Spanish Mexican

Spaniards in Mexico
Españoles en México

Fuente de Cibeles, Mexico City.
Total population
123,189 Spanish nationals (2016)
Languages
Spanish (Peninsular Spanish dialects, and Mexican Spanish dialects) Minority speaks Galician Catalan Basque
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism, also Sephardic Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Mestizo Mexican, other Spanish diaspora
^ Note: 19,223 individuals were born in Spain, 100,067 in Mexico, 3,689 in other countries and 210 were n/a.

Spanish Mexicans are citizens or residents of Mexico who identify as Spanish as a result of nationality or ancestry. Spanish immigration to Mexico began in the early 1500s and spans to the present day. There are three recognized large-scale Spanish immigration waves to Mexico: the first arrived during the colonial period, the second during the Porfiriato, the third after Spanish Civil War and the fourth (and current) after the 2008 financial crisis.

The first Spanish settlement was established in February 1519, as a result of the landing of Hernán Cortés in the Yucatan Peninsula, accompanied by about 11 ships, 500 men, 13 horses and a small number of cannons. In March 1519, Cortés formally claimed the land for the Spanish crown, and the conquest of the Aztec Empire, a key event in the Spanish conquest of modern-day Mexico in general, was completed in 1521.

The social composition of this immigration of the late sixteenth century included both common people, illiterates, and aristocrats with titles of counts and marquises, all of which quickly disintegrated over the territory. The discovery of new deposits of various minerals in the central and northern areas (from Sonora to the southern provinces of Mexico) allowed New Spain to gradually occupy a privileged position, especially in the extraction of silver. Mining allowed the development of associated activities such as manufacturing and agriculture, that turned the Bajío regions or the valleys of Mexico and Puebla into prosperous agricultural regions with incipient industrial activity.

In the 16th century, following the military conquest of most of the new continent, perhaps 240,000 Spaniards entered American ports. They were joined by 450,000 in the next century. Since the conquest of Mexico, this region became the principal destination of Spanish colonial settlers in the 16th century. The first Spaniards who arrived in Mexico were soldiers and sailors from Extremadura, Andalucía and La Mancha after the conquest of America. At the end of the 16th century both commoner and aristocrat from Spain were migrating to Mexico.