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137-650: Since December 2018, the former presidential complex has operated as a cultural space. After the Spanish Conquest , around 1550, a trapiche (mill) was built in Chapultepec, where wheat and maize were processed into flour. This mill became so important that it was later called the Molino del Rey ("The King's Mill"). In 1853, the Molino del Rey was sold to Doctor José Pablo Martínez del Río , who built

274-653: A Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu (Japan) by sailing west. Castile was already engaged in a race of exploration with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. In the Capitulations of Santa Fe , dated on 17 April 1492, Christopher Columbus obtained from the Catholic Monarchs his appointment as viceroy and governor in the lands already discovered and that he might discover thenceforth; thereby, it

411-423: A 20,000-strong Tlaxcalan army. Three days later, a 50,000-strong Otomi -Tlaxcalan force was defeated by Spanish arquebusier and cannon fire, and a Castilian cavalry charge. Thousands of Tlaxcalans joined the invaders against their Aztec rulers. Cortés's forces sacked the city of Cholula , massacring 6,000 inhabitants, and later entered Emperor Moctezuma II 's capital, Tenochtitlan , on 8 November. Velázquez sent

548-463: A President and, second, he promised his wife that when he became president, the house they shared would be named after the huerta in Tacámbaro , Michoacan, where they met. Los Pinos was home to thirteen of the fourteen presidents in office between 1935 and 2018, with the exception of Adolfo López Mateos (1958–1964). In 2000, President Vicente Fox chose one of the nearby cottages as his home and

685-789: A Spanish protectorate following a series of treaties in 1488, 1491, 1493, and 1495. With the Christian reconquest completed in the Iberian peninsula, Spain began trying to take territory in Muslim North Africa. It had conquered Melilla in 1497, and further expansionism policy in North Africa was developed during the regency of Ferdinand the Catholic in Castile, stimulated by Cardinal Cisneros . Several towns and outposts in

822-465: A counterattack. Cortés realized that the defeat was imminent and decided to escape yet, the Aztecs attacked. The Massacre is most known as La Noche Triste (the sorrowful night) about "400 Spaniards, 4000 native allies and many horses [were killed] before reaching the mainland". Moctezuma was killed, although the sources do not agree on who killed him. According to one account, when Moctezuma, now seen by

959-582: A crucial role in the conquest, yet other factors paved the path for the Spaniards' success. For instance, the Spaniards' timing of entry, the compelling ideologies of both groups, and the Spanish unfamiliarity with the Aztec Empire. Therefore, the Spaniards lacked a sense of danger and power structure within the empire. "A direct attack on a city as mighty as Tenochtitlan was unlikely and unexpected" from

1096-559: A different venue. Columbus's second voyage in 1493 had a large contingent of settlers and goods to accomplish that. On Hispaniola, the city of Santo Domingo was founded in 1496 by Christopher Columbus's brother Bartholomew Columbus and became a stone-built, permanent city. Non-Castilians, such as Catalans and Aragonese , were often prohibited from migrating to the New World. Following the settlement of Hispaniola, Europeans began searching elsewhere to begin new settlements, since there

1233-598: A force led by Pánfilo de Narváez to punish the insubordinate Cortés for his unauthorized invasion of Mexico, but they were defeated at the Battle of Cempoala on 29 May 1520. Narváez was wounded and captured and 17 of his troops were killed; the rest joined Cortés. Meanwhile, Pedro de Alvarado triggered an Aztec uprising following the massacre in the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan , during which 400 Aztec nobles and 2,000 onlookers were killed. The Castilians were driven out of

1370-492: A latitude south of Cape Bojador , a compromise was worked out and incorporated in the Treaty of Tordesillas , dated on 7 June 1494, in which the world was split into two dividing Spanish and Portuguese claims. These actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from north to south (later with the exception of Brazil, which Portuguese commander Pedro Álvares Cabral encountered in 1500), as well as

1507-712: A number of revolts across the Spanish Habsburg's domains, including their Spanish kingdoms. During the Habsburg rule, the Spanish Empire significantly expanded its territories in the Americas, beginning with the conquest of the Aztec Empire ; these conquests were achieved not by the Spanish army, but by small groups of adventurers—artisans, traders, gentry, and peasants—who operated independently under

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1644-544: A petition for rewards for services, as many Spanish accounts were, the Anonymous Conqueror made observations about the indigenous situation at the time of the conquest. The account was used by eighteenth-century Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero in his descriptions of the history of Mexico. On the indigenous side, the allies of Cortés, particularly the Tlaxcalans, wrote extensively about their services to

1781-892: A result of the marriage politics of the Catholic Monarchs (in Spanish, Reyes Católicos ), their Habsburg grandson Charles inherited the Castilian empire in the Americas and the possessions of the Crown of Aragon in the Mediterranean (including all of south Italy ), lands in Germany, the Low Countries , Franche-Comté , and Austria , starting the rule of the Spanish Habsburgs. The Austrian hereditary Habsburg domains were transferred to Ferdinand ,

1918-654: A surprise attack in Cajamarca that resulted in the massacre of thousands of Incas. This conquest facilitated the establishment of the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1542, allowing Spain to exert control over territories in western South America, comprising present-day Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and parts of Chile and Argentina. In the subsequent years, Spanish explorers and conquistadors ventured into northern South America, where they established settlements in present-day Venezuela and Colombia. Philip II of Spain (r. 1556–98) oversaw

2055-673: A surviving heir, probably the Crown of Aragon would have been split from Castile, which was inherited by Charles, Ferdinand and Isabella's grandson. Ferdinand joined the League of Cambrai against Venice in 1508. In 1511, he became part of the Holy League against France, seeing a chance at taking both Milan —to which he held a dynastic claim—and Navarre . In 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of Upper Navarre , which had effectively been

2192-515: A well-seasoned participant in the conquest of Central Mexico, wrote what he called The True History of the Conquest of New Spain , countering the account by Cortés's official biographer, Francisco López de Gómara . Bernal Díaz's account had begun as a benemérito petition for rewards but he expanded it to encompass a full history of his earlier expeditions in the Caribbean and Tierra Firme and

