The Spanish conquest of Mexico in the early 1500s began 300 years of colonial rule which decimated the Mesoamerican population but made Spain the richest country in Europe. After Hernan Cortez defeated Montezuma, silver mining became the engine of the economy of New Spain, but it was gold that was Cortez’s quest.  Elements of the complex Spanish caste system remain today.

Conquistadors and friars gradually spread a Christianity which incorporated traditional cultural elements such as The Day of the Dead.  They built grand churches and monasteries, and established missions and settlements along the royal roads crossing desert frontiers north to California and Santa Fe, NM. They tried to convert Apache and Comanche tribes who battled Spaniards, Mexicans and Americans for centuries.

It was only after the decline of the Spanish empire that hundreds of magnificent indigenous architectural sites were discovered such as the complex Aztec city of Teotihuacan, the round pyramids of the Teuchitlán, the Mayan temples at Chichén Itzá, and giant Olmec stone sculptures. All predated the Spanish conquest which ended with the Mexican War of Independence.