Texts and the Construction of Popular Perceptions: The Writings of Alexander von Humboldt and Justo Sierra and the Rise and Fall of Mexicoâ•Žs Legendary Wealth

Popular perceptions of Mexico’s natural wealth changed dramatically over the course of the national period (1820s to the present). During Mexico’s first half-century of independent existence (1820s-1870s), nationals and foreigners sang praise to Mexico’s immense natural riches, maintaining Mexico was a cornucopia, which the geographical shape of the country vividly demonstrated. From the late 19 th to the mid-twentieth centuries, however, a consensus emerged that Mexico was naturally poor. This stark contrast led one historian to assert that during the early national era Mexicans had an exaggerated sense of their nation’s wealth and at the onset of the 20 th century Mexicans had an exaggerated sense of their country’s poverty. What accounted for this dramatic shift in perceptions? Daniel Cosío Villegas, a leading 20 th -century Mexican scholar, provides an answer. He argues that in the early national era, following colonial era precedents, Mexicans exaggerated Mexico’s natural wealth because it benefitted them politically and economically. The late-19 th -century downgrading of Mexico’s natural wealth, in contrast, was the result of science and empiricism: Scientists finally accurately measured the extent of Mexico’s natural wealth and concluded Mexico was naturally poor. Today, in many respects, Cosío Villegas’ explanation is the dominant one. There is a scholarly consensus that during the early national era an inflated and erroneous assessment of Mexican natural wealth existed, and that the late-19 th -century downgrading was a more accurate assessment. Thus, a scientific measuring project accounted for the rejection of a depiction of Mexico as a treasure chest of riches and its replacement with an antithetical image of Mexico as naturally poor. This paper disagrees. While it does not attempt to provide a comprehensive explanation, it stresses the importance of ideas rather than empirical scientific research in the narrative of the rise and fall of the notion of “Mexico’s legendary wealth.” This paper shows that two texts played a significant role in the competing assessments of Mexico’s natural riches. Alexander von Humboldt’s independence-era Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain (1811) played a vital role in shaping a depiction of Mexico as a treasure chest of natural wealth. Justo Sierra’s late-19 th -century essay México social y político (1889) played a pivotal part in the construction of a portrayal of Mexico as naturally poor. The ideas in both these works proved very influential since many writers repeated them, built