2329-529: Is attributed to their help from indigenous allies, technology, and the Aztec empire's vulnerability due to the smallpox spread. As a result, the Aztec's tactics countering the Spaniard's advanced technology is understated. According to Hassig, "It is true that cannons, guns, crossbows, steel blades, horses and war dogs were advanced on the Aztecs' weaponry. But the advantage these gave a few hundred Spanish soldiers

2466-485: Is debatable. Omens were extremely important to the Aztecs, who believed that history repeated itself. A number of modern scholars cast doubt on whether such omens occurred or whether they were ex post facto (retrospective) creations to help the Mexica explain their defeat. Some scholars contend that "the most likely interpretation of the story of these portents is that some, if not all, had occurred" but concede that it

2603-464: Is nowhere they can get as good a unified narrative of the main events, crises, and course of the Mexican conquest as Prescott's version." In the sources recorded by Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and Dominican Diego Durán in the mid to late sixteenth century, there are accounts of events that were interpreted as supernatural omens of the conquest. These two accounts are full-blown narratives from

2740-491: Is true. Over the years, and especially after Nezhualpilli's death in 1515, several supernatural omens appeared. The eight bad omens or wonders: Additionally, the Tlaxcala saw a "radiance that shone in the east every morning three hours before sunrise", and a "whirlwind of dust" from the volcano Matlalcueye . According to Diaz, "These Caciques also told us of a tradition they had heard from their ancestors, that one of

2877-454: Is very likely that "clever Mexicans and friars, writing later of the Mexican empire, were happy to link those memories with what they know occurred in Europe. Many sources depicting omens and the return of old Aztec gods, including those supervised by Spanish priests, were written after the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521. Spanish accounts tended to incorporate omens to emphasize what they saw as

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3014-435: The arbitristas . The natural resource abundance provoked a decline in entrepreneurship as profits from resource extraction are less risky. The wealthy preferred to invest their fortunes in public debt ( juros ). The Habsburg dynasty spent the Castilian and American riches in wars across Europe on behalf of Habsburg interests, and declared moratoriums (bankruptcies) on their debt payments several times. These burdens led to

3151-789: The American Revolutionary War , Britain ceded both Floridas back to Spain as part of the Treaty of Paris . Spain had recaptured West Florida in 1781 through military operations. Both Floridas were ceded to the United States in 1819 as part of the Adams-Onís Treaty . Louisiana was ceded back to France in 1801 in the Treaty of Aranjuez . The Bourbon monarchy implemented reforms like the Nueva Planta decrees , which centralized power and abolished regional privileges. Economic policies promoted trade with

3288-629: The Aztec Empire as well as their political rivals, particularly the Tlaxcaltecs and Tetzcocans , a former partner in the Aztec Triple Alliance. Other city-states also joined, including Cempoala and Huejotzingo and polities bordering Lake Texcoco , the inland lake system of the Valley of Mexico . Particularly important to the Spanish success was a multilingual (Nahuatl, a Maya dialect, and Spanish) Nahua-speaking woman enslaved by

3425-753: The Cape Verde islands (1476), conquering the city of Ceuta in the Tingitan Peninsula in 1476 (but retaken by the Portuguese), and even attacked the Azores islands, being defeated at Praia . The turning point of the war came in 1478, however, when a Castilian fleet sent by King Ferdinand to conquer Gran Canaria lost men and ships to the Portuguese who expelled the attack, and a large Castilian armada—full of gold—was entirely captured in

3562-743: The Caribbean Islands , half of South America , most of Central America and much of North America . The Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation —the first circumnavigation of the Earth—laid the foundation for Spain's Pacific empire and for Spanish control over the East Indies . The influx of gold and silver from the mines in Zacatecas and Guanajuato in Mexico and Potosí in Bolivia enriched

3699-573: The Casa Grande ("Grand House") that would later become known as Rancho La Hormiga ("The Ant Ranch"). In 1865, the whole property was sold to Emperor Maximilian for a total of 25,000 Mexican pesos . Following the 1867 overthrow and execution of Maximilian, the property was, in 1872, returned to Doctor Martínez del Río. In 1917, with the end of the armed phase of the Mexican Revolution , President Venustiano Carranza expropriated

3836-624: The Council of the Indies and Casa de Contratación , the two highest bodies in metropolitan Spain for the government of the empire in the New World, as well as royal government in the Indies. Portugal obtained several papal bulls that acknowledged Portuguese control over the discovered territories, but Castile also obtained from the Pope the safeguard of its rights to the Canary Islands with

3973-510: The Crown of Castile , having earlier retaken territory from the Muslims. Following Portugal's earlier completion of the reconquest and its establishment of settled boundaries, it began to seek overseas expansion, first to the port of Ceuta (1415) and then by colonizing the Atlantic islands of Madeira (1418) and the Azores (1427–1452); it also began voyages down the west coast of Africa in

4110-793: The Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy , was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire , it ushered in the European Age of Discovery . It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas , Africa , various islands in Asia and Oceania , as well as territory in other parts of Europe. It was one of the most powerful empires of

4247-850: The Honduras Company (1714), a Caracas company; the Guipuzcoana Company (1728), and the most successful ones, the Havana Company (1740) and the Barcelona Trading Company (1755). In 1717–18, the structures for governing the Indies, the Consejo de Indias and the Casa de Contratación , which governed investments in the cumbersome Spanish treasure fleets , were transferred from Seville to Cádiz , where foreign merchant houses had easier access to

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4384-518: The Italian Wars beginning in 1494. Following Spanish victories at the Battles of Cerignola and Garigliano in 1503, France recognized Ferdinand's sovereignty over Naples through a treaty. After the death of Queen Isabella in 1504, and her exclusion of Ferdinand from a further role in Castile, Ferdinand married Germaine de Foix in 1505, cementing an alliance with France. Had that couple had

4521-815: The Kingdom of Naples , the Kingdom of Sicily , the Kingdom of Sardinia , and the Duchy of Milan through the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559. Italy became the core of Spain's power. By the mid-17th century, Spain's global empire burdened its economic, administrative, and military resources. Over the preceding century, Spanish troops had fought in France, Germany, and the Netherlands, suffering heavy casualties. Despite its vast holdings, Spain's military lacked essential modernization and heavily relied on foreign suppliers. Nevertheless, Spain possessed abundant bullion from

