The Mexica Empire
This inland lake on whose islands the Mexica built Tenochtitlan.
What is Lake Texcoco?
This Spanish conquistador led the 1519 expedition that toppled the Aztec Empire.
Who is Hernán Cortés?
This term describes the blending of Catholic and Indigenous religious beliefs and practices in colonial Mexico.
What is religious syncretism?
This term describes the elaborate colonial system of racial and social classification based on ancestry (Spanish, Indigenous, African, and mixtures thereof).
What is the casta system (sistema de castas)?
This priest is credited with launching Mexico’s independence movement with his 1810 “Grito de Dolores.”
Who is Miguel Hidalgo (y Costilla)?
According to Mexica legend, this sign — an eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent — told them where to build their capital.
What is an eagle on a cactus eating a serpent?
This Nahua woman served as an interpreter and advisor to Cortés and became a central, controversial figure in the conquest.
Who is Malintzin (La Malinche/Doña Marina)?
This labor system granted colonists the right to demand labor or tribute from Indigenous communities in a given area, officially in exchange for “protection” and religious instruction.
What is the encomienda?
This term refers to a person of mixed Spanish and Indigenous ancestry within the casta system.
What is a mestizo?
Mexico achieved independence from Spain in this year.
What is 1821?
This system required conquered city-states to regularly deliver goods, textiles, and captives to the Mexica capital rather than being directly administered by it.
What is the tribute system?
This Indigenous city-state, rivals of the Mexica, allied with Cortés and provided thousands of warriors against Tenochtitlan.
What is Tlaxcala?
This precious metal, mined at sites like Zacatecas and Potosí, was the primary source of New Spain’s wealth and fueled global trade routes.
What is silver?
Peninsulares (born in Spain) and this second group (of Spanish descent but born in the Americas) were both considered “Spanish” but occupied different rungs of colonial society, a tension that would matter later for independence.
Who are the criollos (creoles)?
This form of government — with a strong central authority controlling the states/provinces — was favored by Conservatives in the early republic, in contrast to Liberals who favored federalism.
What is centralism?
This was the title of the Mexica ruler at the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519.
Who is Moctezuma II?
Beyond superior weapons, this factor — deadly to Indigenous populations who had no prior immunity — devastated Tenochtitlan’s defenders during the siege of 1521.
What is disease/epidemic (smallpox)?
This religious order (one of several, including the Franciscans and Dominicans) played a leading role in early evangelization efforts in central Mexico.
What are the Franciscans (or Dominicans/Augustinians)?
Forced labor of enslaved Africans and their descendants was concentrated in this region/industry of colonial New Spain (name one: e.g., coastal sugar plantations, or urban domestic service).
What is sugar plantation labor (or urban domestic/artisan labor)?
This general and president, notorious for his shifting political loyalties, dominated Mexican politics for much of the first decades after independence.
Who is Antonio López de Santa Anna?