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167-561: It was built during the Viceroyalty of New Spain as a summer house for the highest colonial administrator, the viceroy . It was given various uses, from a gunpowder warehouse to a military academy in 1841. It was remodeled and added to and became the official residence of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and his consort Empress Carlota during the Second Mexican Empire (1864–67). In 1882, President Manuel González declared it

334-452: A corregidor (also known as an alcalde mayor ) or a cabildo (town council), both of which had judicial and administrative powers. In the late 18th century the Bourbon dynasty began phasing out the corregidores and introduced intendants , whose broad fiscal powers cut into the authority of the viceroys, governors and cabildos . Despite their late creation, these intendancies so affected

501-515: A yellow fever outbreak. The Imperial couple's arrival at the capital was more celebrated, with fireworks and hundreds of triumphant arches. Maximilian and Carlota were crowned at the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral . He had the backing of Mexican conservatives, nobility, clergy, some Native American populations, and numerous European monarchs, but from the very outset he found himself involved in serious difficulties, since

668-427: A Spanish city, sixteenth-century Puebla had Indians resident in the central core. Maximilian I of Mexico Maximilian I ( Spanish : Fernando Maximiliano José María de Habsburgo-Lorena ; German : Ferdinand Maximilian Josef Maria von Habsburg-Lothringen ; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was an Austrian archduke who became emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 10 April 1864 until his execution by

835-505: A committee of thirty-five Mexicans, the Junta Superior who then elected three Mexican citizens to serve as the government's executive. In turn this triumvirate then selected 215 Mexicans to form together with the Junta Superior , an Assembly of Notables. The Assembly met in July 1863 and resolved to invite Maximilian to be Emperor of Mexico. The executive triumvirate was formally changed into

1002-565: A country retreat at Cuernavaca , a villa known as the Jardín Borda . Although Maximilian had been brought to power with the support of Mexican conservatives expecting he would reverse the reforms of Mexican liberals, codified in the Constitution of 1857 , Maximilian and Napoleon III did not want hardline Mexicans to control the regime. Napoleon III had a confidential policy known to his military commander François Achille Bazaine to marginalize

1169-399: A farce", but Maximilian accepted the proclamation that a majority of Mexicans voted in favor of him as emperor. The crown of Mexico came at a high cost to Maximilian. Although he had extracted promises from Napoleon III to militarily support the regime, he was to be entirely dependent on him. Emperor Franz Joseph isolated his younger brother Maximilian by forcing him to renounce any rights to

1336-538: A foreign outsider. When Maximilian was first mentioned as a possible emperor of Mexico, the idea seemed farfetched, but circumstances changed and made it viable. His tenure as emperor was just three years, ending with his execution by firing squad by forces of the Restored Republic on 19 June 1867. Political conflicts in Mexico in the 1850s between conservative and liberal factions were domestic disputes initially, but

1503-563: A former President of Mexico , and Tomás Mejía Camacho in June 1867. His death marked the end of monarchism as a major force in Mexico. In reassessments of his brief rule, he is portrayed in Mexican history less as the villain of nationalist, republican history and more as a liberal in Mexico, along with Presidents of the Republic Juárez, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada , and Porfirio Díaz . Maximilian

1670-423: A former ally of Juárez. Maximilian's lack of understanding of the political situation on the ground in Mexico is seen in his offer to Juárez of amnesty and the post of prime minister. Juárez refused and continued to assert his role as the legitimate head of the Mexican state, despite being forced to decamp from the capital to Mexico's north. He never left Mexico's national territory, continuing to be recognized by

1837-565: A law establishing Chapultepec Castle as the National Museum of History , with the collections of the former National Museum of Archaeology, History and Ethnography, (now the National Museum of Cultures ). The museum was opened on September 27, 1944 during the presidency of Manuel Avila Camacho . President Cárdenas moved the official Mexican presidential residence to Los Pinos , and never lived in Chapultepec Castle. On 16 January 1992,

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2004-550: A liberal and conciliatory spirit.” Maximilian's tenure as viceroy was short-lived, lasting only two years during a period of rising local tensions. Although holding title of viceroy, his jurisdiction did not fully extend over the Austrian garrison, which was opposed to any sort of liberal reforms. Maximilian went to Vienna in April 1858 to ask his brother the emperor to grant him both military and administrative jurisdiction, while continuing

2171-500: A localized network. Even where infrastructure was improved, transit on the Veracruz-Puebla main road had other obstacles, with wolves attacking mule trains, killing animals, and rendering some sacks of foodstuffs unsellable because they were smeared with blood. The north-south Acapulco route remained a mule track through mountainous terrain. Veracruz was the first Spanish settlement founded in what became New Spain, and it endured as

2338-536: A pledge of French military support and at the formal invitation of a Mexican delegation, Maximilian accepted the crown of Mexico on 10 April 1864 following a bogus referendum in Mexico that purportedly showed the Mexican people backed him. Maximilian's hold on power in Mexico was shaky from the beginning. Rather than enacting policies that would return power to Mexican conservatives, Maximilian instead sought to implement liberal policies, losing him his domestic conservative backers. Internationally, his legitimacy as ruler

2505-431: A policy of concessions. Franz Joseph rejected the appeal. That left Maximilian with only the limited role of prefect of police while tensions with Piedmont were rising. On 3 January 1859, for security reasons, Carlota was asked to return to Miramar, and she sent her valuables out of Lombardy-Venetia. Only while safe in the royal Palace of Milan did she share her concerns with her mother-in-law Sophie. In February 1859,

2672-505: A political position that those of royal blood adhered to. The appointment of the young progressive Maximilian to the office of viceroy was made in response to the growing discontent of the Italian population with the rule of the older Joseph Radetzky von Radetz . The appointment of an Archduke, indeed the Emperor's own brother, was also intended to encourage the local population's personal loyalty to

2839-687: A proposal to make him the emperor of Mexico. The Habsburg family had ruled the Viceroyalty of New Spain from its establishment until the Spanish throne was inherited by the Bourbons . As a member of the House of Habsburg, Maximilian was considered to have more potential legitimacy than other royal figures. He was unlikely to ever rule in Europe because of his elder brother's position as emperor and disapproval of his younger brother's liberalism. In that year, Maximilian declined