4658-652: The Mixtón War in 1542. Two letters to Cortés about Alvarado's campaigns in Guatemala are published in The Conquistadors . The chronicle of the so-called "Anonymous Conqueror" was written sometime in the sixteenth century, entitled in an early twentieth-century translation to English as Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan (i.e. Tenochtitlan). Rather than it being

4795-667: The New World in 1493, Portugal and Castile divided the world by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), which gave Portugal Africa and Asia, and the Western Hemisphere to Spain. The voyage of Columbus, a Genoese mariner, obtained the support of Isabella of Castile, sailing west in 1492, seeking a route to the Indies. Columbus unexpectedly encountered the New World , populated by peoples he named "Indians". Subsequent voyages and full-scale settlements of Spaniards followed, with gold beginning to flow into Castile's coffers. Managing

4932-466: The Spanish Main , seeking wealth in the form of gold and access to indigenous labor to mine gold and other manual labor. Twenty-five years after the first Spanish settlement in the New World , expeditions of exploration were sent to the coast of Mexico. In 1517, Cuban governor Diego Velázquez commissioned a fleet of three ships under the command of Hernández de Córdoba to sail west and explore

5069-523: The War of the Spanish Succession , as various European powers contested his claim to the throne. The conflict concluded with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, allowing Philip, the first Bourbon king of Spain, to retain the throne but resulting in territorial losses for Spain: Gibraltar , Menorca , the Spanish Netherlands and Spanish Italy. In 1763, after the Seven Years' War , Spain ceded both East Florida and West Florida to Great Britain while gaining Louisiana from France. However, in 1783, following

5206-440: The Yucatán peninsula. Córdoba reached the coast of Yucatán. The Mayans at Cape Catoche invited the Spanish to land, and the conquistadors read the Requirement of 1513 to them, which offered the natives the protection of the King of Spain, if they would submit to him. Córdoba took two prisoners, who adopted the baptized names of Melchor and Julián and became interpreters. Later, the two prisoners, being misled or misinterpreting

5343-436: The early modern period , becoming known as " the empire on which the sun never sets ". At its greatest extent in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Spanish Empire covered over 13 million square kilometres (5 million square miles), making it one of the largest empires in history. Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus and continuing for over three centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across

5480-408: The status quo . A combination of factors including superior weaponry, strategic alliances with oppressed or otherwise dissatisfied or opportunistic indigenous groups , and the impact of European diseases contributed to the downfall of the short rule of the Aztec civilization. The invasion of Tenochtitlán , the capital of the Aztec Empire, marked the beginning of Spanish dominance in the region and

5617-412: The 1540s, in writings by Europeans. Nonetheless, it was repeated in many sources, even among Indians, especially those who had become students of the Franciscan friars and were searching for an explanation for how the Aztecs had fallen. This was complicated by the word teules that the Nahuas used to refer to the Spaniards, who claimed to represent their Christian god and originated from a land unknown to

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5754-405: The 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus 's first voyage, when scholarly and popular interest in first encounters surged. A popular and enduring narrative of the Spanish campaign in central Mexico is by New England -born nineteenth-century historian William Hickling Prescott . His History of the Conquest of Mexico , first published in 1843, remains an important unified narrative synthesis of

5891-406: The Americas instead. Thus, the limitations imposed by the Alcáçovas treaty were overcome and a new and more balanced division of the world would be reached in the Treaty of Tordesillas between both emerging maritime powers. Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King John II of Aragon died, and his son Ferdinand II of Aragon , married to Isabella I of Castile , inherited

6028-477: The Americas, which played a crucial role in both sustaining its military endeavors and meeting the needs of its civilian population. During this period, Spain displayed limited military interest in its overseas colonies. The Criollo elites (colonial-born Spaniards) and mestizo and mulatto militia (of mixed Indigenous-Spanish and African-Spanish descent) provided only minimal protection, often assisted by more influential allies with vested interests in maintaining

6165-446: The Austrians at the Battle of Bitonto in 1734 during the War of the Polish Succession , and during the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–42) thwarted British efforts to capture the strategic cities of Cartagena de Indias , Santiago de Cuba and St. Augustine by defeating a British combined army and navy force, although Spain's invasion of Georgia also failed. The British suffered 25,000 dead or wounded and lost nearly 5,000 ships during

6302-423: The Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire . Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés , and his small army of European soldiers and numerous indigenous allies, overthrowing one of the most powerful empires in Mesoamerica . Led by the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II ,

6439-449: The Aztec Empire had established dominance over central Mexico through military conquest and intricate alliances. Because the Aztec Empire ruled via hegemonic control by maintaining local leadership and relying on the psychological perception of Aztec power—backed by military force —the Aztecs normally kept subordinate rulers compliant. This was an inherently unstable system of governance, as this situation could change with any alteration in

6576-491: The Aztec Empire had its final victory on 13 August 1521, when a coalition army of Spanish forces and native Tlaxcalan warriors led by Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger captured the emperor Cuauhtémoc and Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire . The fall of Tenochtitlan marks the beginning of Spanish rule in central Mexico, and they established their capital of Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. Cortés made alliances with tributary city-states ( altepetl ) of

6713-436: The Aztec attack on the Totonacs in Veracruz , Cortés claims that he took Motecuhzoma captive. Capturing the cacique or indigenous ruler was a standard operating procedure for Spaniards in their expansion in the Caribbean, so capturing Motecuhzoma had considerable precedent but modern scholars are skeptical that Cortés and his countrymen took Motecuhzoma captive at this time. They had great incentive to claim they did, owing to

6850-413: The Aztec capital, suffering heavy losses and losing all of their gold and guns during La Noche Triste . On 8 July 1520, at Otumba , the Castilians and their allies, without artillery or arquebusiers, repelled 100,000 Aztecs armed with obsidian-bladed clubs. In August, 500 Castilians and 40,000 Tlaxcalans conquered the hilltop town of Tepeaca , an Aztec ally. Most of the inhabitants were either branded on

6987-409: The Canaries, recognized the Portuguese monopoly of fishing and navigation along the whole west African coast and Portugal's rights over the Madeira , Azores and Cape Verde islands [plus the right to conquer the Kingdom of Fez ]." The treaty delimited the spheres of influence of the two countries, establishing the principle of the Mare clausum . It was confirmed in 1481 by the Pope Sixtus IV , in

