On the site of Tenochtitlan the Spaniards constructed Mexico City. ‘Mexico’ became the popular name for it and by extension that name came to refer to all the territory that was officially known as ‘Nueva España’. This was to be the power base from which viceroys governed territories that by the late seventeenth century extended from southern Central America well into what is now the United States. After the conquest of Peru, a second virreinato was established in Lima, and some time later two more in Bogotá and Buenos Aires, but the viceroyalty of New Spain would always be the most significant, and the model for the others. The virreyes and other representatives of Spanish authority were invariably natives of Spain; indeed, all significant positions of authority during the colonial period were restricted to Spanish natives, a fact that generated much resentment among the criollos, the people of European blood who had been born in the New World.

Although the conquest occurred during the Renaissance, a time when most of Europe was taking a fresh view of the world and of the place of mankind in it, Spain was in many respects still living in the Middle Ages. It went to America as a champion of orthodox Catholicism, high on the recent expulsion of the Moorish infidels, on a crusade. To borrow Unamumo's words, ‘España conquistó América a cristazos’ (Spain used Christ to beat America into submission). As it turned out, according to both the Spanish and the Amerindian worldviews religion was crucial to government, if not synonymous with it. In the drive to control and convert the natives, the Spaniards used the Indian élite as intermediaries and exploited similarities between pre-Hispanic and Catholic religious customs. While this strategy was not entirely favoured by higher authority, it proved to be a practical way of reaching the Indian populace; in any case, how could those who wished to exercise strict control from faraway Spain do so? The main concerns were how to control the Indians, how to keep a rein on the activities of the encomenderos and how to collect taxes.

The difficulty in keeping control from across the water became very apparent when the crown made attempts to better the lot of the Indians, who were often used and abused by settlers.