3006-794: A refined education. The pair fell in love. His brother Franz Joseph and his mother approved of a prospective marriage between them. Unfortunately, in February 1852, Maria Amélia contracted scarlet fever . Her health worsened over the months, developing tuberculosis. Her doctors advised her to leave Lisbon and go to Madeira , where she arrived in August 1852. At the end of November, she had lost hope of ever recovering her health. Maria Amélia died on February 4, 1853, which deeply shocked Maximilian. Other travels in this era included Italy, Spain, Madeira, Tangiers , and Algeria. He visited Beirut , Palestine , and Egypt . During his visit to Spain in 1854, he visited

3173-466: A region of nomadic and semi-nomadic indigenous populations, which do not easily support human settlement. In the 1540s, the discovery of silver in Zacatecas attracted Spanish mining entrepreneurs and workers, to exploit the mines, as well as crown officials to ensure the crown received its share of revenue. Silver mining became integral not only to the development of New Spain, but also to the enrichment of

3340-471: A rival conservative government. The three-year civil war (1858–61) between liberals and conservatives was won by liberals on the battlefield. Conservatives regrouped after the defeat and sought external allies for their monarchist cause. Mexican diplomat José Hidalgo had been officially tasked by the Santa Anna administration to sound European courts for interest in establishing a Mexican monarchy, but after

3507-468: A secret entry way in his Cuernavaca residence , allowing him to discreetly have encounters with women, but that Maximilian fathered a child by a Mexican woman in Cuernavaca , Concepción Sedano y Leguizano, who died shortly after Maximilian's execution. Unacknowledged as the emperor's offspring, the boy was allegedly taken to Paris and educated with funds by a Mexican ex-patriate there. During World War I , he

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3674-446: A steady stream of tax revenues by supplying the huge Mexican demand, so the crown limited zones of tobacco cultivation. It also established a small number of factories of finished products, and licensed distribution outlets ( estanquillos ). The crown also set up warehouses to store up to a year's worth of supplies, including paper for cigarettes, for the factories. With the establishment of the monopoly, crown revenues increased and there

3841-482: Is evidence that despite high prices and expanding rates of poverty, tobacco consumption rose while at the same time, general consumption fell. In 1787 during the Bourbon Reforms Veracruz became an intendancy , a new administrative unit. Founded in 1531 as a Spanish settlement, Puebla de los Angeles quickly rose to the status of Mexico's second-most important city. Its location on the main route between

4008-522: The Amsterdam stock market , the first in history and whose origin is owed precisely to the need for funds to finance pirate expeditions, as later by the London market. The above is what some authors call the "historical process of the transfer of wealth from the south to the north." In the colonial period, basic patterns of regional development emerged and strengthened. European settlement and institutional life

4175-889: The Cayman Islands , Trinidad , and the Bay Islands . New Spain also claimed jurisdiction over the overseas territories of the Spanish East Indies in Asia and Oceania: the Philippine Islands, the Mariana Islands , the Caroline Islands , parts of Taiwan , and parts of the Moluccas . Although asserting sovereignty over this vast realm, it did not effectively control large swaths. Other European powers, including England, France, and

4342-711: The Champs-Élysées in Paris), to connect the Imperial residence with the city center. He named the new boulevard Paseo de la Emperatriz ("Promenade of the Empress") in honor of his wife Empress Carlota. Following the reestablishment of the Republic in 1867 by President Benito Juárez and the end of the civil war to oust the French invaders and defeat their Mexican conservative allies, the boulevard

4509-804: The Chapultepec Peace Accords , which ended the Salvadoran civil war , were signed in the castle with the mediation of UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali . The treaty established peace between the Salvadoran government and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). In addition to the then acting president Alfredo Cristiani and the leader of the FMLN Shafik Handal , the rebel general and later president of El Salvador Salvador Sánchez Cerén also signed

4676-521: The First Mexican Empire . Agustin's mother, Alicia Iturbide, an American who was born Alice Green, agreed to give up her child. Soon after, she changed her mind and sent messages to Maximilian to renounce the adoption contract, but she was simply deported from Mexico without her child. Agustín and his cousin were granted the title Prince de Iturbide and the style of Highness by an imperial decree of 16 September 1865, and were ranked next in line after

4843-799: The Manila galleon . In the Philippines Manila near the South China Sea was the main port. The ports were fundamental for overseas trade, stretching a trade route from Asia, through the Manila galleon to the Spanish mainland. These were ships that made voyages from the Philippines to Mexico, whose goods were then transported overland from Acapulco to Veracruz and later reshipped from Veracruz to Cádiz in Spain. So then,

5010-562: The Metropolis (mother country) due to Spanish Roman Catholic Monarchy's frequent preoccupation with European wars (enormous amounts of this wealth were spent hiring mercenaries to fight the Protestant Reformation ), as well as the incessant decrease in overseas transportation caused by assaults from companies of British buccaneers , Dutch corsairs and pirates of various origin. These companies were initially financed by, at first, by

5177-520: The Mexica (Aztec) Empire . Central Mexico became the base of expeditions of exploration and conquest, expanding the territory claimed by the Spanish Empire. With the political and economic importance of the conquest, the crown asserted direct control over the densely populated realm. The crown established New Spain as a viceroyalty in 1535, appointing as viceroy Antonio de Mendoza , an aristocrat loyal to

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5344-610: The Mexican Republic on 19 June 1867. A member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine , Maximilian was the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria . Prior to his becoming Emperor of Mexico, he was commander-in-chief of the small Imperial Austrian Navy and briefly the Austrian viceroy of Lombardy–Venetia , but was removed by the emperor. Two years before his dismissal, he briefly met with French emperor Napoleon III in Paris, where he

5511-598: The Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821) and for many years later, until 1833. In that year the building was decreed to become the location of the Military College (Military Academy) for cadet training; as a sequence of several structural modifications had to be done, including the addition of the watchtower known as Caballero Alto ("Tall Knight"). On September 13, 1847, the Niños Héroes ("Boy Heroes") died defending

5678-454: The Novara during its Atlantic crossing. Wrote du Barail: "If you succeed in bringing order out of this chaos, fortune into this misery, union into these hearts you will be the greatest sovereign of modern times. Go poor fool! You may regret your beautiful castle of Miramar!" The new emperor of Mexico landed at Veracruz on 29 May 1864, and received a sparse reception from the townspeople due to

5845-489: The SMS Novara . He enjoyed that voyage so much that he anticipated in his diary “I shall fulfill one of my most beloved dreams, a voyage by sea. I depart with my memories of my beloved Austrian homeland in a very emotional moment for me.“ This voyage took him to Lisbon , where he met the princess Maria Amélia of Braganza , daughter of the late Brazilian Emperor Pedro I . She was described as beautiful, pious, clever, and of

