2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Do the people with signs like "make America Mexico again" [View all]upaloopa
(11,417 posts)I live on the Central Coast of California. All the land around here was at one time land grants from the Mexican government.
So much of our place names are Spanish. Our Streets in older cities are named after Spanish Families who developed the land in the early 1800's.
Mexican heritage is celebrated here with festivals and Mexican flag waving. I think those not from here may not like that but we enjoy the festivals.
Our home was once a part of Mexico. Monterey was the capital here in the 1830's. The native Americans and a few Spanish settlers lived here then. The missions were built from San Diego to Monterey. Americans from the east traded goods for hides they got from the missions.
The missions were very devastating to the native Americans.
So our history and culture is very colorful with good and bad. It is a mixture Mexican, European and Native America. With the influx of immigrants the Mexican influence is growing again.
We now respect the Native American culture more than ever yet those people are long gone their artifacts and history remain.
A good book to read about life here in the 1830's is "Two Years Before The Mast" by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.