On his arrival in New Spain, he met with his viceregal predecessor, Bishop Juan Ortega y Montañés at Otumba, on the road from Veracruz to Mexico City.

On his formal entrance into Mexico City on February 2, 1697 his horse fell, to the great amusement of the crowd.

A ship arrived in Veracruz on March 6, 1701 carrying the news of the death of King Charles II of Spain on November 1, 1700.

The War of the Spanish Succession, between Spain and France on the one hand and Austria, England and Holland on the other, began, to determine his successor.

Sarmiento y Valladares was publicly known as a supporter of the Habsburg claims to the Spanish throne, but the Bourbons were in control there.

The Duchy of Atrisco succeeded the Provincial Government of Carrión in the valley of Atlixco, previously ruled by Don Diego Fernández de Medrano y Zapata from 1693 to 1706.