The first Spanish settlement was established in February 1519 by Hernán Cortés in the Yucatan Peninsula, accompanied by about 11 ships, 500 men, 13 horses and a small number of cannons.

The social composition of late sixteenth century Spanish immigration included both common people and aristocrats, all of which dispersed across New Spain.

The enslavement of native populations and Africans, along with the discovery of new deposits of various minerals in the central and northern areas (from present day Sonora to the southern states of Mexico) created enormous wealth for Spain, especially in the extraction of silver.

During the 20th century, another group of Canarians settled in Mexico in the early 1930s, and as with Galician and other Spanish immigrants of the time, there were high rates of illiteracy and impoverishment among them, but they adapted relatively quickly.

After the independence of Mexico and centuries of brutal colonial rule, animosity emerged against Spanish people in the new nation.

From August 1827 to 1834, by a decree issued during the government of Lorenzo de Zavala, many Spaniards and their families were expelled from the State of Mexico and killed.

[10] In the period 1850–1950, 3.5 million Spanish left for the Americas, with Mexico becoming one of the chief destinations, especially its northern region where president Porfirio Diaz encouraged European immigration in order to supply labor.

[citation needed] In 1910, there were 30,000 Spaniards in Mexico, with many participating in economic activities as agricultural labor and trade in urban areas.

More than 25,000 Spanish refugees settled in Mexico between 1939 and 1942, largely during the administration of President Lazaro Cardenas del Río.

[11] Due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the resulting economic decline and high unemployment in Spain, many Spaniards emigrated to Mexico to seek new opportunities.

[citation needed] The word gachupín is used for Spaniards who live in Mexico and Guatemala[15] as a slur, referring to conquistadors and people from Spain.

Historian Daniel Cosío Villegas played an important role in its institutionalization and the Colegio's library bears his name.

Consequently, Mexico City tended historically to exercise a standardizing effect over the entire country, more or less, evolving into a distinctive dialect of Spanish which incorporated a significant number of Hispanicized Nahuatl words.

[21][22] Charrería, a word encompassing all aspects of the art of raising horses, evolved from the traditions that came to Mexico from Salamanca, Spain in the 16th century.

However, by 1528 the Spanish had very large cattle-raising estates and found it necessary to employ indigenous people as vaqueros or Creole herdsman, who soon became excellent horsemen.

[citation needed] Some states like Zacatecas, Sinaloa, Baja California, Sonora, San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas.