant and makes people feel more awake and perky.  It is one of the main ingredients in coffee and is one of the reasons why adults drink coffee, too. 

Aztecs

Aztec people liked to drink chocolate as a drink, either hot or cold.  They also added spices to their chocolate drinks and draft them out of special, decorated containers.  The Aztec people treated cacao beans like money.  They considered the beans to be more valuable than gold!

One famous Aztec chocolate lover was Montezuma II.  He was the ruler of the Aztec people in Mexico from 1502 to 1520.  Legends say that Montezuma II drank a gallon (or almost 4 liters) of chocolate drink per day!  He loved the taste and also believed that drinking it would make women fall in love with him. 

When Spanish explorers from Europe first arrived in Central America, they learned about chocolate.  These explorers included Christopher Columbus.  The European explorers loved chocolate as well once they tried it.  When they returned to Spain and other countries, they brought cacao beans with them.  In Spain, the Spanish people loved the drink and by the late 1500s, it had become a very popular drink throughout the country. 

As other European countries explored Central America, they also learned about cacao and brought beans back to their home countries.  That is how chocolate came to be popular across Europe in countries such as France and Italy. Europeans loved chocolate so much that demand grew for cacao beans.  Demand is the desire of large groups of people to buy something.

Cacao Plantations

Back in Central America, the European demand for chocolate meant that cacao plantations were growing in size and number.  The farmers that worked at these plantations were mostly local people who were treated as slaves.  A slave is a person who works very hard without proper pay or appreciation. The life of a slave cacao farmer was a very difficult life.  They worked hard from early morning to late at night picking beans for the European people.

The European explorers and traders continued to bring the beans back to Europe.  As European people continued to enjoy chocolate, its popularity spread.  Europeans started creating their own recipes for cacao beans as well.  Instead of just using the Central American recipes, they created different types of hot chocolate, using sugar, cinnamon, and other spices.

Coenraad Johannes van Houtan

About 150 years later, in 1828, a Dutch chemist named Coenraad Johannes van Houtan discovered a new way to make cacao powder. It was an easier way to create a powder that would mix easily with hot water to make hot chocolate. The process through which van Houtan did this was later called “Dutch processing”.  The cacao powder that he made was similar to what we think of as hot chocolate powder today.  At the time it was called “Dutch cocoa.” 

Dutch cocoa powder made processing chocolate easier and cheaper than in the past.  As a result, even poor people could afford chocolate. This meant that chocolate grew even further in popularity.

Up until 1847, chocolate was primarily consumed in Europe and America as a drink, mixed with water or milk. However, in that year a company called J.S. Fry and Sons created the first chocolate bar in Britain.  They molded a paste made out of sugar, butter, and chocolate and put it together into the shape of a bar. It was delicious and they knew they had a hit. Everyone who tried the solid chocolate loved it.  And a new form of chocolate was born.

Chocolate Companies

By the late 19th century, family chocolate companies such as Cadbury, Mars, Nestle, and Hershey were all making a variety of chocolate treats.  People across the world loved eating chocolate as well as drinking it.  There were therefore lots of customers buying chocolate from these companies. 

Today, chocolate is still enjoyed by people around the world.  It is still available to drink, but it is more often eaten as a treat or dessert or in baking. It has changed a lot since the earliest versions of the bitter Olmec drink.  But the root of the treat is still the same. 

It is still very hard work to farm and produces chocolate, however. While it is now easier than it was in the days of slaves and colonists, many cacao bean farmers still have to work very hard to produce their beans.  And they do not always get paid very much money for them. This has inspired many people throughout the world to focus on “fair trade” chocolate.  Fairtrade means chocolate that is created in an ethical and sustainable way.  This means farming in a way that treats farmers fairly and without putting the environment at risk so that future generations can also meet their own needs.

Do you love eating chocolate as a treat?  Or drinking hot chocolate on a cold day? What are some of the types of chocolate that you like to eat or drink?  What would you try if you were challenged to come up with a new type of chocolate?  It is fun to think about the ways we can enjoy something so delicious and historic today.

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