Effective family research requires some understanding of the historical events that may have affected your family and the records about them. Learning about wars, governments, laws, migrations, and religious trends may help you understand political boundaries, family movements, and settlement patterns. These events may have led to the creation of records such as land and military documents that mention your family.

Your ancestors will become more interesting to you if you also use histories to learn about the events in which they may have participated. For example, by using a history you might learn about the events that occurred in the year your great-grandparents were married.

Some key dates and events in Mexico’s history are as follows:

1519	Cortes sails from Havana and lands in Mexico.
1520–1521	Montezuma dies and Cortes lays siege to Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire.
1524	Consejo (council) de las Indias established by the King of Spain. Arrival of the Franciscan friars.
1527	Bishopric of Mexico created.
1535	Viceroyalty of New Spain established.
1571	Tribunal of the Inquisition formally established in the City of Mexico.
1691	Conquest of Texas.
1767	Jesuits expelled from Spanish America.
1808	Napoleon Banaparte intervenes in Spanish affairs. Revolution in Spain. The idea of Mexican independence germinates.
1810	Parish Priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla sounds the “Grito de Dolores,” which begins the fight for independence.
1813–1814	First Mexican Congress meets to declare a “Formal Declaration of Mexican Independence”. First constitution at Apatzingan.
1820	Inquisition suppressed.
1821	Independence won.
1823	Chiapas incorporated into Mexico.
1824	Federal Constitution proclaimed. Estados Unidos Mexicanos organized.
1825	Spain’s power in Mexico ends.
1835–1836	Texas rebellion.
1845	Texas annexed to United States.
1846–1848	War between Mexico and United States. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed.
1859	Benito Juarez proclaims the Reform Laws.
1861	French invasion begins, with support of Mexican conservatives.
1864	Maximilian reaches Mexico and becomes its Emperor.
1867	French troops withdraw from Mexico.
1877–1911	Porfirio Dias Era.
1906	Great influx of foreigners and foreign capital.
1910–1920	Revolutionary period, when many immigrated to the United States, which sets up border patrols. The U.S. Department of State warns all Americans to withdraw from Mexico. Relations between United States and Mexico strained due to conflict over control of oil industry.
1938	Expropriation of foreign oil companies.