Geography books of XIX Century Mexico. Helping to build a nation

Abstract

During the nineteenth century, the Government was in charge of basic education and it was suplemented by the intervention of the Church. In the early years the books that constituted the main support for teaching were the catechism ones, being an educational model inherited from the Enlightenment; by the second half of the century, book publication was increased and was dedicated to the knowledge of the states and municipalities, aswell American or Universal Geography; above all, for the past twenty years almost a hundred books were edited. However, with the absence of a minimun scientific program, they had an uneven quality in the content and images used, but incorporated prints, photos, maps, not all of good quality, that showed the natural or cultural elements from the state, the municipality or the city that they represented. Amongst the prominent authors, may be quoted Ezequiel A. Chávez (1896), and Antonio García Cubas.