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7124-435: The Caribbean and Tierra Firme (Central America), learning strategy and tactics of successful enterprises. The Spanish conquest of Mexico had antecedents with established practices. The fall of the Aztec Empire was the key event in the formation of the Spanish Empire overseas, with New Spain , which later became Mexico . 1519 1520 1521 1522 1524 1525 1525–30 1527–1547 The conquest of Mexico,

7261-421: The Casa Miguel Alemán (residence of most prior presidents) was used for offices and other government functions. In 2018, Andrés Manuel López Obrador , at the time a candidate for the Mexican presidency, announced that he would not live in Los Pinos if he won the election and would instead open the residence to the public. López Obrador won the election , and Los Pinos was opened to the public on December 1, 2018,

7398-499: The Christian conquest of the Muslim Emirate of Granada , completed in 1492, for which Valencia-born Pope Alexander VI gave them the title of the Catholic Monarchs . Ferdinand of Aragon was particularly concerned with expansion in France and Italy, as well as conquests in North Africa. With the Ottoman Turks controlling the choke points of the overland trade from Asia and the Middle East, both Spain and Portugal sought alternative routes. The Kingdom of Portugal had an advantage over

7535-401: The Emperor's brother, whereas Spain and the remaining possessions were inherited by Charles's son, Philip II of Spain , at the abdication of the former in 1556. The Habsburgs pursued several goals: "I learnt a proverb here", said a French traveler in 1603: "Everything is dear in Spain except silver". The problems caused by inflation were discussed by scholars at the School of Salamanca and

7672-421: The Indies trade. Cádiz became the one port for all Indies trading (see flota system ). Individual sailings at regular intervals were slow to displace the traditional armed convoys, but by the 1760s there were regular ships plying the Atlantic from Cádiz to Havana and Puerto Rico , and at longer intervals to the Río de la Plata , where an additional viceroyalty was created in 1776. The contraband trade that

7809-426: The Mayas, known to the Spanish conquistadors as Doña Marina, and later as La Malinche . After eight months of battles and negotiations, which overcame the diplomatic resistance of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II to his visit, Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan on 8 November 1519, where he took up residence with fellow Spaniards and their indigenous allies. When news reached Cortés of the death of several of his men during

7946-425: The Mexica in Tenochtitlan on 13 August 1521. Notably, the accounts of the conquest, Spanish and indigenous alike, have biases and exaggerations. Some, though not all, Spanish accounts downplay the support of their indigenous allies. Conquerors' accounts exaggerate individual contributions to the Conquest at the expense of their comrades, while indigenous allies' accounts stress their loyalty and importance to victory for

8083-412: The North African coast were conquered and occupied by Castile between 1505 and 1510: Mers El Kébir , Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera , Oran , Bougie , Tripoli , and Peñón of Algiers . On the Atlantic coast, Spain took possession of the outpost of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña (1476) with support from the Canary Islands , and it was retained until 1525 with the consent of the Treaty of Cintra (1509). As

8220-437: The Portuguese power, but also to take possession of this lucrative commerce. The Crown officially organized this trade with Guinea: every caravel had to secure a government license and to pay a tax on one-fifth of their profits (a receiver of the customs of Guinea was established in Seville in 1475—the ancestor of the future and famous Casa de Contratación ). Castilian fleets fought in the Atlantic Ocean, temporarily occupying

8357-514: The Spaniards arrived in 1519, Moctezuma knew this was the year of Ce Acatl, which is the year Quetzalcoatl was promised to return. Previously, during Juan de Grijalva 's expedition, Moctezuma believed that those men were heralds of Quetzalcoatl, as Moctezuma, as well as everyone else in the Aztec Empire, were to believe that eventually, Quetzalcoatl will return. Moctezuma even had glass beads that were left behind by Grijalva brought to Tenochtitlan and they were regarded as sacred religious relics. On

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8494-469: The Spanish Americas, exploring and describing it for the first time from a modern scientific point of view between 1799 and 1804. In his work Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain containing researches relative to the geography of Mexico he says that the Amerindians of New Spain were wealthier than any Russian or German peasant in Europe. According to Humboldt, despite the fact that Indian farmers were poor, under Spanish rule they were free and slavery

8631-412: The Spanish Crown in the conquest, arguing for special privileges for themselves. The most important of these are the pictorial Lienzo de Tlaxcala (1585) and the Historia de Tlaxcala by Diego Muñoz Camargo . Less successfully, the Nahua allies from Huexotzinco (or Huejotzinco) near Tlaxcala argued that their contributions had been overlooked by the Spanish. In a letter in Nahuatl to the Spanish Crown,

8768-403: The Spanish crown and financed military endeavors and territorial expansion. Another crucial element of the empire's expansion was the financial support provided by Genoese bankers, who financed royal expeditions and military campaigns. In 1700, Philip V became king of Spain after the death of Charles II , the last Habsburg monarch of Spain, who died without an heir. His ascension triggered

8905-516: The Spanish had reached Tlatelolco's center, raising their new flag atop the city's twin towers. Having exhausted their gunpowder, they attempted a catapult breach but failed. On 3 August, 12,000 more civilians were killed in another city section. Alvarado's destruction of the aqueducts forced the Aztecs to drink from the lake, causing disease and thousands of deaths. Another major assault occurred on 12 August, during which many thousands of non-combatants were massacred in their shelters. The following day,

9042-416: The Spanish overseas empire in the Americas and the Philippines. The settlement gave spoils to those who had backed a Habsburg for the Spanish monarchy, ceding European territory of the Spanish Netherlands , Naples , Milan , and Sardinia to Austria ; Sicily and parts of Milan to the Duchy of Savoy , and Gibraltar and Menorca to the Kingdom of Great Britain . The treaty also granted British merchants

9179-536: The Spanish. These accounts are similar to Spanish conquerors' accounts contained in petitions for rewards, known as benemérito petitions. Two lengthy accounts from the defeated indigenous viewpoint were created under the direction of Spanish friars, Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and Dominican Diego Durán , using indigenous informants. Because Nahuatl did not have a full alphabet, the majority of extant indigenous sources are recollections of Nahuatl-speakers who were subsequently introduced to Latin characters after

9316-412: The arrival of the Spanish from the Gulf of Mexico. In 1510, Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II was visited by Nezahualpilli , who had a reputation as a great seer, as well as being the tlatoani of Texcoco. Nezahualpilli warned Moctezuma that he must be on guard, for in a few years Aztec cities would be destroyed. Before leaving, he said that there would be omens for Moctezuma to know that what he has been told