6012-522: The Spanish Empire , a status it held until the Mexican independence in 1821, Maximilian seemed a perfect candidate for the conservatives' plans for monarchy in Mexico. Maximilian was interested in assuming the throne, but only with guarantees of French support. Mexican conservatives did not take sufficient account of Maximilian's embrace of liberalism, and Maximilian failed to understand he would be viewed as

6179-653: The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521) to the collapse of Spanish rule in the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821). Beginning with the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521 by Hernán Cortés , Spanish rule was established, leading to the creation of governing bodies like the Council of the Indies and the Audiencia to maintain control. It involved the forced conversion of indigenous populations to Catholicism and

6346-512: The port of Veracruz . Alexander von Humboldt called this area, Mesa de Anahuac , which can be defined as the adjacent valleys of Puebla, Mexico, and Toluca, enclosed by high mountains, along with their connections to the Gulf Coast port of Veracruz and the Pacific port of Acapulco , where over half the population of New Spain lived. These valleys were linked trunk lines, or main routes, facilitating

6513-706: The royal gardens of Venice , while in Milan, the avenues gained priority, the Piazza del Duomo was widened, and a new piazza was built between the Teatro alla Scala and the Palazzo Marino . The Biblioteca Ambrosiana library was also restored. The British minister of foreign relations wrote in 1859 that “the administration of the provinces of Lombardy-Venetia were directed by the Archduke Maximilian with great talent, and both

6680-529: The tombs of his ancestors Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabel I of Castile in Granada . Later travels took him to the Empire of Brazil . In an 1859 letter to his father-in-law King Leopold I of Belgium he wrote "It seems to me like a legend that I am the first descendant of Ferdinand and Isabela who since early childhood has thought it his mission to tread on the continent that has attained such gigantic importance for

6847-452: The 1530s sugar production was underway. New Spain's first viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza established an hacienda on lands taken from Orizaba. Indians resisted cultivating sugarcane themselves, preferring to tend their subsistence crops. As in the Caribbean, black slave labor became crucial to the development of sugar estates. During the period 1580–1640 when Spain and Portugal were ruled by

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7014-579: The Austrian military cracked down, making numerous arrests in Milan and Venice. The prisoners came from the upper classes and were transported to Mantua and various prisons throughout the realm. The city of Brescia was occupied by militia, while several battalions were camped in Piacenza , and on the shores of the River Po . Maximilian hoped to moderate the severe dispositions of General Ferenc Gyulay . Maximilian had just received permission from his brother to open

7181-489: The Austrian throne or as an archduke of Austria. On 9 April 1864 Maximilian reluctantly agreed to the "Family Pact". Maximilian formally accepted the crown of Mexico at Miramar on 10 April 1864. In April 1864, Maximilian stepped down from his duties as Chief of Naval Section of the Austrian Navy. He traveled from Trieste aboard SMS Novara , escorted by the frigates SMS  Bellona (Austrian) and Thémis (French), and

7348-462: The Captaincies General of the Philippines (established 1574) and Guatemala (established in 1609), which were joint military and political commands with a certain level of autonomy. The viceroy was captain-general of those provinces that remained directly under his command. At the local level there were over two hundred districts, in both indigenous and Spanish areas, which were headed by either

7515-463: The Caribbean, and northern parts of South America; several Pacific archipelagos, including the Philippines and Guam . Additional Asian colonies included " Spanish Formosa ," on the island of Taiwan . After the 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire , conqueror Hernán Cortés named the territory New Spain, and established the new capital, Mexico City, on the site of Tenochtitlan , the capital of

7682-604: The Duke of Brabant, and future Leopold II , in contrast, wrote to Queen Victoria , who was Charlotte's cousin, “Max is a youth filled with ingenuity, knowledge, talent and kindness.” The engagement was formally concluded on 23 December 1856. On 27 July 1857 Maximilian and Charlotte were married in the Royal Palace of Brussels . Distinguished European royals attended the ceremony, including the first cousin of Charlotte and husband of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert . The marriage also enhanced

7849-579: The Empress Eugénie . There he also met Mexican conservatives, who would later prove to be decisive in Maximilian's life. The Archduke would write about this initial meeting in his diary “although the emperor lacks the genius of his famous uncle , he retains fortunately for France, a grand personality. He stands tall over the century and shall surely leave his mark on it.” In May 1856, Franz Joseph asked Maximilian to return from Paris to Vienna, stopping on

8016-618: The Holy Office of the Inquisition , the merchants' guild ( consulado ), and home of the most elite families in the Kingdom of New Spain. Mexico City was the single most populous city, not just in New Spain, but for many years the entire Western Hemisphere, with a high concentration of mixed-race castas . Significant regional development grew along the main transportation route from the capital east to

8183-422: The House of Habsburg consider Maximilian an important ancestor. But in terms of the Mexican political reality, they are not in the spotlight. The nearest living agnatic relative to Maximilian is the head of the Habsburg family, Karl von Habsburg , and members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine still reside in Mexico, among them Carlos Felipe de Habsburgo , the first male of the former ruling house to be born in

8350-444: The House of Habsburg. Charlotte made efforts to win over her subjects, speaking Italian, visiting charitable institutions, inaugurating schools, and dressing in native Lombard dress. On Easter 1858, Maximilian and Charlotte sailed down the Grand Canal of Venice in ceremonial dress. Despite their efforts, anti-Austrian sentiment continued to spread rapidly throughout the Italian population. Maximilian's efforts in administering

8517-461: The Imperial yacht Fantasie led the warship procession from his Miramare Castle out to sea. They received a blessing from Pope Pius IX , and Queen Victoria ordered the Gibraltar garrison to fire a salute for Maximilian's passing ship. The widespread doubts amongst informed persons concerning the wisdom of Maximilian's venture were reflected by the French colonel François Claude du Barail , who while returning from arduous service in Mexico sighted

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8684-428: The Liberal forces led by President Benito Juárez refused to recognize his rule. There was continuous fighting between the French expeditionary forces (who were supplemented by Maximilian's locally recruited Imperial Mexican troops) on one side and the Mexican Republicans on the other. After a brief stay at the National Palace , the emperor and empress decided to set up their residence at Chapultepec Castle , located on

8851-429: The Mexican monarchists on potential candidates for a Mexican throne. It was perceived as impolitic to propose a noble from one of the nations involved in the expedition and Maximilian already had a reputation as a capable administrator from his time spent as viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia. In 1859, Maximilian was first approached by Mexican monarchists—members of the Mexican nobility , led by José Pablo Martínez del Río —with

