How Spanish Came to Mexico: Conquest & Colonization

The Arrival of Spanish in Mexico

Conquest (1519–1521)

• Hernán Cortés lands at Veracruz (1519)
• Alliances with Tlaxcalans and other Aztec-subject peoples
• Siege and fall of Tenochtitlan (1521)
• Establishment of New Spain (Virreinato de Nueva España)

Colonial Language Imposition

• Spanish became language of administration, church, law, commerce
• Missionaries (Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits) taught Spanish alongside Catholicism
• Indigenous elites learned Spanish for status/access
• Nahuatl lingua franca initially persisted, then declined

Demographic & Cultural Transformation

• European diseases decimated Indigenous population (90%+ decline in some areas)
• Forced labor (encomienda, repartimiento) reshaped society
• New crops/animals: wheat, cattle, horses, sugar
• Mestizo population emerged (mixed Indigenous-European)

300-Year Legacy

New Spain lasted until 1821. Spanish became dominant through:

1. Institutional enforcement (courts, church, schools)
2. Demographic shift (European/African immigration, Indigenous decline)
3. Prestige association (social mobility required Spanish)
4. Print culture (first American printing press 1539, Mexico City)

Today, Mexico has the world's largest Spanish-speaking population (~130M), with rich dialectal variation and Indigenous language influences (Nahuatl, Maya, etc.).