9453-413: The arrival of the Spanish. Gingerish identifies the Annals of Tlatelolco (1524?-1528) as “One of the oldest recorded manuscripts in Nahuatl, written presumably by a native who must have learned the use of Latin characters and alphabet within three or four years of the conquest.” Lockhart, however, argues for a later post-1540 date for this manuscript, and indeed the majority of indigenous source material

9590-433: The balance of power and safeguarding the Spanish Empire from falling into enemy hands. With the 1700 death of the childless Charles II of Spain , the crown of Spain was contested in the War of the Spanish Succession . Under the Treaties of Utrecht (11 April 1713) ending the war, the French prince of the House of Bourbon , Philippe of Anjou, grandchild of Louis XIV of France, became King Philip V of Spain . He retained

9727-415: The beginning of Catalan participation in the Spanish slave trade , and the rapidly growing textile industry of Catalonia which by the mid-1780s saw the first signs of industrialization. This saw the emergence of a small, politically active commercial class in Barcelona . This isolated pocket of advanced economic development stood in stark contrast to the relative backwardness of most of the country. Most of

9864-491: The bulls Romani Pontifex dated 6 November 1436 and Dominatur Dominus dated 30 April 1437. The conquest of the Canary Islands , inhabited by Guanche people, began in 1402 during the reign of Henry III of Castile , by Norman nobleman Jean de Béthencourt under a feudal agreement with the crown. The conquest was completed with the campaigns of the armies of the Crown of Castile between 1478 and 1496, when

10001-408: The causeway at Tlacopan by the armies of Alvarado and Cristóbal de Olid . While fighting on the causeway, the Spanish and their allies came under attack from both sides by Aztecs firing arrows from canoes. Thirteen Spanish brigantines sank 300 out of 400 enemy war canoes sent against them. The Aztecs tried to damage the Spanish vessels by hiding spears beneath the shallow water. The attackers breached

10138-497: The city and engaged in fighting with the Aztec defenders in the streets. The Aztecs defeated the Spanish-Tlaxcalan forces at the Battle of Colhuacatonco on 30 June 1521. Following this Aztec victory, 53 Spanish prisoners were paraded to the tops of Tlatelolco 's highest pyramids and publicly sacrificed . In late July, the attackers resumed their assaults, resulting in the massacre of 800 Aztec civilians. By 29 July,

10275-504: The city fell and Cuauhtémoc was captured. At least 100,000 Aztecs died during the siege, while 100 Spaniards and up to 30,000 of their Indigenous allies were killed or died from disease. The fall of Tenochtitlan marked the beginning of Spanish colonial rule in Mexico, leading to the establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1535. In 1532, Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire by capturing its leader Atahualpa during

10412-399: The colonies, enhancing Spanish influence in the Americas. Socially, tensions emerged between the ruling elite and the rising bourgeoisie, as well as divisions between peninsular Spaniards and Creoles in the Americas. These factors ultimately set the stage for the independence movements that began in the early 19th century, leading to the gradual disintegration of Spanish colonial authority. By

10549-649: The colonization of the Philippines, which began in 1565 with the arrival of Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi , making him ruler of one of the first true globe-spanning empires. His victory in the War of the Portuguese Succession led to the annexation of Portugal in 1580, effectively integrating its overseas empire—encompassing coastal Brazil and African and Indian coastal enclaves—into Spain's domain. Philip II also reaffirmed Spanish control over

10686-467: The conquest of the Aztec. A number of lower rank Spanish conquerors wrote benemérito petitions to the Spanish Crown, requesting rewards for their services in the conquest, including Juan Díaz, Andrés de Tapia, García del Pilar, and Fray Francisco de Aguilar . Cortés's right-hand man, Pedro de Alvarado did not write at any length about his actions in the New World, and died as a man of action in

10823-511: The conquest. Prescott read and used all the formal writings from the sixteenth century, although few had been published by the mid-nineteenth century when he was writing. It is likely that a 1585 revision of Bernardino de Sahagún's account of the conquest survives today only in the form of a copy because it was made in Spain for Prescott's project from a now-lost original. Although scholars of the modern era point out its biases and shortcomings, "there

10960-531: The conquistadors, particularly after the Spanish were forced out of Tenochtitlan. The best-known indigenous account of the conquest is Book 12 of Bernardino de Sahagún 's General History of the Things of New Spain and published as the Florentine Codex , in parallel columns of Nahuatl and Spanish, with pictorials. Less well-known is Sahagún 's 1585 revision of the conquest account, which shifts from

11097-533: The crown's encomienda system. Defying the opposition of Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar , the governor of Hispaniola, Hernán Cortés organized an expedition of 550 conquistadors and sailed for the coast of Mexico in March 1519. The Castilians defeated a 10,000-strong Chontal Mayan army at Potonchán on 24 March and emerged triumphant against a larger force of 40,000 Mayans three days later. On 2 September, 360 Castilians and 2,300 Totonac Indigenous allies defeated

11234-534: The day of López Obrador's presidential inauguration. López Obrador moved the presidential offices back to the National Palace where he lived for the entirety of his presidency. In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico , doctors and nurses were housed at the complex. Since taking office on October 1 of 2024, President Claudia Sheinbaum has resided in the National Palace keeping Los Pinos open to

11371-550: The decisive Battle of Guinea . The Treaty of Alcáçovas (4 September 1479), while assuring the Castilian throne to the Catholic Monarchs, reflected the Castilian naval and colonial defeat: "War with Castile broke out waged savagely in the Gulf [of Guinea] until the Castilian fleet of thirty-five sail was defeated there in 1478. As a result of this naval victory, at the Treaty of Alcáçovas in 1479 Castile, while retaining her rights in

11508-677: The detriment of interests in the colonies, undermined creole elites' loyalty to the crown. When French forces of Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the Iberian peninsula in 1808, Napoleon ousted the Spanish Bourbon monarchy, placing his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne. There was a crisis of legitimacy of crown rule in Spanish America, leading to the Spanish American wars of independence (1808–1826). The Spanish Bourbons' broadest intentions were to reorganize

