The day Mexico lost half of its territory

It was more than 150 years ago, but the consequences of what happened that day forever changed the history of Mexico. February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed. Mexico "sells" half of its territory in the United States.

With this agreement, the current states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming have been linked to the United States.

The signing of this treaty also it meant the end of the US intervention in our country and the end of one of the most painful chapters in Mexican history.

"Mexico was forced to sell 2,400,000 square kilometers in the United States, a little more than half of its territory, in exchange for 15 million pesos. But the occupation troops did not leave the city on that date: the exchange of ratification was late in arriving and it was only on June 12 that the Americans definitively left Mexico. , reads in the book "Once Upon a Time" Mexico, by Alejandro Rosas.

The story of this loss is only the end of a series of problems related to the abandonment of the territories of northern Mexico after the independence of the country and the permanent political conflicts that plunged the nation into chaos.

Contrary to what you think, This is not Antonio López de Santa Anna who signed this treaty, but the then President of Mexico, Manuel de la Peña y Peña.

The President of La Peña released the treaty only at the new meeting of the Mexican Congress of May 7, 1848. The tragedy was already inevitable.

One of the conflicts was, for example, the union of Coahuila in Texas in 1824. Although most of the problems were solved ten years later, problems such as the slavery and the installation of customs.

US citizens had been allowed to settle in Texas territories equipped with equipment and could keep slaves, which the Mexicans could not do.

Since then, thousands of people in Texas have started a move for the state to annex the United States.

"Texas fever seized the minds of Americans and Texas clubs have been formed to hire volunteers, raise money and buy weapons for the fight for freedom, "says the book" Mexico vs. the United States: A Historic Trial ".

In 1836, Texas declared independence from Mexico but the rebels were repressed by Santa Anna. In the following years, the expansionist desires of the United States became evident and, because of the tension at the border, the president James Folk declared war on Mexico in 1846.

The end result was the North American invasion of Mexico, the flag of the United States floating in the capital and the loss of half of the territory.

"The flag of the United States was hoisted above the national palace, his army occupied the Mexico City from September 14, 1847 to June 12, 1848... With the presence of the invasion army, the urban landscape of the country's capital has changed dramatically, "reads in the book of Roses.