← Seven eras, one countryEra 2 of 7 · 1521 to 1810

New Spain

Conquest and the collapse of the Indigenous population, then three centuries of silver, missions and haciendas, until New Spain was the crown's richest colony. This room gathers what our 32 state histories hold for the era, 163 dated events and 96 places.

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The era in 16 dates

13 Aug 1521Tenochtitlan falls after a siege begun on 10 May; Cuauhtémoc is captured. The victory is Spanish and Indigenous: Tlaxcalan warriors fought throughout, and Tlaxcalan labourers built the brigantines for the lake under Spanish direction. 1
1524Twelve Franciscan friars reach New Spain in May; Dominicans and Augustinians follow within a decade, the start of the evangelization historians call the spiritual conquest. 8
12 Oct 1535A royal decree creates the Viceroyalty of New Spain; its first viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, answers to the crown, not to Cortés. 2
1542The New Laws bar new encomiendas (grants of Indigenous labour and tribute to conquerors), end existing ones at the holder's death and ban the enslavement of Indigenous people; in Mexico, Viceroy Mendoza obeys but does not comply. 14
1545 to 1548The first great cocoliztli epidemic kills between 5 and 15 million people, some 800,000 in the Valley of Mexico alone. 3
1546Juan de Tolosa brings back silver ore from the Cerro de la Bufa; Zacatecas becomes one of the great mining cities of New Spain, Guanajuato another. 6 2
8 Oct 1565Andrés de Urdaneta reaches Acapulco from the Philippines, opening the Manila galleon: silver west, silk and porcelain east, until 1815. 7
c. 1570Gaspar Yanga and others escape a sugar plantation and found a maroon settlement in the highlands near the Pico de Orizaba. 11
4 Nov 1571The Tribunal of the Holy Office, the Inquisition, is set up in Mexico; it has no jurisdiction over Indigenous people, except for print in their languages. It lasts until 1820. 9
1576 to c. 1580A second cocoliztli epidemic kills about two million people. 3
1605The lowest point in the series of Borah and Cook: about 1.1 million Indigenous people in central Mexico, against 25.2 million they estimated for 1518. 4
1609 to 1618Yanga's people beat back a Spanish attack (1609); a treaty (1618) leads the crown to recognise their town, San Lorenzo de los Negros, named Yanga since 1932. 11 2
1669Juana Inés de Asbaje enters the Hieronymite convent in Mexico City as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the leading writer of the viceroyalty; rebuked through the bishop of Puebla in 1690, she defends herself in 1691, then writes less and less, and dies in an epidemic on 17 April 1695, nursing her sister nuns. 13
1764 to 1789The Bourbon reforms bring intendancies to the empire, most of New Spain's in 1786, to tighten the crown's control; in the 1700s the viceroyalty is Spain's principal source of income. 2
June 1767Soldiers remove the Jesuits from their missions in New Spain under the expulsion ordered on 2 April; 678 are expelled from Mexico, three in four of them born in New Spain. 10
16 Sep 1810Miguel Hidalgo calls his parishioners to rise at Dolores: the War of Independence begins, and with it the next era. 15

The story

What happened, and what is still argued

How many people lived in central Mexico, 1518 to 1605? A lower reading exists; see where the sources disagree.

Borah and Cook estimatemillions of people

← Slide the chart to see the earlier years

Source: 4

Data table

Year	Millions
1518	25.2
1532	16.8
1548	6.3
1568	2.65
1585	1.9
1595	1.375
1605	1.075

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**Zacatecas Cathedral** Photo: Martín Daniel Cordero Amézquita, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A conquest with Indigenous armies

Hernán Cortés landed near Veracruz in April 1519 with a few hundred Spaniards; what took Tenochtitlan two years later was an alliance, above all with Tlaxcala, whose warriors fought throughout and whose labourers built the brigantines for the siege under Spanish direction. Moctezuma died in the uprising of June 1520, the Spaniards and their allies fled the city on the Noche Triste, and smallpox struck that autumn, killing the new ruler Cuitláhuac. The siege began on 10 May 1521 and ended with Cuauhtémoc's capture on 13 August.