11645-490: The easternmost parts of Asia. The Treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by Pope Julius II in the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis on 24 January 1506. The Treaty of Tordesillas and the treaty of Cintra (18 September 1509) established the limits of the Kingdom of Fez for Portugal, and the Castilian expansion was allowed outside these limits, beginning with the conquest of Melilla in 1497. Other European powers did not see

11782-497: The enemy empires. As well, it was very uncommon that an attacking army would come unannounced. In addition, aside from the infantry and the allies' role in the Spanish conquest, cavalry was the "arm of decision in the conquest" and "the key ingredient in the Spanish forces". Many of those on the Cortés expedition of 1519 had never seen combat before, including Cortés. A whole generation of Spaniards later participated in expeditions in

11919-511: The establishment of New Spain. This conquest had profound consequences, as it led to the cultural assimilation of the Spanish culture, while also paving the way for the emergence of a new social hierarchy dominated by Spanish conquerors and their descendants. Following an earlier expedition to Yucatán led by Juan de Grijalva in 1518, Spanish conquistador Hernándo Cortés led an expedition ( entrada ) to Mexico. The next year, Cortés and his retinue set sail for Mexico. The Spanish campaign against

12056-486: The exclusive right to sell slaves in Spanish America for thirty years, the asiento de negros , as well as licensed voyages to ports in Spanish colonial dominions and openings. Spain's economic and demographic recovery had begun slowly in the last decades of the Habsburg reign, as was evident from the growth of its trading convoys and the much more rapid growth of illicit trade during the period. (This growth

12193-403: The expanding empire became an administrative issue. The reign of Ferdinand and Isabella began the professionalization of the apparatus of government in Spain, which led to a demand for men of letters ( letrados ) who were university graduates ( licenciados ), of Salamanca , Valladolid , Complutense and Alcalá . These lawyer-bureaucrats staffed the various councils of state, eventually including

12330-554: The face with the letter "G" (for guerra, the Spanish word for "war") and enslaved by the Spanish, or sacrificed and eaten by the Tlaxcalans. Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan in 1521 with a new invasion force and laid siege to the Aztec capital in May, which was suffering from a smallpox epidemic that killed thousands. The new emperor, Cuauhtémoc , defended Tenochtitlan with 100,000 warriors armed with slings, bows, and obsidian clubs . The first military encounter occurred after an advance along

12467-518: The fifteenth century. Its rival Castile laid claim to the Canary Islands (1402) and retook territory from the Moors in 1462. The Christian rivals Castile and Portugal came to formal agreements over the division of new territories in the Treaty of Alcaçovas (1479), as well as securing the crown of Castile for Isabella whose accession was challenged militarily by Portugal. Following the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and first major settlement in

12604-617: The foundation of the Spanish monarchy. The union of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon joined the economic and military power of Iberia under one dynasty, the House of Trastámara . Their dynastic alliance was important for a number of reasons, ruling jointly over a number of kingdoms and other territories, mostly in the western Mediterranean region, under their respective legal and administrative status. They successfully pursued expansion in Iberia in

12741-410: The idols which they particularly worshipped had prophesied the coming of men from distant lands in the direction of the sunrise, who would conquer them and rule them." Some accounts would claim that this idol or deity was Quetzalcoatl, and that the Aztecs were defeated because they believed the Spanish were supernatural and didn't know how to react, although whether or not the Aztecs really believed that

12878-525: The improvements were in and around some major coastal cities and the major islands such as Cuba, with its tobacco plantations , and a renewed growth of precious metals mining in South America. Agricultural productivity remained low despite efforts to introduce new techniques to what was for the most part an uninterested, exploited peasant and laboring groups. Governments were inconsistent in their policies. Though there were substantial improvements by

13015-597: The indigenous lords of Huexotzinco lay out their case in for their valorous service. The letter has been published in Nahuatl and English translation by James Lockhart in We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico in 1991. Texcoco patriot and member of a noble family there, Fernando Alva Ixtlilxochitl, likewise petitioned the Spanish Crown, in Spanish, saying that Texcoco had not received sufficient rewards for their support of

13152-566: The indigenous viewpoint entirely and inserts at crucial junctures passages lauding the Spanish and in particular Hernán Cortés. Another indigenous account compiled by a Spanish friar is Dominican Diego Durán 's The History of the Indies of New Spain , from 1581, with many color illustrations. A text from the Nahua point of view, the Anales de Tlatelolco , an early indigenous account in Nahuatl, perhaps from 1540, remained in indigenous hands until it

13289-402: The initial destruction of the great pre-Columbian civilizations, is a significant event in world history. The conquest was well documented by a variety of sources with differing points of view, including indigenous accounts, by both allies and opponents. Accounts by the Spanish conquerors exist from the first landfall at Veracruz , Mexico (on Good Friday , 22 April 1519) to the final victory over

13426-556: The institutions of empire to better administer it for the benefit of Spain and the crown. It sought to increase revenues and to assert greater crown control, including over the Catholic Church. Centralization of power (beginning with the Nueva Planta decrees against the realms of the Crown of Aragon ) was to be for the benefit of the crown and the metropole and for the defense of its empire against foreign incursions. From

13563-499: The integrity of the closed Spanish mercantile system and established thriving sugar colonies. At the beginning of his reign, the first Spanish Bourbon, King Philip V, reorganized the government to strengthen the executive power of the monarch as was done in France, in place of the deliberative, Polysynodial System of Councils. Philip's government set up a ministry of the Navy and the Indies (1714) and established commercial companies,

13700-510: The islands of Gran Canaria (1478–1483), La Palma (1492–1493), and Tenerife (1494–1496) were subjugated. By 1504, more than 90 percent of the indigenous Canarians had been killed or enslaved. The Portuguese tried in vain to keep secret their discovery of the Gold Coast (1471) in the Gulf of Guinea , but the news quickly caused a huge gold rush. Chronicler Pulgar wrote that the fame of

13837-463: The lands adjoining it for the Spanish Crown. The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children to isolate their rival, France. The Spanish princesses married the heirs of Portugal, England and the House of Habsburg . Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Aragonese house of the Kingdom of Naples against Charles VIII of France in

13974-474: The language gave information to the Spanish conquistadors that there was plenty of gold up for grabs. On the western side of the Yucatán Peninsula, the Spanish were attacked at night by Maya chief Mochcouoh, a battle in which 50 men were killed. Córdoba was mortally wounded and only a remnant of his crew returned to Cuba . Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire , sometimes referred to as

