The Spanish settled first in the Islands of Greater Antilles
before going to Mexico in 1517.
The CONQUEST
Mexico was discovered in 1517 by Francisco Hernandez
de Cordoba and became the purpose of the Conquest in 1519. The expedition,
led by Hernán Cortés, landed first at Cozumel
off the Yucatán Coast and
then reached the Mexican Coast where the city of Veracruz was built.
It is the place where Cortés greeted the ambassadors of Moctezuma,
Emperor of the Aztecs.
He went to Mexico City with 600 men,
crossing Tlaxcala which
rallied him. In Cholula, he slaughtered
3,000 Indians suspected of plotting against him. He was welcomed
in Tenochtitlán by Moctezuma, and he stayed with his troops
in the palace of Axayacatl, but, feeling unsafe in this huge city,
he took the emperor as a hostage.
While Cortés was fighting Narvaez, Pedro de Alvarado provoked
an uprising from the Indians. The Emperor had to give a speech to
his people to calm them but the furious crowd stoned him. He died
a few days later. Cuitlahuac had his troops ready to fight : Cortés
decided to beat a retreat. It happened during the rainy night of
June 30th, 1520, called since the “Noche Triste” (the
sad night). They reorganized themselves in Tlaxcala.
Cortés had 13 boats built to cross the lakes. Cuitlahuac
died and Cuauhtemoc was the new elected emperor. After 75 days of
siege, with a huge Indian army as allies, the Spanish took Tenochtitlán
on August 13th, 1521 and took Cuauhtemoc prisoner. The city of Tenochtitlán
was completely dismantled to make room for a new capital, Mexico
City, whose cathedral was edified with the stones of the grand
Aztec teocalli (main temple).
The SPANISH DOMINATION
From the beginning, the Conquest of Mexico by the
Spanish showed two aspects : economic for sure, but also religious
and cultural.
The virtuous Franciscans came to evangelize the Indians. They started
many schools and stood up for the submissive people. Bartolomé
de Las Casas, bishop of Chiapas,
and the lawyer Francisco de Vitoria were big protectors of this
people. Then the Augustinians and Dominicans came to start the spiritual
Conquest of the country. The Spanish often built their cities on
the site of Indian cities like in Mexico
City, Puebla, Oaxaca,
Valladolid, Guadalajara,
or on the silver road like in Guanajuato,
San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas,
Fresnillo, Durango....
 The
administration
The superior authority was the king of Spain, assisted since 1524,
by the Council of India. The viceroy ruled the colony with the support
of assistance. The tribunal of Inquisition, without authority upon
the Indians, insured the respect of the religion. The archbishops
organized the Church. The king of Spain nominated the bishops. The
priests were Creole with poor allowances.
The
economy
Spain didn’t allowed trade with foreign countries. Many products
needed to be bought in Spain. These interdictions favored contraband
and piracy. The Spanish introduced a lot of new products cultivated
in the haciendas : cattle, workhorses, corn and other cereals,
fruits, coffee, sugar cane, cochineal. Europe received from America
maize, potatoes, tobacco, avocados, tomato and chocolate among other
products. But the Spanish were mostly interested in gold and silver
whose production was the most important in the world. The economic
activity provoked the construction of big roads, all leading to
the capital.
Education
They built schools for the Indigenous children. The first University
of America opened in Mexico City in
1553. It was as good as the European Universities but it collapsed
at the end of the Colonial period and was supplanted by the School
of Mines. New Spain produced many intellectuals and artisans. You
can find their works in literature, sciences, architecture and arts.
The
reforms of the XVIIIth century
In order to fight the growing power of the Church, the Bourbons
of Spain took dispositions to stop the construction of new convents
and the admission of novices; they banned the intervention of religious
in testaments and obligated them to deposit annuities on lands and
buildings to the Royal treasure. Lastly, they evicted the Jesuits
from their territories. Some liberal ideas, which led to the Independence
of the US or the French revolution, penetrated little by little
the Spanish colonies. Many people thought that the reforms should
be deeper.
 Click
here to display the selection of photos about the historic patrimoine
of Mexico
Who are the gachupines
?
Over these three centuries of domination over Mexico,
the king of Spain successively nominated sixty two viceroys to govern
New Spain. The most famous were Antonio de Mendoza, Luis de Velasco,
Revillagigedo and Bucareli who knew how to harmoniously rule this
huge country and give all the benefits to Spain. In fact, all the
mineral resources and art objects were sent to Spain. In Mexico,
the viceroy was assisted with an audiencia, a structure that combined
administrative and legal powers. The administrative units were ruled
by corregidores or alcades mayore. These public
servants were gachupines nominated and sent by Spain, unlike the
creoles that were born in Mexico.
 
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