9018-461: The Netherlands established colonies in territories Spain claimed. Much of what was called in the United States the "Spanish borderlands", is territory that attracted few Spanish settlers, with less dense indigenous populations and apparently lacking in mineral wealth. Huge deposits of gold in California were discovered immediately after it was incorporated into the U.S. following the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). The northern region of New Spain in

9185-411: The New Spain; that idea was not to come to fruition either despite already having the blueprints adapted for this purpose. German scientist Alexander von Humboldt visited the site in 1803 and condemned the Royal Treasury's sale of the palace's windows to raise funds for the Crown. The building was finally bought in 1806 by the municipal government of Mexico City. Chapultepec Castle was abandoned during

9352-399: The Provincias Internas (1776) (analogous to a dependent captaincy general). Two governorates , third-level administrative divisions, were established, the Governorate of Spanish Florida (Spanish: La Florida ) and the Governorate of Spanish Louisiana (Spanish: Luisiana ). The high courts, or audiencias , were established in major areas of Spanish settlement. In New Spain the high court

9519-406: The Regency of the Mexican Empire. An official delegation left Mexico, arriving in Europe in October. Upon meeting the delegation, Maximilian set forth the condition that he would only accept the throne if a national plebiscite approved of it. By February 1864 French forces controlled territory comprising the majority of Mexico's population. The Mexican plebiscite duly held in occupied territory "was

9686-416: The South that seceded and formed the Confederate States of America and the northern states that denied their right to secede. In these circumstances, the U.S. government could not enforce the Monroe Doctrine , which asserted U.S. pre-eminence in the hemisphere and excluded foreign intervention. In July 1861, Mexican President Benito Juárez had suspended the payment of foreign debts that had been incurred by

9853-481: The Spanish Army and engineer , drew up the blueprint and began the construction on August 16 of the same year. After Bambitelli's departure to Havana , Captain Manuel Agustín Mascaró took over the leadership of the project and during his tenure the works proceeded at a rapid pace. Mascaró was accused of building a fortress with the intent of rebelling against the Spanish Crown from there. Viceroy de Gálvez died suddenly on November 8, 1786, fueling speculation that he

10020-403: The Spanish crown claimed on the mainland of the Americas much of North America south of Canada, that is: all of modern Mexico and Central America except Panama ; most of the United States west of the Mississippi River, plus the Floridas . The Spanish West Indies , settled prior to the conquest of the Aztec Empire, also came under New Spain's jurisdiction: Cuba, Hispaniola , Puerto Rico, Jamaica,

10187-433: The Spanish crown, which marked a transformation in the global economy . New Spain's port of Acapulco became the New World terminus of the transpacific trade with the Philippines via the Manila galleon . New Spain became a vital link between Spain's New World empire and its East Indies empire . From the beginning of the 19th century, the kingdom fell into crisis, aggravated by the 1808 Napoleonic invasion of Iberia and

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10354-447: The U.S. government. Juárez had appointed Matías Romero as minister plenipotentiary to the U.S. government, an effective advocate for the Mexican republic even as the U.S. was embroiled in its civil war. Juárez's continued presence in Mexico denied Maximilian assertion of legitimacy as ruler. A major aspect of liberalism in Mexico was the curtailment of the power and privileges of the ideologically conservative Catholic Church, including

10521-523: The United States in the nineteenth century. Regional characteristics of colonial Mexico have been the focus of considerable study. For those based in the vice-regal capital of Mexico City, everywhere else were the "provinces." Even in the modern era, "Mexico" for many refers solely to Mexico City, with the pejorative view that anywhere outside the capital is a hopeless backwater. "Fuera de México, todo es Cuauhtitlán" ["outside of Mexico City, it's all Podunk"], that is, poor, marginal, and backward, in short,

10688-442: The Viceroyalty); Panama (1st one, 1538–1543); Guatemala (1543); Guadalajara (1548); Manila (1583). Audiencia districts further incorporated the older, smaller divisions known as governorates ( gobernaciones , roughly equivalent to provinces ), which had been originally established by conquistador -governors known as adelantados . Provinces which were under military threat were grouped into captaincies general , such as

10855-449: The ample tithe income indicates, plus manufacturing woolen cloth for the domestic market. Merchants, manufacturers, and artisans were important to the city's economic fortunes, but its early prosperity was followed by stagnation and decline in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The foundation of the town of Puebla was a pragmatic social experiment to settle Spanish immigrants without encomiendas to pursue farming and industry. Puebla

11022-409: The battle fleet with which Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff would later secure his victories. He was however criticized for diverting massive funds to ship building from the training, sea going experience, and morale of sailors. He also initiated a large-scale scientific expedition (1857–1859) . At the end of 1855, he sought refuge for his ship in the Gulf of Trieste during poor sailing weather. He

11189-445: The blending of Spanish and indigenous cultures. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spanish settlers founded major cities such as Mexico City, Puebla , and Guadalajara , turning New Spain into a vital part of the Spanish Empire. The discovery of silver in Zacatecas and Guanajuato significantly boosted the economy, leading to conflicts like the Chichimeca War . Missions and presidios were established in northern frontiers, aiding in

11356-536: The building for the royal couple, among them Julius Hofmann, Carl Gangolf Kayser , Carlos Schaffer, Eleuterio Méndez and Ramón Cruz Arango, The architects designed several projects, which followed a neoclassical style and made the palace more habitable as a royal residence. European architects Kayser and Hofmann worked on several other revival castles, including Neuschwanstein Castle – built by Maximilian's Wittelsbach cousin Ludwig II of Bavaria twenty years after Chapultepec's renovation. Botanist Wilhelm Knechtel

11523-404: The capital and the Gulf Coast port of Veracruz , size and complexity of indigenous populations, and the presence or absence of mineral resources. Central and southern Mexico had dense indigenous populations, each with complex social, political, and economic organization, but no large-scale deposits of silver to draw Spanish settlers. By contrast, the northern area of Mexico was arid and mountainous,

11690-454: The castle while it was taken by United States forces during the Battle of Chapultepec of the Mexican–American War . They are honored with a large mural on the ceiling above the main entrance to the castle. The United States Marine Corps honors its role in the Battle of Chapultepec and the subsequent occupation of Mexico City through the first line of the " Marines' Hymn ", From the Halls of Montezuma . Marine Corps tradition maintains that

11857-465: The colonial era was considered marginal to Spanish interests compared to the most densely populated and lucrative areas of central Mexico. To shore up its claims in North America in the eighteenth century as other powers encroached on its claims, the crown sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest , which explored and claimed the coast of British Columbia and Alaska. Religious missions and fortified presidios were established to shore up Spanish control on

