Mexico’s 2020 Population and Housing Census was conducted in March 2020. More than 147,000 interviewers traveled the nearly two million square kilometers of the national territory, visiting all Mexican households to obtain information about the demographic, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of the people of each state.

This presentation will discuss the ECPP database, with suggestions on how to use it. To the beginner, this database -- with dozens of search fields -- seems challenging and confusing, but John Schmal will describe how to use it effectively, and after that will do selected searches to show examples of baptism and marriage documents of California Mission Indians and of Mexican soldiers and their families.

This presentation explores the Native American people that inhabited Southern California in the 18th Century. The region from San Diego to Santa Barbara will be discussed. The current status of these tribes in the present day will also be discussed.

Immigration to Mexico

From the early Sixteenth Century to the end of the Nineteenth Century, Mexico saw a continuous surge of immigrants from Spain. But several other countries — most notably Portugal, Italy, Germany, France, the Philippines and China — also contributed a steady stream of immigrants to various parts of Mexico through the centuries. Immigration from North America and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean has also been healthy over the long haul.

Most people are not very aware of the presence of African slaves in colonial Mexico. In fact, some people believe that the influence of the African to Mexican culture is negligible at best. But the African laborer actually played an important and very indispensable role in the economic success of colonial Mexico. And, in some parts of Mexico, the African made cultural contributions.

Several estimates of the Mexican population in the late colonial period have been made. Present-day analysts suggest that the 1810 census was over estimated by nearly one-fifth. As noted below, roughly 60% of the population was indigenous in both 1793 and 1810. Persons identified as Spanish (white) who were born in Mexico – not Spain – represented nearly 18% of the population. Individuals of mixed origins (mestizos) represented one-fifth of the population.

In 2016, the Mexican government agency, Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática (INEGI), published the 2015 Intercensal Survey, which upgraded Mexico’s socio-demographic information to the midpoint between the 2010 census and the census to be carried out in 2020. With a sample size of over 6 million homes, this survey provides information on the national, state and municipio level, as of March 15th, 2015.

The Uto-Aztecan Language Group includes a wide range of languages, stretching from Idaho and Montana all the way down to El Salvador in Central America. The Náhuatl language of the Aztecs represents only a small — but significant — part of this linguistic group.

In the aftermath of the Mexican revolution, Mexico’s Departamento de la Estadística Nacional administered a census that would be unique among Mexico’s census counts administered between 1895 and 2005. In this new census, the Mexican Government decided to ask Mexicans about their perception of their own racial heritage. In the 1921 census, residents of the Mexican Republic were asked if they fell into one of the following categories:

In 2016, the Mexican government agency, Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática (INEGI), published the 2015 Intercensal Survey, which upgraded Mexico’s socio-demographic information to the midpoint between the 2010 census and the census to be carried out in 2020. With a sample size of over 6 million homes, this survey provides information on the national, state and municipio level, as of March 15th, 2015.

Across the 761,606 square miles (1,972,550 square kilometers) that comprise Mexico you can find a great variety of landscapes and climates. While mountains and plateaus cover more than two-thirds of her landmass, the rest of Mexico’s environment is made up of deserts, tropical forests, and fertile valleys. Mexico’s many mountain ranges tend to split the country into countless smaller valleys, each forming a world of its own. Over the last few thousand years, this has been a factor in the differentiation of a wide range of indigenous Mexican languages.

This presentation discusses the native groups that occupied the regions adjacent to and on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border over the last three centuries. While some of these tribes are well-known to us today (i.e., the Yaquis, Tohono O'odham, Kumeyaay, Cocopah, etc.), tribal groups that have disappeared as distinguishable cultural entities (i.e., Carrizos, Mansos, Jocome, Coahuiltecans, etc.) will also be discussed. In addition to the history of those tribes, we will explore the current status of the tribal communities that still exist today.

The following presentation offers suggestions for tracing your Mexican ancestors back to Spain or Portugal. Although we offer research suggestions and show the reader resources to locate ancestors from the Iberian Peninsula, it is important to state the following:

It has been a well-established fact that the long-lived dictatorship of General Porfirio Díaz (1876 — 1911) ushered in an era of significant Mexican immigration. During the Porfiriato, the Mexican government sponsored the influx of foreign capital and immigrants as an essential ingredient to its nation building strategy.