Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán served as the Governor of the provinces of Pánuco and Nueva Galicia a decade after Cortés had destroyed the Aztec Empire.  As a conqueror, he succeeded in bringing a vast new territory under the domain of the Spanish Empire.  However, as an administrator, Nuño de Guzmán terrorized both Spaniards and Indigenous people who stood in his way. Eventually, his slave-trading activities brought an end to his reign of terror.

From 1895 to 2015, the Mexican census has painted a picture of Mexico´s people, providing details about languages spoken (Spanish, foreign and indigenous) religion, education, literacy, employment and migration. From the beginning, the Mexican census provided details about indigenous languages spoken by its citizens. However, in the first half century, it is possible that there were undercounts of indigenous language speakers because some may have failed to declare their language status for fear of affecting their position within the community. In addition, poor communications channels with rural, isolated indigenous, isolated indigenous communities may also have caused an undercount of indigenous people.

Mexico’s Northern Mountainous Regions

The Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains run from Chihuahua into Durango, Zacatecas, Jalisco and farther south. The Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains run parallel to the Sierra Madre Occidental range on the eastern side of the country.

The Cristero Rebellion affected the lives of many Mexicans. Many Mexican-American families still talk of it today. This work discusses the ideologies of the two combatants: The Mexican Government and the Catholic Church. The battles are not discussed here, but the beginning and end of the conflict are discussed as viewed by the American press.

The State of Michoacán de Ocampo occupies 58,599 square kilometers and is the sixteenth largest state in Mexico, taking up 3.0% of the national territory.

The State of Michoacán de Ocampo, located in the west central part of the Mexican Republic, occupies 58,599 square kilometers (22,625 square miles) and is the sixteenth largest state in Mexico, taking up 3% of the national territory. With a population that was tallied at 4,584,471 in the 2010 census, Michoacán is ranked ninth among the Mexican states and the Distrito Federal in population.