14111-427: The late 18th century, Spain was still an economic backwater. Under the mercantile trading arrangements it had difficulty in providing the goods being demanded by the strongly growing markets of its empire, and providing adequate outlets for the return trade. From an opposing point of view according to the "backwardness" mentioned above the naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt traveled extensively throughout

14248-407: The laws of Spain at this time, but critical analysis of their personal writings suggest Motecuhzoma was not taken captive until a much later date. When Cortés left Tenochtitlan to return to the coast and deal with the threat of the expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez , Cortés left Pedro de Alvarado in charge of Tenochtitlan. Cortés left with a small army to the coast with the plan of attacking during

14385-635: The mainland was Santa María la Antigua del Darién in Castilla de Oro (now Nicaragua , Costa Rica , Panama and Colombia ), settled by Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1510. In 1513, Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama , and led the first European expedition to see the Pacific Ocean from the West coast of the New World. In an action with enduring historical import, Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean and all

14522-609: The mid-1820s, Spain had lost its territories in Mexico, Central America, and South America. By 1900, it had also lost Cuba , Puerto Rico , the Philippine Islands , and Guam in the Mariana Islands following the Spanish–American War . With the marriage of the heirs apparent to their respective thrones Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile created a personal union that most scholars view as

14659-453: The natives. "Teules" is derived from the Nahuatl word teotl for god but with its meaning changed to representative of god, sometimes implying mysterious and supernatural power. The Spanish had established a permanent settlement on the island of Hispaniola in 1493 on the second voyage of Christopher Columbus . There were further Spanish explorations and settlements in the Caribbean and

14796-519: The necessity of the new religion. The written language was a personal possession of the noble and priestly class.” The first Spanish account of the conquest was written by lead conqueror Hernán Cortés , who sent a series of letters to the Spanish monarch Charles V , giving a contemporary account of the conquest from his point of view, in which he justified his actions. These were almost immediately published in Spain and later in other parts of Europe. Much later, Spanish conqueror Bernal Díaz del Castillo ,

14933-423: The night. After defeating Narváez's fleet, Cortés convinced most of his enemy's crew to go with him by promising great riches. Upon reaching Tenochtitlan, Cortés and the new enlarged force received the message that "the Aztec had risen against the Spanish garrison" during a religious celebration. Alvarado ordered his army to attack the unarmed crowd; he later claims that the Aztecs had used the celebration to cover up

15070-424: The other hand, some ethnohistorians say the Aztec leaders did not view the Spaniards as supernatural in any sense but rather as simply another group of powerful outsiders. They believe that Moctezuma responded rationally to the Spanish invasion and did not think the Spanish were supernatural. In his own letters written on the spot, Cortés never claimed that he was perceived as a god. The idea appears to emerge only in

15207-498: The papal bull Æterni regis (dated on 21 June 1481). However, this experience would prove to be profitable for future Spanish overseas expansion, because as the Spaniards were excluded from the lands discovered or to be discovered from the Canaries southward —and consequently from the road to India around Africa —they sponsored the voyage of Columbus towards the west (1492) in search of Asia to trade in its spices , encountering

15344-425: The population as a mere puppet of the invading Spaniards, attempted to calm the outraged populace, he was killed by a projectile. According to an indigenous account, the Spanish killed Moctezuma. The Spanish, Tlaxcalans and reinforcements returned a year later on 13 August 1521 to a civilization that had been weakened by famine and smallpox. This made it easier to conquer the remaining Aztecs. The Spaniards' victory

15481-488: The preordained nature of the conquest and their success as Spanish destiny. This influenced some natives writing under the tutelage of the Franciscan friars. Other explanations include a desire to please the Spaniards or resentment toward the failure of Montezuma and Tenochtitlan warriors." Hugh Thomas writes that Moctezuma was debating whether Cortés was a god or the ambassador of a great king in another land. Because

15618-399: The properties. So that his most trustworthy cabinet member could live there, he paid N$ 886,473 for both the property and the construction of a residence that would be close to Chapultepec Castle , which at the time was used as the official residence. Because of this, the first inhabitant of the residence was Álvaro Obregón , while he held the post of Navy and War Secretary . After his tenure,

15755-509: The public. Spanish conquest of Mexico [REDACTED] Habsburg Spain Indigenous allies: Support or occasional allies : [REDACTED] Aztec Triple Alliance (1519–1521) Allied city-states : Independent kingdoms and city-states : Spanish commanders: Indigenous allies: Aztec commanders: Spaniards (total): 1,800 Spaniards dead 200,000 Aztecs dead (including civilians) The Spanish conquest of

15892-463: The residence was unused. In 1934, President Lázaro Cárdenas took office but refused to use the Castle of Chapultepec as his official residence, as he thought it too ostentatious. He was offered use of Rancho la Hormiga (The Ant Ranch), which he accepted. He changed its name to Los Pinos (The Pines) for two reasons: first, he did not consider the name La Hormiga to be accordant with the residence of

16029-462: The rural Bajío faced rising land prices, falling wages. Eviction of many from their lands resulted. With a Bourbon monarchy came a repertory of Bourbon mercantilist ideas based on a centralized state, put into effect in the Americas slowly at first but with increasing momentum during the century. Shipping grew rapidly from the mid-1740s until the Seven Years' War (1756–63), reflecting in part

16166-628: The same amount of bread as any European city, with 363 kilograms of bread per person per year in comparison to the 377 kilograms consumed in Paris. Caracas consumed seven times more meat per person than in Paris. Von Humboldt also said that the average income in that period was four times the European income and also that the cities of New Spain were richer than many European cities. Bourbon institutional reforms under Philip V bore fruit militarily when Spanish forces easily retook Naples and Sicily from

16303-613: The success of the Bourbons in bringing illicit trade under control. With the loosening of trade controls after the Seven Years' War, shipping trade within the empire once again began to expand, reaching an extraordinary rate of growth in the 1780s. The end of Cádiz's monopoly of trade with the American colonies brought about very important changes, particularly a rebirth of Spanish manufactures. Most notable of those changes were both

