Cortes loses control of Tenochtitlan and has to escape in haste with his men during 'the Sorrowful Night'

After a little more than a year Cortes recaptures Tenochtitlan and finally establishes Spanish control over Mexico

The conquistadors, settling on land granted to them after the conquest, begin the long process of European emigration to America

The Aztec Virgin of Guadalupe appears to an Indian near Mexico City and tells him she is 'one of his kind'

Spanish galleons assemble each year at Portobelo to deliver European goods and to ship home the metals of Latin America

The parish priest of Dolores sparks a rebellion against the Spanish authorities in Mexico with his Grito de Dolores

Rebels meeting for a conference in Chilpancingo proclaim a short-lived Mexican independence

The Spanish suppress the independence movement in Mexico with the capture and execution of its leader, Jose Maria Morelos

A reactionary movement led by Agustín de Iturbide wins new and lasting independence for Mexico

Agustin de Iturbide declares himself emperor of the new nation of Mexico, as Agustin I

Antonio López de Santa Anna begins the first of five spells as president of Mexico

President Polk sends a US army into Texas, provoking the Mexican-American War

A treaty signed in Guadalupe-Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, gives the US six new states

Liberal leaders Juan Alvarez and Ignacio Comonfort launch a political programme in Mexico that becomes know simply as 'the Reform'

Conservatives seize Mexico City at the start of a civil war against the Liberal government

The Liberals recover Mexico City and elect Benito Juarez as president

Benito Juarez, president of a bankrupt Mexico, suspends interest payment on the nation's foreign debt

A joint French, Spanish and British force lands in Mexico and captures Veracruz, ostensibly to collect the interest on European debts

The French capture Mexico City and President Juarez flees to the north

The French arrange for the coronation of the Austrian archduke Maximilian as emperor of Mexico

Napoleon III withdraws French troops from Mexico, leaving the emperor Maximilian in a dangerous situation

Maximilian, the emperor of Mexico, and two of his generals are shot after being surrounded and captured at Querétaro

The US consul in Mexico, Edward Herbert Thompson, begins a very profitable excavation at the Mayan site of Chichén Itzá

A revolution begins in Mexico that will last ten years before being resolved

Emiliano Zapata leads peasant groups in the Mexican revolution, under the slogan 'Land and Liberty'