For a third of a century, 1876-1910, Mexico  was under the rule of dictator Porfirio Diaz. This was a period of rapidly developing industry, an expanded railway system and extensive foreign  investment. Large land holdings also increased tremendously -- one man alone owned an incredible 7 million acres in northern Mexico.

This level of wealth was supported through the exploitation of indigenous Indians, and set the stage for  revolution, which ended the Porfiriato and brought into prominence men like Emiliano Zapata, Francisco Madero and Pancho Villa. November 20, a national  holiday, honors the start of the 1910 Revolution.

At the end of the revolution, for the first  time since Cortes captured Cuauhtemoc, Mexicans were in control of Mexico. Lands  seized during the Porfiriato were ordered restored to local communities, foreign ownership of land and mining rights was limited, a minimum wage was established,  and workers were allowed collective bargaining and the right to strike.

In the 1930s, President Lazaro Cardenas  continued the redistribution of land promised by the revolution. It was during his presidency also that the nation's oil companies, mostly in foreign hands,  were nationalised and the government petroleum company, Pemex, was established. Despite these measures, the gap between the rich and the poor, consolidated over  so many years, continues to present the greatest obstacle to peace and  development.