Viceroyalty
1538-1808 		1821-1867






Mexico's Struggle for Independence, 1808-1821



In 1808, Napoleon's brother Joseph was imposed as king of Spain. In Mexico city, the viceroy was purged by a coup d'etat in 1808, a coup staged by peninsulares (Spaniards), resulting in an administration of dubious legitimacy. Father MIGUEL HIDALGO advocated Mexican independence and lead the insurrection of 1810. A constitution was passed at Apatzingan in 1814, establishing a republic. Yet royalist forces were still strong, and the patriots, headed by JOSE MARIA MORELOS, were unable to conquer the royalist part of the Mexican highland, were ultimately defeated, Morelos executed. Spanish rule, for the moment, was reestablished.
In 1821, Colonel AGUSTIN DE ITURBIDE, commander of the armed forces of New Spain, rose against Spain, occupying Mexico city under the motto INDEPENDENCE, UNION, RELIGION. Mexico became an Empire, under Emperor Agustin I. (1822). Spain had accepted the new reality in the TREATY OF CORDOBA (August 1821).



List of Viceroys of New Spain, 1808-1821
1803-1808
1816-1821 		Jose de Iturrigaray
Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, Conde del Venadito






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles from Catholic Encyclopedia : Mexico, Mexico, Archdiocese of
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE A Concise History of Mexico, by Brian Hamnett, 1999, 336 pp., Cambridge Concise Histories



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on November 5th 2004

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