Sources: 1

The collapse

The worst event of this era was not a battle. Smallpox in 1520, then the cocoliztli epidemics of 1545 to 1548 and of 1576, emptied the country. How many died is one of the great arguments of Mexican history: Borah and Cook estimated 25.2 million people in central Mexico in 1518 and about 1.1 million in 1605; William Sanders argued their sources were less reliable than they assumed and that the 1519 figure should be far lower, though he accepted their 1568 count. Either way, most of the people of central Mexico died within a century.

Sources: 3 4 5

Silver, missions and haciendas

Silver remade the map. Juan de Tolosa's ore from the Cerro de la Bufa in 1546 made Zacatecas, and Guanajuato followed; the road north to the mines pulled the colony into the dry lands of the Chichimeca, at the price of decades of war. Missions and fortified presidios held the frontier, while haciendas took the valleys, Viceroy Mendoza's own on lands taken near Orizaba among the first. The first century's labour came from the encomienda, the grant of Indigenous labour and tribute to conquerors, which the New Laws of 1542 limited and the repartimiento replaced. The places on the map above are the mines, missions, ports, forts and towns of our state histories from these centuries.

Sources: 6 2 14

The Church

Twelve Franciscans arrived in 1524, Dominicans and Augustinians soon after, and they set out to convert a continent, what historians call the spiritual conquest. The Inquisition, set up in Mexico in 1571, had no jurisdiction over Indigenous people except over print in their languages. The Jesuits ran missions across the north until the crown expelled them in 1767: 678 men, three in four born in New Spain.

Sources: 8 9 10

Africa in New Spain

About 200,000 enslaved Africans were brought to New Spain, nearly 150,000 of them by 1640, to the sugar estates, the mines and the cities. Some broke out. Gaspar Yanga's settlement near the Pico de Orizaba fought off a Spanish expedition in 1609 and won a treaty in 1618, and the town that grew from it bears his name today. In the 2020 census 2,576,213 people in Mexico identified as Afro-descendant, about 2% of the country.

Sources: 12 11 2

The Pacific, Sor Juana, the richest colony

From 1565 to 1815 the Manila galleon tied Acapulco to Asia: Mexican silver went west, Chinese silk and porcelain came east, and New Spain stood between two oceans. In Mexico City, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz wrote the finest poetry and prose of the viceroyalty and defended a woman's right to learn; after her defence of 1691 she wrote less and less, and how far she was silenced is argued. By the 1700s New Spain's mines outperformed every other Spanish territory and the viceroyalty was Spain's principal source of income; the Bourbon reforms tightened the crown's grip. In 1810 it held perhaps 5 to 6 million people, most of them Indigenous, when Hidalgo called the country to rise.

Sources: 7 13 2 15

In the states

All 163 dated events of the era in our 32 state histories

Where and when did it happen? One dot per dated event, one row per state, coloured by corridor; hover a dot to read it

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The Texas-Facing NorthThe Pacific BorderThe Bajío and Center-NorthThe CenterThe WestThe Gulf and the IsthmusThe PeninsulaThe Deep South: Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas

The full list, oldest first. Each state name opens its history, where the event carries its source.