12024-501: The conservatives and create a moderate monarchy with wide support. Maximilian was in agreement and sought to establish a regime that included liberals. In the summer of 1864 Maximilian declared a political amnesty for all liberals wishing to join the Empire. His conciliatory efforts eventually won over some moderate liberals such as José Fernando Ramírez , José María Lacunza , Manuel Orozco y Berra , and northern strongman Santiago Vidaurri ,

12191-425: The conservatives' loss on the battlefield to the liberal regime during a three-year civil war (1858–61) meant conservatives sought ways to return to power with outside allies, opening a path for France under Napoleon III to intervene in Mexico and set up a puppet regime with conservative Mexican support. When the liberal government of Mexican President Benito Juárez suspended payment on foreign debts in 1861, there

12358-503: The country. Carlos Felipe is an academic who has given many interviews, conferences, and presentations regarding his family's history, Maximilian and Carlota, and the Second Mexican Empire. On 28 February 1857, Franz Joseph named Maximilian as viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia , an Italian-speaking region of the empire. On 6 September 1857, Maximilian and Charlotte made their entrance to the capital Milan . During their stay there

12525-606: The couple lived at the Royal Palace of Milan and occasionally resided at the Royal Villa of Monza . As viceroy, Maximilian lived as a sovereign surrounded by an imposing court of chamberlains and servants. During his two years as viceroy, Maximilian continued the construction of Miramar Castle, which would not be finished until three years later. Charlotte's royal dowry aided in the construction. Her brother Leopold would remark in his diary that “the construction of that palace amounts to endless madness.” Maximilian worked on developing

12692-521: The couple's feelings advised Maximilian to propose. From the Belgian viewpoint, the marriage was highly advantageous, since the nation was newly established and could benefit from ties to the Great Powers . Having been unlucky in love twice before, Maximilian's marriage to the daughter of a reigning European monarch was suitable and would seem to be a happy conclusion to his bachelorhood. Maximilian proposed and

12859-521: The crown to oversee the Church in all aspects save doctrine. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was created by royal decree on October 12, 1535, in the Kingdom of New Spain with a viceroy appointed as the king's "deputy" or substitute. This was the first New World viceroyalty and one of only two that the Spanish Rmpire administered in the continent until the 18th-century Bourbon Reforms . At its greatest extent,

13026-515: The defeated conservative government, providing a pretext for foreign intervention. Juárez's government could ill-afford and had no desire to pay off the debts contracted by those that had challenged its legitimacy to rule. The suspension gave Napoleon III an opportunity to establish a French client state which could also serve as a buffer to the expansion of the United States. France gained the aid of Britain and Spain , which also had loaned money to

13193-522: The defeated conservatives, under the pretext of arranging an expedition simply to renegotiate Mexico's debt agreements. Plans for such an expedition were formalized at the Convention of London on 31 October 1861. Gutiérrez de Estrada received Maximilian's answer at the beginning of October. The Archduke would accept the throne on two conditions: first, the Mexican people themselves should spontaneously ask for him; and second, that he should also be assured of

13360-414: The discovery of silver in the north, the Spanish sought to conquer or pacify those peoples in order to exploit the mines and develop enterprises to supply them. Nonetheless, much of northern New Spain had sparse indigenous population and attracted few Europeans. The Spanish crown and later the Republic of Mexico did not effectively exert sovereignty over the region, leaving it vulnerable to the expansionism of

13527-495: The empire. Only in 1849 would the revolution be stamped out in Austria, with hundreds of rebels executed and thousands imprisoned. Maximilian was horrified at what he regarded as senseless brutality and openly complained about it. He would later remark, "We call our age the Age of Enlightenment , but there are cities in Europe where, in the future, men will look back in horror and amazement at

13694-524: The establishment of economic societies, were part of the efforts to enhance efficiency and revenue for the crown. The decline of New Spain culminated in the early 19th century with the Mexican War of Independence. Following Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla 's 1810 Cry of Dolores , the insurgent army waged an eleven-year war against Spanish rule. The eventual alliance between royalist military officer Agustín de Iturbide and insurgent leader Vicente Guerrero led to

13861-455: The even worse treatment given to the black slaves. In colonial Mexico, Encomenderos de Negros were specialized middlemen during the first half of the seventeenth century. While encomendero (alternatively, encomenderos de indios) generally refers to men granted the labor and tribute of a particular indigenous group in the immediate post-conquest era, encomenderos de negros were Portuguese slave dealers who were permitted to operate in Mexico for

14028-513: The expansion and control of territories that later became part of the southwestern United States. The 18th century saw the implementation of the Bourbon Reforms , which aimed to modernize and strengthen the colonial administration and economy. These reforms included the creation of intendancies , increased military presence, and the centralization of royal authority. The expulsion of the Jesuits and

14195-547: The face of a renewed U.S. interest in enforcing the Monroe Doctrine, under orders by Napoleon III, the French armies that had propped up Maximilian's regime began withdrawing from Mexico in 1866. With no popular support and republican forces in the ascendant, Maximilian's monarchy collapsed. Maximilian was captured in Querétaro . He was tried and executed by the restored Republican government alongside his generals Miguel Miramón ,

14362-439: The fall of Santa Anna in 1853 with the successful liberal Revolution of Ayutla , Hidalgo had lost his official accreditation and continued his efforts independently. Hidalgo's childhood friend, the Spanish noblewoman Eugénie de Montijo was now wife of Napoleon III , Emperor of France, and it was through her that Hidalgo managed to gain the attention of the French ruler. The name of Maximilian came up swiftly in discussions among

14529-520: The forced abdication of the Bourbon monarch, Charles IV . This resulted in a political crisis in New Spain and much of the Spanish Empire in 1808, which ended with the government of Viceroy José de Iturrigaray . Conspiracies of American-born Spaniards sought to take power, leading to the Mexican War of Independence , 1810–1821. At its conclusion in 1821, the viceroyalty was dissolved and the Mexican Empire

14696-502: The forced sale of Church-owned property and freedom of religion, removing Catholicism as the sole religion of the nation. The papal nuncio, Pier Francesco Meglia , arrived in Mexico in December 1864, and informed Maximilian that the liberal laws were to be reversed, Church property was to be returned and religious toleration rescinded and Catholicism as the sole religion reinstated. Maximilian refused, decreeing freedom of worship and confirmed

