Exam topic 2 of 10
The Conquest and the Viceroyalty, for the exam.
Three centuries between the fall of Tenochtitlan and independence, and the institutions that ran them.
What this topic gets asked about
This topic is mostly institutions and offices. Who represented the king, what the Church built, and which figures the exam names.
Hernán Cortés landed in 1519 and founded the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. Tenochtitlan fell on 13 August 1521.
La Malinche, also called Malintzin or doña Marina, was the interpreter between Cortés and the Mesoamerican peoples.
The Noche Triste of 1520 was the Spanish retreat from Tenochtitlan; the Mexica resistance was led by Cuitláhuac and then Cuauhtémoc.
The territory was named the Virreinato de Nueva España, created in 1535. It lasted until 1821.
The virrey was the king’s representative and the highest political authority of the viceroyalty. Antonio de Mendoza was the first.
The Real Audiencia was the high court; the corregidor and the visitador were lesser offices the exam likes to offer as wrong answers.
The encomienda granted a Spaniard the labour and tribute of a group of Indigenous people; the hacienda was the large landed estate that followed it.
Evangelization was carried out by the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians and later the Jesuits. Fray Bartolomé de las Casas is remembered for defending Indigenous people.
The Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have appeared to Juan Diego at Tepeyac in 1531. The Basilica of Guadalupe is Mexico’s most visited religious site.
The Real y Pontificia Universidad de México was founded in 1551, one of the first universities in the Americas.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was the great writer of New Spain, a nun and poet, author of Respuesta a sor Filotea de la Cruz.
Silver was the engine of the colonial economy, from Zacatecas, Guanajuato and Taxco.
The castas system ranked people by ancestry — peninsular, criollo, mestizo, indígena — and the exclusion of criollos from high office fed the independence movement.
The Nao de China, the Manila galleon, connected Acapulco with the Philippines and brought Asian goods into New Spain.
Baroque is the architecture of the period: the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City, and churches like Santa Prisca in Taxco.
A practice question from this topic
In Spanish, like the real exam. Open the answer to read the Contexto, or pick an option first.
Question 1 of 1 · Conquest & Viceroyalty
¿Cuál era el título de la máxima autoridad que representaba al rey en Nueva España?
Show the answer
Answer
Virrey
Contexto
Era el representante del monarca español en Nueva España y la máxima autoridad política del virreinato.
The other 626, with an explanation each.
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Questions people ask
What is the difference between the virrey and the Real Audiencia?
The virrey was one person, the king’s representative and the highest political authority. The Real Audiencia was a collegiate high court. The exam often offers both as options for the same question.
How long did the Viceroyalty last?
From 1535, when it was created, to 1821, when independence was consummated — just under three centuries.
Does the exam ask about religion?
It asks about historical facts involving the Church: the evangelizing orders, the Guadalupe tradition of 1531, the founding of the university. It is history, not doctrine.