See all 163 events

1521GuerreroRodrigo de Castañeda enters the mining district of Taxco.
1521Mexico CityTenochtitlan falls on 13 Aug after a siege of nearly 3 months.
1521MorelosCortés reaches Cuauhnáhuac on 13 Apr and burns the city.
1521OaxacaHuaxyácac falls to the Spanish in Dec 1521.
1521State of MexicoBrigantines for the siege of Tenochtitlan are launched at Texcoco on 28 Apr.
1521TlaxcalaTlaxcalan armies help bring down Tenochtitlan in Aug.
1522GuanajuatoCristóbal de Olid's expedition reaches Yuririapúndaro and Pénjamo.
1522MichoacánCristóbal de Olid reaches Tzintzuntzan and the kingdom submits without battle.
1523ColimaGonzalo de Sandoval founds the Spanish town at Caxitlán.
1523HidalgoThe first Franciscan friars arrive in the region.
1524TlaxcalaFranciscans arrive and begin their mission.
1525PueblaFranciscans found the monastery of Huejotzingo.
1527ColimaThe town moves to its present site as San Sebastián de Colima on 20 Jan.
1528ChiapasDiego de Mazariegos founds the town that becomes Ciudad Real, today San Cristóbal.
1528HidalgoFrancisco Téllez and about 25 Spaniards take Pachuca.
1529JaliscoNuño de Guzmán enters the region with about 300 Spaniards and 6,000 Indigenous allies.
1529MorelosCortés is named Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca; Franciscans reach Cuernavaca.
1529OaxacaThe Spanish town of Antequera is re-established; it becomes a city in 1532.
1529SinaloaNuño de Guzmán's expedition founds the villa of Espíritu Santo de Chametla.
1530-31AguascalientesPedro Almíndez Chirino, under Nuño de Guzmán, is the first Spaniard to enter the territory.
1530MichoacánNuño de Guzmán has the Purépecha ruler executed on 14 Feb.
1531NayaritNuño de Guzmán founds Tepic; a royal order of 25 Jan creates Nueva Galicia with its capital at Compostela.
1531PueblaPuebla de los Ángeles is founded on 16 Apr.
1531QuerétaroQuerétaro is founded, by tradition on 25 Jul, by Spaniards and the Otomí lord Conín.
1531SinaloaSan Miguel de Culiacán is founded on 29 Sep.
1531State of MexicoSpaniards find silver lodes at Sultepec.
1531ZacatecasThe Spanish found their first settlement in the territory near Nochistlán and destroy the hill town of El Teúl.
1532DurangoJosé de Angulo, the first Spaniard recorded in the area, reaches the Sierra de Topia.
c. 1532GuerreroSilver lodes are found at Taxco and commercial mining begins.
1532JaliscoGuadalajara is first founded at Nochistlán, the first of several sites.
1533Baja California SurFortún Ximénez, leader of a mutiny on a ship sent by Cortés, lands at the bay of La Paz and is killed.
1533San Luis PotosíSantiago de los Valles de Oxitipa, today Ciudad Valles, is founded on 25 Jul.
1533SonoraDiego de Guzmán's expedition reaches the Yaqui River on 7 Oct.
1535Baja California SurHernán Cortés lands at the bay of Santa Cruz, today La Paz, on 3 May.
1535Mexico CityThe viceroyalty of New Spain is created, with its seat in Mexico City.
1535OaxacaThe Bishopric of Antequera is erected on 21 Jun 1535.
1535TlaxcalaCharles V grants the city its coat of arms on 22 Apr.
1538MichoacánVasco de Quiroga makes Pátzcuaro the seat of his new bishopric.
1539-40Baja CaliforniaFrancisco de Ulloa becomes the first European to reach the shores of the present state.
1540CampecheMontejo the Younger founds San Francisco de Campeche on 4 Oct.
1540SonoraFrancisco Vázquez de Coronado passes through and records the name Sonora.
1540-42ZacatecasThe Caxcanes rise in the Mixtón War, crushed by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza.
1541JaliscoViceroy Mendoza crushes the Caxcan rising of the Mixtón War in Oct 1541.
1541MichoacánViceroy Antonio de Mendoza founds the city now called Morelia.
1542Baja CaliforniaJuan Rodríguez Cabrillo enters San Quintín bay on 22 Aug and Ensenada bay on 17 Sep.
1542JaliscoGuadalajara settles on its final site in the Atemajac Valley on 14 Feb.
1542YucatánMontejo the Younger founds Mérida on 6 Jan over the Maya city of T'hó.
1545Quintana RooGaspar Pacheco founds Salamanca de Bacalar.
1546AguascalientesAbout 8,500 Indigenous people, mostly Guamares, live in the region as Spanish raids begin.
1546HidalgoThe parish of Actopan is founded; its Augustinian monastery rises about 1550-60.
1546ZacatecasOn 8 Sep Juan de Tolosa brings silver ore down from La Bufa, and the rush begins.
1548GuanajuatoThe mining town is named the Real de Minas de Guanajuato.
1548NayaritThe Audiencia of Nueva Galicia is installed at Compostela on 13 Feb.
1548ZacatecasThe mining camp is formally established as Minas de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios.