14863-417: The formation of regional identity that they became the basis for the nations of Central America and the first Mexican states after independence . As part of the sweeping eighteenth-century administrative and economic changes known as the Bourbon Reforms , the Spanish crown created new administrative units called intendancies , to strengthen central control over the viceroyalty. Some measures aimed to break

15030-455: The fortunes of humanity." Maximilian learned to command sailors and received a solid education regarding the technical aspects of navigation. On 10 September 1854, he was named Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy and was granted the rank of counter admiral . As commander-in-chief, Maximilian carried out several reforms to modernize the naval forces. He was instrumental in creating the naval ports at Trieste and Pola (now Pula ), as well as

15197-694: The ground. On the mainland, the administrative units included Las Californias , that is, the Baja California peninsula, still part of Mexico and divided into Baja California and Baja California Sur ; Alta California (modern Arizona , California , Nevada , Utah , western Colorado , and southern Wyoming ); (from the 1760s) Louisiana (including the western Mississippi River basin and the Missouri River basin); Nueva Extremadura (the modern states of Coahuila and Texas ); and Santa Fe de Nuevo México (parts of Texas and New Mexico ). The Viceroyalty

15364-528: The imperial navy, and he organized the expedition of the ship Novara , which would turn out to be the first circumnavigation of the globe conducted by the Austrian Empire, a scientific expedition, which lasted more than two years from 1857 to 1859, and which involved the participation of many Viennese intellectuals. Politically, the Archduke was strongly influenced by nineteenth-century liberalism, generally not

15531-452: The injustice of tribunals, which in a spirit of vengeance condemned to death those whose only crime lay in wanting something different to the arbitrary rule of governments which placed themselves above the law." At a court ball in Vienna, Maximilian met and fell in love with a young Moldavian noblewoman , Viktoria Keșco (1835–1856), paternal aunt of the future Queen of Serbia . But the match

15698-453: The lack of state involvement in the development of physical infrastructure was to have lasting effects, constraining development until the late nineteenth century. Despite the road improvements, transit was still difficult, particularly for heavy military equipment. Although the crown had ambitious plans for both the Toluca and Veracruz portions of the king's highway, improvements were limited to

15865-549: The liberals in the War of Reform. After Charles de Lorencez 's expeditionary force was repulsed at the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862 , Napoleon III sent reinforcements, ultimately numbering about 38,900, and placed them under the command of General Élie Forey . Even so, it took the French a year to take Puebla , and then the capital in June 1863. The French now sought to establish a friendly Mexican provisional government. Forey appointed

16032-433: The marriage was fruitful, and after four miscarriages, four sons – including Maximilian – would reach adulthood. Rumors at the court alleged that Maximilian was the product of an extramarital affair between his mother and Napoleon II , Duke of Reichstadt. The existence of an illicit affair between Sophie and the duke, and any possibility that Maximilian was conceived from such a union, are dubious. Maximilian's upbringing

16199-412: The mines in the north of Mexico had a workforce of black slave labor and indigenous wage labor, not draft labor. Indigenous who were drawn to the mining areas were from different regions of the center of Mexico, with a few from the north itself. With such diversity they did not have a common ethnic identity or language and rapidly assimilated to Hispanic culture. Although mining was difficult and dangerous,

16366-548: The monarch rather than the conqueror Cortés. New Spain was the first of the viceroyalties that Spain created, the second being Peru in 1542, following the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire . Both New Spain and Peru had dense indigenous populations at conquest as a source of labor and material wealth in the form of vast silver deposits, discovered and exploited beginning in the mid-1500s. New Spain developed strong regional divisions based on local climate, topography, distance from

16533-556: The movement for Italian unification , the Count of Cavour , who declared that In Lombardy, our worst enemy...was the Archduke Maximilian; young, active, enterprising, who dedicated himself completely to the difficult task of winning over the Milanese, and who was about to triumph in it. The Lombardian provinces had never been so prosperous or well administered. Thank God that the good government of Vienna intervened, and as usual, took advantage of

16700-418: The movement of vital goods and people to get to key areas. Even in the relatively richly endowed region of Mexico, the difficulty of transit of people and goods in the absence of rivers and level terrain remained a major challenge to the economy of New Spain. This challenge persisted during the post-independence years until the late nineteenth-century construction of railroads. In the colonial era and up until

16867-461: The multiethnic Indian populations in the Veracruz area and for that reason Spaniards imported black slaves as either an alternative to indigenous labor or its complete replacement in the event of a repetition of the Caribbean die-off. A few Spaniards acquired prime agricultural lands left vacant by the indigenous demographic disaster. Portions of the province could support sugar cultivation and as early as

17034-411: The offer, but several attempts were made by the Mexican royalists. Later it was decided to again to make the offer to Maximilian, and that José María Gutiérrez de Estrada , because of his pivotal role in the history of Mexican monarchism, was to be given the role of again inviting Maximilian to assume a Mexican throne. In early 1861, the United States was embroiled in its Civil War between the states of

17201-405: The official residence of the president . With few exceptions, all succeeding presidents lived there until 1934, when President Lázaro Cárdenas stayed at Los Pinos instead, turning the castle into a museum in 1939. In 1785 Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez ordered the construction of a stately home for himself at the highest point of Chapultepec Hill. Francisco Bambitelli, Lieutenant Colonel of

17368-469: The official residence of the President of Mexico. With few exceptions, all succeeding presidents lived there until 1934, when President Lázaro Cárdenas decided to move the official residence to Los Pinos , turning the castle into a museum in 1939. The palace underwent several structural changes under González and then during the later years of the presidency of Porfirio Díaz (1876-1880; 1884-1911). When Díaz

17535-501: The only viable Gulf Coast port, the gateway for Spain to New Spain. The difficult topography around the port affected local development and New Spain as a whole. Going from the port to the central plateau entailed a daunting 2000 meter climb from the narrow tropical coastal plain in just over a hundred kilometers. The narrow, slippery road in the mountain mists was treacherous for mule trains, and in some cases mules were hoisted by ropes. Many tumbled with their cargo to their deaths. Given

17702-464: The opportunity to commit a blunder, an impudent act, one most fatal to Austria, but most advantageous to Piedmont...Lombardy shall now fall into our grasp. After gaining independence in 1821 Mexico had soon divided itself into liberal and conservative parties, the latter of which had a monarchist faction. The failed monarchy of Agustín I that saw him forced to abdicate, swearing to remain in exile, met its final demise when he returned to Mexico and

17869-417: The periphery. The picture is far more complex, however; while the capital is enormously important as the center of institutional, economic, and social power, the provinces played a significant role in colonial Mexico. Regions (provinces) developed and thrived to the extent that they became sites of economic production and tied into networks of trade. "Spanish society in the Indies was import-export oriented at

