Mexican History: Colonial Society to the Porfiriato

Vocabulary flashcards detailing key figures, social structures, political factions, and events in Mexican history from the Spanish colonial period through the Porfiriato.

Peninsulares

People of Spanish descent born in Spain who lived in colonial New Spain and held greater access to power than American-born colonists.

Creoles (Criollos)

People of Spanish descent born in the Americas who experienced colonial inequality relative to peninsulares before being promised equality under the Plan of Iguala.

Plan of Iguala

A political agreement leading to Mexican independence in 1821 under which independence leaders promised legal and political equality between creoles and peninsulares.

Caste System (Sistema de Castas)

A social classification system in colonial New Spain that ranked individuals by ancestry—including Spanish, Indigenous, and African descent—and determined their social rank and opportunities.

Mestizos

A casta category in colonial Mexico designating people of mixed Spanish and Indigenous ancestry, such as the child of a Spanish man and an Indigenous woman.

Grito de Dolores

The call to rise against Spanish colonial rule delivered on September 16, 1810, in Dolores, Guanajuato, which launched the Mexican War of Independence.

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla

The Catholic priest who issued the Grito de Dolores in 1810, initiating the rebellion against Spanish rule and mobilizing broad popular participation.

Vicente Guerrero

A prominent independence insurgent who sustained the struggle in southern Mexico, joined Agustín de Iturbide's coalition to achieve independence, and became president of Mexico in 1829.

Centralists

A political faction supported by the clergy, hacendados, and army officers that advocated concentrating political authority in Mexico's national government.

Federalists

A political faction backed by liberal intellectuals, creoles, and mestizos that favored distributing political power to the individual states of Mexico.

Antonio López de Santa Anna

A Mexican political and military leader who dominated national politics from the 1830s through the mid-1850s, held the presidency 11 times, and led the country during conflict over Texas and war with the United States.

La Reforma

A 19th-century liberal reform movement led by Benito Juárez and Miguel Lerdo de Tejada that sought to abolish the special privileges of the Catholic Church and military and create equality before the law.

Revolution of Ayutla

An 1855 uprising that unseated Santa Anna and provided the momentum for the liberal reforms known as La Reforma.

Constitution of 1857

A landmark liberal constitution created during La Reforma aimed at establishing equality before the law and reshaping Mexican institutions, which deepened political divisions and led to civil war.

The French Intervention

A military invasion from 1861 to 1867 launched by France under Napoleon III that installed the Second Mexican Empire and was opposed by Benito Juárez's liberal forces.

Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg

The Austrian archduke placed on the throne as emperor of the Second Mexican Empire by the French-backed regime, whose reign ended in defeat and execution.

The Porfiriato

The era from 1876 to 1911 defined by the rule of Porfirio Díaz, characterized by foreign investment, infrastructure expansion, economic modernization, electoral manipulation, and political repression.

Porfirio Díaz

The Mexican general and president whose prolonged authoritarian dominance from 1876 to 1911 fostered technological and economic modernization while suppressing dissent and setting the stage for the Mexican Revolution.