1550GuerreroThirty Spanish families are sent to settle Acapulco.
1550-70PueblaPotters from Talavera de la Reina arrive and start the Talavera craft.
c. 1550-90San Luis PotosíGuachichiles and other Chichimec peoples fight the Spanish along the silver road.
c. 1550-90ZacatecasThe Chichimeca War is fought over the silver road until peace is bought with goods and land.
1552DurangoGinés Vázquez de Mercado reaches the Guadiana valley and its iron hill.
1552HidalgoSilver is found at Pachuca and Real del Monte.
1554ColimaFranciscans found the monastery of San Francisco de Coliman.
1554HidalgoBartolomé de Medina first uses the patio process at scale at Pachuca.
1554TamaulipasSan Luis de Tampico is founded, one of the first permanent Spanish towns on the Gulf coast.
1555GuanajuatoSan Miguel is founded to protect the roads from Chichimeca attack.
1555-80MorelosThe people of Tepoztlán build the Dominican convent.
1558DurangoThe first Franciscan mission is founded at Nombre de Dios.
1560JaliscoThe Audiencia of Nueva Galicia moves to Guadalajara, now the kingdom's capital.
1562ChiapasDominicans build the fountain of La Pila at Chiapa de Corzo.
1562YucatánDiego de Landa burns Maya codices at the auto de fe of Maní on 12 Jul.
1563DurangoFrancisco de Ibarra founds Durango on 8 Jul as capital of Nueva Vizcaya.
1563SinaloaFrancisco de Ibarra founds the settlement that becomes El Fuerte.
1564JaliscoLegazpi and Urdaneta sail from Barra de Navidad for the Philippines on 21 Nov.
1564TabascoDiego de Quijada founds Villa Carmona, today Villahermosa, and the Cimatecos are the last to submit.
1565GuerreroThe Manila galleon trade with Acapulco begins; it lasts until 1815.
1566ChihuahuaFrancisco de Ibarra's expedition reaches the ruins of Paquimé.
1567ChihuahuaSanta Bárbara is founded, one of the first Spanish towns in the region.
1568VeracruzSpanish forces trap John Hawkins's fleet at San Juan de Ulúa.
c. 1570AguascalientesPresidios at Las Bocas, Palmillas and Ciénega Grande guard the silver road from Zacatecas.
1570GuanajuatoCelaya is founded on 12 Oct in the heart of the Bajío.
1575AguascalientesJuan de Montoro founds the villa on 22 Oct 1575.
1575-77VeracruzA smallpox epidemic empties Cempoala; survivors move to Xalapa.
1576GuanajuatoThe Villa de León is founded.
1577CoahuilaAlberto del Canto founds the Villa de Santiago del Saltillo on 25 Jul.
1577Nuevo LeónSpanish settlers open the San Gregorio mines at Cerralvo and found Santa Lucía, on the site of Monterrey.
1582Nuevo LeónLuis Carvajal y de la Cueva founds Ciudad de León, at Cerralvo, as capital of the New Kingdom of León.
1583CoahuilaLuis de Carvajal founds Nueva Almadén, at the site of Monclova; it is soon abandoned.
1585State of MexicoThe Jesuit college of San Francisco Javier opens at Tepotzotlán.
1585ZacatecasPhilip II grants the title of Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de los Zacatecas.
1587NayaritThomas Cavendish raids Chacala on the coast.
1591Coahuila71 Tlaxcalan families found San Esteban de la Nueva Tlaxcala beside Saltillo.
1591GuerreroChilpancingo is founded on 1 Nov 1591.
1591San Luis PotosíAbout 400 Tlaxcalan families move north to found 8 settlements among the Chichimecas.
1591TlaxcalaMore than 400 Tlaxcalan families set out to colonize the north.
1592San Luis PotosíGold and silver are found at Cerro de San Pedro; the city is legally founded on 3 Nov.
1596Nuevo LeónDiego de Montemayor and a dozen or so families found Monterrey on 20 Sep.
1597CoahuilaA winery is founded at Parras in Aug, today Casa Madero, the oldest in the Americas.
1598CoahuilaAntón Martín de Zapata and the Jesuit Agustín de Espinoza found Santa María de las Parras.
1598DurangoSpanish prospectors find the Ojuela mine near Mapimí.
1598TabascoPhilip II grants the town the title of Villa Hermosa and a coat of arms.
1599SinaloaJesuits begin to spread out from Sinaloa de Leyva across the north.
1604ChihuahuaJoan Font founds the first Jesuit mission among the Tarahumara.
1609-18VeracruzGaspar Yanga's runaways resist Spanish troops and win a free town in 1618.
1610SinaloaA fort is built at El Fuerte against the Zuaque and Tehueco peoples.
1614GuerreroA Japanese embassy under Hasekura Tsunenaga lands at Acapulco.
1615ColimaSebastián Vizcaíno defends Manzanillo against the Dutch captain Joris van Spilbergen.
1616DurangoThe Tepehuán revolt nearly forces the abandonment of the capital.
1617GuerreroThe Fort of San Diego is completed to guard Acapulco.
1617TamaulipasFriar Juan Bautista de Mollinedo founds Tula on 22 Jul, today the oldest town in the state.