16440-440: The thrones of the Crown of Aragon . The two became known as the Catholic Monarchs , with their marriage a personal union that created a relationship between the Crown of Aragon and Castile, each with their own administrations, but ruled jointly by the two monarchs. Ferdinand and Isabella defeated the last Muslim king out of Granada in 1492 after a ten-year war . The Catholic Monarchs then negotiated with Christopher Columbus ,

16577-535: The treasures of Guinea "spread around the ports of Andalusia in such way that everybody tried to go there". Worthless trinkets, Moorish textiles, and above all, shells from the Canary and Cape Verde islands were exchanged for gold, slaves, ivory and Guinea pepper. The War of the Castilian Succession (1475–79) provided the Catholic Monarchs with the opportunity not only to attack the main source of

16714-477: The treaty between Castile and Portugal as binding on themselves. Francis I of France observed "The sun shines for me as for others and I should very much like to see the clause in Adam's will that excludes me from a share of the world." Spanish settlement in the New World was based on a pattern of a large, permanent settlements with the entire complex of institutions and material life to replicate Castilian life in

16851-858: The viewpoint of Spain, the structures of colonial rule under the Habsburgs were no longer functioning to the benefit of Spain, with much wealth being retained in Spanish America and going to other European powers. The presence of other European powers in the Caribbean, with the English in Barbados (1627), St Kitts (1623–25), and Jamaica (1655); the Dutch in Curaçao , and the French in Saint Domingue (Haiti) (1697), Martinique , and Guadeloupe had broken

16988-429: The viewpoint of the Spanish opponents. Most first-hand accounts about the conquest of the Aztec Empire were written by Spaniards: Hernán Cortés' letters to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the first-person narrative of Bernal Díaz del Castillo , The True History of the Conquest of New Spain . The primary sources from the native people affected as a result of the conquest are seldom used, because they tend to reflect

17125-405: The views of a particular native group, such as the Tlaxcalans. Indigenous accounts were written in pictographs as early as 1525. Later accounts were written in the native tongue of the Aztec and other native peoples of central Mexico, Nahuatl . The native texts of the defeated Mexica narrating their version of the conquest describe eight omens that were believed to have occurred nine years prior to

17262-709: The war. In 1742, the War of Jenkins' Ear merged with the larger War of the Austrian Succession , and King George's War in North America. The British, also occupied with France, were unable to capture Spanish convoys, and Spanish privateers captured British merchant shipping along the Triangle Trade routes and attacked the coast of North Carolina , levying tribute on the inhabitants. In Europe, Spain had been trying to divest Maria Theresa of

17399-529: Was a century of prosperity for the overseas Spanish Empire as trade within grew steadily, particularly in the second half of the century, under the Bourbon reforms. Spain's victory in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias against a British expedition in the Caribbean port of Cartagena de Indias helped Spain secure its dominance of its possessions in the Americas until the 19th century. But different regions fared differently under Bourbon rule, and even while New Spain

17536-455: Was defeated in Italy by an alliance of Britain, France, Savoy, and Austria. Following the war, the new Bourbon monarchy took a much more cautious approach to international relations, relying on a family alliance with Bourbon France, and continuing to follow a program of institutional renewal. The crown program to enact reforms that promoted administrative control and efficiency in the metropole to

17673-404: Was little apparent wealth and the numbers of indigenous were declining. Those from the less prosperous Hispaniola were eager to search for new success in a new settlement. From there Juan Ponce de León conquered Puerto Rico (1508) and Diego Velázquez took Cuba . Columbus encountered the mainland in 1498, and the Catholic Monarchs learned of his discovery in May 1499. The first settlement on

17810-525: Was non-existent, their conditions were much better than any other peasant or farmer in northern Europe . Humboldt also published a comparative analysis of bread and meat consumption in New Spain compared to other cities in Europe such as Paris. Mexico City consumed 189 pounds of meat per person per year, in comparison to 163 pounds consumed by the inhabitants of Paris, the Mexicans also consumed almost

17947-400: Was not overwhelming." In the words of Restall, "Spanish weapons were useful for breaking the offensive lines of waves of indigenous warriors, but this was no formula for conquest ... rather, it was a formula for survival, until Spanish and indigenous reinforcements arrived." The integration of the indigenous allies, essentially, those from Tlaxcala and Texcoco, into the Spanish army played

18084-402: Was particularly prosperous, it was also marked by steep wealth inequality. Silver production boomed in New Spain during the 18th century, with output more than tripling between the start of the century and the 1750s. The economy and the population both grew, both centered around Mexico City. But while mine owners and the crown benefited from the flourishing silver economy, most of the population in

18221-437: Was published. An extract of this important manuscript was published in 1991 by James Lockhart in Nahuatl transcription and English translation. A popular anthology in English for classroom use is Miguel León-Portilla 's, The Broken Spears: The Aztec Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico from 1992. Not surprisingly, many publications and republications of sixteenth-century accounts of the conquest of Mexico appeared around 1992,

18358-462: Was recorded a generation or more after the events through interaction with and under influence of Spanish priests. As noted in, “No ‘pure’ Nahuatl text exists-with the exception of a few pre- Cortesian pictographic codices. Every written Nahuatl text was recorded after 1521 either directly by a Christian priest, by students who worked directly under priestly supervision, or by former students who had studied in Christian schools long enough to understand

18495-481: Was slower than the growth of illicit trade by northern rivals in the empire's markets.) However, this recovery was not then translated into institutional improvement, rather the "proximate solutions to permanent problems." This legacy of neglect was reflected in the early years of Bourbon rule in which the military was ill-advisedly pitched into battle in the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–20). Spain

18632-507: Was the first document to establish an administrative organization in the Indies. Columbus' discoveries began the Spanish colonization of the Americas . Spain's claim to these lands was solidified by the Inter caetera papal bull dated 4 May 1493, and Dudum siquidem on 26 September 1493. Since the Portuguese wanted to keep the line of demarcation of Alcaçovas running east and west along

18769-567: Was the lifeblood of the Habsburg empire declined in proportion to registered shipping (a shipping registry having been established in 1735). Two upheavals registered unease within Spanish America and at the same time demonstrated the renewed resiliency of the reformed system: the Tupac Amaru uprising in Peru in 1780 and the rebellion of the comuneros of New Granada , both in part reactions to tighter, more efficient control. The 18th century

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