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Spanish-Mexican Strains
THE MEXICAN Revolution that began in 1910 resulted in a rich
development of the native cultural elements of Mexico, the art
of Diego Rivera being one of the highlights of this
development. The native culture is closer to the Mexican earth
and to the indigenes than to Spain, notwithstanding modern
insistence on the Latin in Latin-American culture.
The Spaniards, through Mexico, have had an abiding influence
on the architecture and language of the Southwest. They gave
us our most distinctive occupation, ranching on the open
range. They influenced mining greatly, and our land titles and
irrigation laws still go back to Spanish and Mexican sources.
After more than a hundred years of occupation of Texas and
almost that length of time in other parts of the Southwest,
the English-speaking Americans still have the rich
accumulations of lore pertaining to coyotes, mesquites,
prickly pear, and many other plants and animals to learn from
the Mexicans, who got their lore partly from intimate living
with nature but largely through Indian ancestry.
See "Fighting Texians," "Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Trail.
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