1620DurangoDurango becomes the seat of a diocese.
1629Mexico CityA flood begins on 21 Sep and leaves the city under water until 1634.
1631ChihuahuaA silver strike gives rise to San José del Parral, founded 14 Jul.
1637Nuevo LeónFounding of Cadereyta on 13 Aug.
1655QuerétaroThe viceroy grants Querétaro the title of city.
1655SinaloaEl Rosario is founded on 3 Aug, by tradition after a chance silver find.
1659ChihuahuaFranciscans found the mission at Paso del Norte, today Ciudad Juárez.
1675CoahuilaFranciscans found the mission of San Ildefonso de la Paz on 28 Jan.
1677TabascoAfter a pirate sack, the provincial authorities move to Tacotalpa.
1685CampecheLaurens de Graaf takes and sacks Campeche.
1685SonoraÁlamos is founded on 8 Dec, two years after its silver mines.
1686-1704CampecheThe 2,560 m wall with eight bastions is built.
1686Nuevo LeónTlaxcalan families from Saltillo found San Miguel de Aguayo, today's Bustamante.
1687SonoraEusebio Francisco Kino arrives and begins the missions of the Pimería Alta.
1697Baja California SurJuan María de Salvatierra founds the mission of Loreto on 25 Oct, the first permanent one in the present state.
1700SonoraPitic, the future Hermosillo, is founded on 18 May.
1709ChihuahuaAntonio de Deza y Ulloa founds the mining camp that becomes Chihuahua City, 12 Oct.
1712-13Chiapas32 Tzeltal, Tsotsil and Ch'ol towns rise around Cancuc.
1712Nuevo LeónFounding of the Villa de San Felipe de Linares, later a bishop's seat and sugar town.
1717CampecheEnglish logwood cutters are driven from the Isla de Tris, now Carmen.
1717TabascoTabasco forces drive the pirates from Isla del Carmen on 16 Jul.
c. 1720DurangoMines at Guanaceví, Cuencamé and San Juan del Río begin producing.
1722NayaritSpanish forces seize the Mesa del Nayar in Feb, ending Cora independence.
1726-38QuerétaroThe 74-arch aqueduct is built to bring water to the city.
1729Quintana RooThe fort of San Felipe at Bacalar is finished.
1729ZacatecasWork begins on the cathedral, paid for by the second silver boom; it opens for worship in 1752.
1730Baja California SurThe mission of San José del Cabo is founded on the Río San José.
1734Baja California SurThe Pericú revolt begins at Santiago, where the missionary Lorenzo José Carranco is killed.
1740-42SonoraYaqui and Mayo rise together to drive out the Spanish.
1741GuanajuatoGuanajuato receives the title of city.
1748QuerétaroJosé de Escandón defeats the Chichimecas at Media Luna, opening the Sierra Gorda.
1748-55TamaulipasJosé de Escandón's expedition founds the villas of Nuevo Santander, from Llera to Reynosa and Camargo.
1750TamaulipasVilla de Santa María de Aguayo, the future Ciudad Victoria, is founded on 6 Oct.
1751-58GuerreroJosé de la Borda builds the church of Santa Prisca at Taxco.
1751-58QuerétaroThe mission church of Jalpan, the first of 5 in the Sierra Gorda, is built.
1758JaliscoJosé Antonio Cuervo receives an official licence to make and sell tequila.
1761YucatánJacinto Canek leads the Maya rising at Cisteil, in the south-centre of the state.
1766HidalgoMiners at Real del Monte strike against wage cuts and the loss of the partido.
1767SonoraThe crown expels the Jesuits, ending the mission system.
1768Baja California SurThe Jesuits are expelled and the Franciscans take over the missions.
1768NayaritJosé de Gálvez founds the port and shipyard of San Blas; Junípero Serra sails for California.
1769Baja CaliforniaJunípero Serra founds San Fernando Velicatá on 14 May, his first mission.
1769Baja California SurThe Portolá expedition leaves Loreto on 24 Mar for Alta California.
1772San Luis PotosíSilver is found in the mountains of Real de Catorce; the town is founded in 1779.
1774-1817Baja CaliforniaThe Dominicans build their chain of missions from El Rosario to El Descanso.
1774GuanajuatoThe Valenciana mine begins operations.
1775NayaritBodega y Quadra sails from San Blas and reaches Alaska.
1777CampecheCharles III grants Campeche the title of city on 1 Oct.
1786San Luis PotosíThe Intendancy of San Luis Potosí is created, the largest in New Spain.
1787-88Nuevo LeónBishop Rafael José Verger builds the Obispado palace above Monterrey.
1789AguascalientesAguascalientes is placed under the intendancy of Zacatecas on 24 Apr 1789.
1792ColimaMiguel Hidalgo serves as a parish priest in Colima from Mar to Nov.
1795TabascoThe capital returns to Villahermosa on 15 Aug.
1804Baja CaliforniaThe crown divides the Californias into Alta and Baja.
1806OaxacaBenito Juárez is born in Guelatao on 21 Mar 1806.

