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During vertebrate development, mesodermal fate choices are regulated by interactions between morphogens such as activin/nodal, BMPs and Wnt/β-catenin that define anterior-posterior patterning and specify downstream derivatives including cardiomyocyte, endothelial and hematopoietic cells. We used human embryonic stem cells to explore how these pathways control mesodermal fate choices in vitro. Varying doses of activin A and BMP4 to mimic cytokine gradient polarization in the anterior-posterior axis of the embryo led to differential activity of Wnt/β-catenin signaling and specified distinct anterior-like (high activin/low BMP) and posterior-like (low activin/high BMP) mesodermal populations. Cardiogenic mesoderm was generated under conditions specifying anterior-like mesoderm, whereas blood-forming endothelium was generated from posterior-like mesoderm, and vessel-forming CD31⁺ endothelial cells …