Porfiriato

Mexican Republic
República Mexicana
1876–1911
Anthem: "Himno Nacional Mexicano"
(English: "National Anthem of Mexico")
GovernmentFederal presidential republic under an authoritarian military dictatorship
President 
• 1876
Porfirio Díaz
• 1876–1877
Juan Méndez
• 1877–1880
Porfirio Díaz
• 1880–1884
Manuel Flores
• 1884–1911
Porfirio Díaz
History 
10 January 1876
• Mexican Revolution begins
20 November 1910
25 May 1911
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Restored Republic
Revolutionary Mexico
President Gen. Porfirio Díaz

The Porfiriato (English: Porfirio Díaz Era, lit.'Porfiriate') is a term given to the period when General Porfirio Díaz ruled Mexico as president in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, coined by Mexican historian Daniel Cosío Villegas.[1][2][3] Seizing power in a coup in 1876, Díaz pursued a policy of "order and progress," inviting foreign investment in Mexico and maintaining social and political order, by force if necessary. There were significant economic, technological, social, and cultural changes during this period.

As Díaz approached his 80th birthday in 1910, having been continuously elected since 1884, he still had not put in place a plan for his succession. The fraudulent 1910 elections are usually seen as the end of the Porfiriato. Violence broke out, Díaz was forced to resign and go into exile, and Mexico experienced a decade of regional civil war, the Mexican Revolution.

  1. ^ Camp, Roderic Ai, "Porfiriato" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 4, p. 440. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996
  2. ^ Cosío Villegas, Daniel (1955). Historia Moderna de México. El porfiriato. La vida social [Modern History of Mexico. El Porfiriato, social life] (in Spanish). México: Editorial Hermes.
  3. ^ Speckman Guerra, Elisa (2011). "El Porfiriato". Nueva historia mínima de México (in Spanish). El Colegio de México. p. 200. ISBN 978-968-12-1139-4.