Down to the states

The eight states with the most dated events in this era

Where the sources disagree

The population of central Mexico in 1518-19: Borah and Cook, 25.2 million; Sanders' lower figures, extrapolated, about 10 to 12 million (an exercise Chiaramonte calls extremely arbitrary). Both agree on the scale of the fall. 4
The 1545-48 epidemic: 5 to 15 million deaths; its cause (a Salmonella or a native haemorrhagic fever) is still argued. 3
Yanga's town: recognised after the 1609 fight (Wikipedia, Afro-Mexicans) or by the 1618 treaty (Wikipedia, Gaspar Yanga). 12 11
New Spain in 1810: 5 to 5.5 million (recent data) or 8 million (the article's own infobox); estimates from the 1793 census run from 3.8 to 6.1 million. 2
Sor Juana's silence: rebuked in 1690, she answered in 1691; Wikipedia notes there is no undisputed evidence that she renounced writing. 13
Sor Juana's birth: 1648 or 1651; the records disagree and scholars still debate it. 13

Keep going

Previous era

Sources, each with its date

Wikipedia first, then the sources it cites; the state events carry their own sources on each state page.

Wikipedia (English), Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), New Spain · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Cocoliztli epidemics · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
J. C. Chiaramonte, "En torno a la recuperación demográfica y la depresión económica novohispanas durante el siglo XVII", Historia Mexicana 30(4), El Colegio de México, 1981, table of Borah and Cook (1969) and the figures of W. T. Sanders (1976) · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Population history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Zacatecas City · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Manila galleon · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Twelve Apostles of Mexico · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Mexican Inquisition · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Suppression of the Society of Jesus · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Gaspar Yanga · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Afro-Mexicans · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Juana Inés de la Cruz · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Encomienda · read 5 Nov 2026 · link
Wikipedia (English), Cry of Dolores · read 5 Nov 2026 · link

Picture

Fachada Frontal de la Catedral de Zacatecas, Zac.jpg: Martín Daniel Cordero Amézquita, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

New Spain

The era in 16 dates

What happened, and what is still argued

A conquest with Indigenous armies

The collapse

Silver, missions and haciendas

The Church

Africa in New Spain

The Pacific, Sor Juana, the richest colony

All 163 dated events of the era in our 32 state histories

The eight states with the most dated events in this era

Durango

Guerrero

Baja California Sur

Guanajuato

Jalisco

Nuevo León

Sonora

Zacatecas

Where the sources disagree

First peoples

The territory, 1821 to today

Independence, Reform and the lost north

Sources, each with its date

Picture