A beautiful landscape on a coin
Mexico
Mexico has been inhabited for tens of thousands of years. Initially by local tribes, who became quite powerful and left long-lasting monuments such as “Teotihuacán”, which includes the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun. This pyramid is one of the largest Mesoamerican monument, measuring over 220 metres (720 feet) square and 65.5 metres (215 feet) high). Teotihuacán is an hour north of Mexico city.

(View of Teotihuacán, from mexicocity.cdmx.gob.mx)
One of the most well known civilisations in Mexico were the Aztecs. Tenochtitlan was the capital city, founded in 1325. It was a swampy island where they were initially driven by the Culhuacan. The Aztecs were said to have seen a sign which indicated they should settle on this swampy island: an eagle holding a snake while standing on a cactus. At its peak, Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world, with causeways, canals and new islands. It spanned 13 square kilometres (5 square miles) and housed almost 200,000 people. The Aztec empire spanned nearly 130,000 square kilometres (80,000 square miles) from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1519, the Spanish arrived, and by 1521, had conquered Tenochtitlan, destroying much of the city. The Spanish founded Mexico City on what had been Tenochtitlan.
Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808 helped fuel a desire for independence from Spain in Latin America. The next decade saw great struggle and fighting, with independence finally achieved in 1821. Over the next half a century, Mexico had insurrections, Spanish invasions and wars with the United States of America. And in 1910, the Mexican Revolution began, a civil war which lasted for ten years.
Obverse

The obverse of the coin contains the Mexican coat-of-arms with the bigger emblem at the top, supported at the bottom by a wreath and an eagle facing left.
The text reads: “ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS”, which translates as “United Mexican States”.
The Mexican coat-of-arms is called “El escudo nacional” (“The national shield”. The main image is an eagle standing on a paddle cactus plant. As covered earlier, this imagery is directly from the founding of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. One of the few original native codices that survived the massive destruction of pre-Hispanic documents by the Spaniards is the Codex Tezcatlipoca. This depicted the eagle attacking a snake, which also fit the Catholic symbolism of good (the eagle) vs evil (the snake). The oak and laurel leaves are very European symbols of victory and peace, tied with a ribbon in the national colours, which was adopted when Mexico became an independent nation.

(Mexican coat of arms, from MySliceOfMexico.ca)
There are several versions of the coat of arms which have been used on coins. Here are three versions of the coat of arms on the 20 Centavos from 1946, and 1955, and the 1 Peso from 1975:

Note the variations in the snake and cactus, as well as the size of the eagle and surrounding leaves.
Reverse

Numista describes the reverse as: “The value is at the top with the radiant Liberty cap in between, and the mintmark underneath. The pyramid in the centre motive of the landscape along with volcanoes and flora is under the sun which divides the denomination and is above the mintmark. The location of the pyramid, Teotihuacán, is written at the pyramid’s base. The volcanoes Ixtaccihuatl and Popocatepet are in the background.”
I find this a really beautiful landscape. What is your favourite landscape depicted on a coin? Let us know!
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