1846–1848 CE · war, treaty and territorial transfer · Americas · War
War after the U.S. annexation of Texas and a disputed border ended in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which transferred extensive Mexican territory to the United States without making Indigenous nations parties to the settlement.
Atlas dossier · Industrial & Imperial AgeFree device narration · synchronized English captions · transcript available
Why it matters
The United States annexed Texas in 1845 while Mexico rejected both the annexation and the U.S. claim that the Rio Grande was the boundary. Fighting began in the disputed borderlands in 1846. This context matters when reading official declarations that presented the war as a response to attack.
Library of Congress: Mexican–American War collection ↗The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the interstate war and transferred extensive territory. Its promises to Mexican residents were implemented unevenly. Indigenous nations whose lands were mapped into the cession were not treaty parties, so territorial transfer did not extinguish their sovereignty or histories.
U.S. National Archives: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ↗Silent pan-and-zoom motion derivative of the Mexican–American War reconstruction; not archival footage.
Primary Atlas editorial reconstruction for Mexican–American War.
World History in Pictures · Public site artwork. This record does not grant third-party republication rights.
How Atlas classifies this artwork →
Supporting Atlas reconstruction within the same Mexican–American War editorial package; not an independent archival record.
World History in Pictures · Same editorial artwork package
How Atlas classifies this artwork →
Context crop from the same Mexican–American War reconstruction; not an independent historical record.
World History in Pictures · Same editorial artwork package
How Atlas classifies this artwork →Interpretation note
This dossier distinguishes the event’s basic chronology from later arguments about meaning, responsibility and legacy. When comparing religious, national, Indigenous or scholarly interpretations, consult the primary and institutional sources above alongside peer-reviewed historical work.
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