18036-477: The population there, a far greater proportion than any other area of New Spain, and greater than even nearby Jalapa. In 1765 the crown created a monopoly on tobacco, which directly affected agriculture and manufacturing in the Veracruz region. Tobacco was a valuable, high-demand product. Men, women, and even children smoked, something commented on by foreign travelers and depicted in eighteenth-century casta paintings. The crown calculated that tobacco could produce

18203-554: The port of Acapulco and European goods via the flota (convoy) from the Spanish port of Cádiz . Spaniards also settled in the temperate area of Orizaba , east of the Citlaltepetl volcano. Orizaba varied considerably in elevation from 800 metres (2,600 ft) to 5,700 metres (18,700 ft) (the summit of the Citlaltepetl volcano), but "most of the inhabited part is temperate." Some Spaniards lived in semitropical Córdoba , which

18370-452: The port of Veracruz and the capital had some short sections paved and bridges constructed. The construction was done despite protests from some indigenous settlements when the infrastructure improvements, which sometimes included rerouting the road through communal lands. The Spanish crown finally decided that road improvement was in the interests of the state for military purposes, as well as for fostering commerce, agriculture, and industry, but

18537-474: The power of local elites in order to improve the economy of the empire. Reforms included the improvement of public participation in communal affairs, distribution of undeveloped lands to the indigenous and Spaniards, ending the corrupt practices of local crown officials, encouraging trade and mining, and establishing a system of territorial division similar to the model created by the government of France, already adopted in Spain. The establishment of intendancies

18704-592: The presidency of Mariano Paredes and during the last presidency of Santa Anna , but by the late 1850s the liberals had appeared to have achieved a decisive victory through the promulgation of the Constitution of 1857 , which constrained the powers of the Mexican Catholic Church and the Mexican Army , two traditional bastions of conservativism. Conservatives declared the Constitution null and void and formed

18871-584: The presidency of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada . However, the observatory was only functional for five years until they decided to move it to the former residence of the Archbishop in Tacubaya. The reason was to allow the return of the Colegio Militar to the premises as well as transforming the building into the presidential residence. The castle was given new life in 1882, when President Manuel González declared it

19038-515: The prestige of the newly established Belgian dynasty as the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha once more found itself allied with the powerful House of Habsburg . The marriage was not fruitful, producing no children. However, when they were Emperor and Empress of Mexico, they adopted on 9 September 1865 Agustín de Iturbide y Green and his cousin Salvador de Iturbide y Marzán , both grandsons of Agustín de Iturbide , who had briefly reigned as emperor of

19205-556: The private law schools in Pavia and Padua . In March 1859, there were incidents between the Milanese police and the Veronese public. In Pavia, one of the cities governed by Maximilian, Austria created a veritable state of military occupation. The Italian situation was becoming critical, and order could no longer be maintained without troops. The Austrian archduke's conciliatory efforts ultimately fell apart when his various projects for improving

19372-458: The province included a revision of the tax registry, a more equitable distribution of tax revenue, the establishment of medical districts, dredging the Venetian canals, expanding the port of Cuomo, draining swamps to put a stop to malaria, fertilization projects and the irrigation of the plains of Friuli . There was also a series of urban development projects. The Riva degli Schiavoni was extended to

19539-412: The railroads were built in key areas in post-independence in the late nineteenth century, mule trains were the main mode of transporting goods. Pack mules were used because unpaved roads, mountainous terrain, and seasonal flooding could not generally accommodate carts. In the late eighteenth century, the crown devoted some resources to study and remedy the poor roads. The Camino Real (royal road) between

19706-537: The red stripe worn on the trousers of officers and noncommissioned officers, and commonly known as the blood stripe , commemorates the high number of Marine NCOs and officers killed storming the castle of Chapultepec in September 1847. As noted, the usage "Halls of Montezuma" is factually wrong - as the building was erected by the Spanish rulers of Mexico, more than two centuries after the Aztec Emperor Montezuma

19873-633: The regions or provinces that had developed earlier in the center, South, and North. Many of the intendancy boundaries became Mexican state boundaries after independence. The intendancies were created between 1764 and 1789, with the greatest number in the mainland in 1786: 1764 La Habana (later subdivided); 1766 Nueva Orleans; 1784 Puerto Rico; 1786 México, Veracruz, Puebla de Los Ángeles, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Durango, Oaxaca, Guatemala, San Salvador, Comayagua, León, Santiago de Cuba, Puerto Príncipe; 1789 Mérida. The history of mainland New Spain spans three hundred years from

20040-501: The reigning family. In October 1866, as the Empire began to falter, Maximilian wrote to Alice Iturbide that he was returning her son, Agustín, to her care." One biographer claims that Maximilian took a mistress in Mexico. Historian Enrique Krauze suggests that Maximilian was rendered sterile due to venereal disease contracted from a Brazilian woman when he spent time in the country following his dismissal as viceroy. However, another biographer contends that not only did Maximilian have

20207-458: The same monarch and Portuguese slave traders had access to Spanish markets, African slaves were imported in large numbers to New Spain and many of them remained in the region of Veracruz. But even when that connection was broken and prices rose, black slaves remained an important component of Córdoba's labor sector even after 1700. Rural estates in Córdoba depended on African slave labor, who were 20% of

20374-494: The same name. It became the seat of the richest diocese in New Spain in its first century, with the seat of the first diocese, formerly in Tlaxcala, moved there in 1543. Bishop Juan de Palafox asserted that the income from the diocese of Puebla was twice that of the archbishopic of Mexico, due to the tithe income derived from agriculture. In its first hundred years, Puebla was prosperous from wheat farming and other agriculture, as

20541-401: The seventeenth century, but silver mining in Mexico out-performed all other Spanish overseas territories in revenues for the royal coffers. The fast red dye cochineal was an important export in areas such as central Mexico and Oaxaca in terms of revenues to the crown and stimulation of the internal market of New Spain. Cacao and indigo were also important exports for the New Spain, but

20708-507: The ships that set sail from Veracruz were generally loaded with merchandise from the East Indies originating from the commercial centers of the Philippines , plus the precious metals and natural resources of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. During the 16th century, Spain held the equivalent of US$ 1.5 trillion (1990 terms) in gold and silver received from New Spain. However, these resources did not translate into development for

