Porfirio Díaz dominated Mexican politics from 1876 to 1911 in the period known as the Porfiriato. His government brought economic growth, railroads, foreign investment, and order, but also authoritarian rule, inequality, and repression.

For learners, Díaz matters because his long rule set the stage for the Mexican Revolution. He is both a modernization figure and the symbol of the dictatorship that revolutionaries opposed.