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Porfirio Díaz - Early Years

Porfirio Díaz - Early Years: Encyclopedia II - Porfirio Díaz - Early Years

Porfirio Díaz was born in 1830 in the city of Oaxaca, Oaxaca. He was a Mestizo, of Mixtec Native American and Spanish ancestry. His father, José de la Cruz Díaz, died when he was 3 years old. His mother, Patrona Mori de Díaz, was an innkeeper until that business failed. She sent young Porfirio to the Seminario Pontifical in 1843, but he was not cut out for the priesthood. He joined the local militia in 1846, dreaming of defending the country from a threatened United States invasion. Tutored by Benito Juarez, he studied law and passed the legal exams in 1853. Díaz soon became a prominent local activist in the liberal oppositi ...

Porfirio Díaz: Encyclopedia II - Porfirio Díaz - Early Years

Porfirio Díaz - Early Years

Porfirio Díaz was born in 1830 in the city of Oaxaca, Oaxaca. He was a Mestizo, of Mixtec Native American and Spanish ancestry. His father, José de la Cruz Díaz, died when he was 3 years old. His mother, Patrona Mori de Díaz, was an innkeeper until that business failed. She sent young Porfirio to the Seminario Pontifical in 1843, but he was not cut out for the priesthood. He joined the local militia in 1846, dreaming of defending the country from a threatened United States invasion. Tutored by Benito Juarez, he studied law and passed the legal exams in 1853. Díaz soon became a prominent local activist in the liberal opposition to the conservative Santa Ana dictatorship.

Following Juarez's rise to the presidency, Mexico was occupied by France, which attempted to establish the Second Mexican Empire. Díaz became something of a hero due to his participation in the war against the French, where he won several important victories. He led the cavalry in the celebrated Battle of Puebla of 1862, and remained popular well after the defeat of the French and the death of Juarez in 1872.