20875-470: The slave trade. In Peru, the other discovery that perpetuated the system of forced labor, the mit'a , was the enormously rich single silver mine discovered at Potosí, but in New Spain, labor recruitment differed significantly. With the exception of silver mines worked in the Aztec period at Taxco , southwest of Tenochtitlan, the Mexico's mining region was outside the area of dense indigenous settlement. Labor for

21042-420: The small Imperial Austrian Navy . He displayed zeal in his naval career and his direct link with Emperor Franz Joseph enabled the diversion of resources to what had previously been a neglected service. Maximilian embarked on the corvette Vulkan , for a brief cruise through Greece. In October 1850, he became a navy lieutenant. At the beginning of 1851, he embarked on another much more distant cruise on board

21209-425: The successful campaign for independence. In 1821, New Spain officially became the independent nation of Mexico, ending three centuries of Spanish colonial rule. During the era of the conquest, in order to pay off the debts incurred by the conquistadors and their companies, the new Spanish governors awarded their men grants of native tribute and labor, known as encomiendas . In New Spain these grants were modeled after

21376-725: The support of France and Great Britain. Maximilian's older brother, Franz Joseph Emperor of Austria, now sent Count von Rechberg , the Austrian minister of foreign affairs to brief Maximilian on what lay in store in the event that France did militarily intervene in Mexico, and a Mexican plebiscite approved of Maximilian. In the interim, the agreement among France, the United Kingdom, and Spain broke down as it became increasingly clear that France intended to overthrow Juárez's liberal government of Mexico. France began military operations in April 1862. They were eventually joined by conservative Mexican generals who were not reconciled to their loss to

21543-506: The top of a hill formerly on the outskirts of Mexico City that had been a retreat of Aztec emperors and Spanish viceroys. Maximilian ordered a wide avenue cut through the city from Chapultepec to the city center and named it the Paseo de la Emperatriz, the project would survive him and the Empire and is today one of the central avenues of Mexico City, the Paseo de la Reforma . Maximilian also acquired

21710-446: The transport constraints, only high-value, low-bulk goods continued to be shipped in the transatlantic trade, which stimulated local production of foodstuffs, rough textiles, and other products for a mass market. Although New Spain produced considerable sugar and wheat, these were consumed exclusively in the colony even though there was demand elsewhere. Philadelphia, not New Spain, supplied Cuba with wheat. The Caribbean port of Veracruz

21877-494: The treaty. 19°25′14″N 99°10′54″W  /  19.42056°N 99.18167°W  / 19.42056; -99.18167 Viceroyalty of New Spain New Spain , officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( Spanish : Virreinato de Nueva España [birejˈnato ðe ˈnweβa esˈpaɲa] ; Nahuatl : Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl ), originally the Kingdom of New Spain ,

22044-539: The tribute and corvee labor that the Mexica rulers had demanded from native communities. This system came to signify the oppression and exploitation of natives, although its originators may not have set out with such intent. In short order the upper echelons of patrons and priests in the society lived off the work of the lower classes. Due to some horrifying instances of abuse against the indigenous peoples, Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas suggested bringing black slaves to replace them. Fray Bartolomé later repented when he saw

22211-629: The very base and in every aspect," and the development of many regional economies was typically centered on support of that export sector. Mexico City was the center of the Central region, and the hub of New Spain. The development of Mexico City itself was vitally important to the development of New Spain as a whole. It was the seat of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the Archdiocese of the Catholic Church,

22378-462: The viceregal capital and the port of Veracruz, in a fertile basin with a dense indigenous population, largely not held in encomienda , made Puebla a destination for later arriving Spaniards. If there had been significant mineral wealth in Puebla, it could have been even more prominent a center for New Spain, but its first century established its importance. In 1786 it became the capital of an intendancy of

22545-405: The wages were good, which is what drew the indigenous labor. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was the principal source of income for Spain in the eighteenth century, with the revival of mining under the Bourbon Reforms . Important mining centers like Zacatecas , Guanajuato , San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo had been established in the sixteenth century and suffered decline for a variety of reasons in

22712-656: The way at Brussels , in order to visit the King of the Belgians, Leopold I . On 30 May 1856, he arrived in Belgium where he was received by Prince Philippe , younger son of King Leopold. He was accompanied by the Belgian princes, visiting the cities of Tournai , Kortrijk , Bruges , Ghent , Antwerp, and Charleroi . In Brussels, Maximilian met the only daughter of the king and the late queen Louise of Orleans , Charlotte of Belgium , and romance blossomed. Leopold I, upon becoming aware of

22879-423: The wellbeing of the Italian public were shut down. Franz Joseph was intent on preventing any concessions to the populace. The emperor considered Maximilian too liberal and generous with the rebellious Italian population. Franz Joseph relieved his brother of his post as viceroy on 10 April 1859. In Italy, news of Maximilian's dismissal was received with sarcastic enthusiasm by statesmen there. A pivotal figure in

23046-520: Was a kingdom and not a colony, subject to the presiding monarch on the Iberian Peninsula . The monarch had sweeping power in the overseas territories, with not just sovereignty over the realm but also property rights. All power over the state came from the monarch. The crown had sweeping powers over the Catholic Church in its overseas territories, and via the Patronato real , a grant by the papacy to

23213-487: Was administered by a viceroy residing in Mexico City and appointed by the Spanish monarch , who had administrative oversight of all of these regions, although most matters were handled by the local governmental bodies, which ruled the various regions of the viceroyalty. First among these were the audiencias , which were primarily superior tribunals, but which also had administrative and legislative functions. Each of these

23380-561: Was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire , established by Habsburg Spain . It was one of several domains established during the Spanish conquest of the Americas , and had its capital in Mexico City. Its jurisdiction comprised a large area of the southern and western portions of North America, mainly what became Mexico and the Southwestern United States, but also California , Florida and Louisiana ; Central America,

23547-403: Was an opening for European powers to intervene militarily in Mexico. The intention of the French and Mexican conservatives was for regime change to oust the liberals, backed by the power of the French army. Mexican monarchists sought a European head of state and, with the brokering of Napoleon III, Maximilian was invited to establish what would come to be known as the Second Mexican Empire . With

23714-509: Was approached by conservative Mexican monarchists seeking a European royal to rule Mexico. Initially Maximilian was not interested, but following his dismissal as viceroy, the Mexican monarchists' plan was far more appealing to him. Since Maximilian was a descendant of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , King of Spain when the Spaniards conquered the Aztecs (1519–21) and first brought Mexico into

23881-584: Was born on 6 July 1832 in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire . He was baptized the following day as Ferdinand Maximilian Josef Maria . The first name honored his godfather and paternal uncle, the future Emperor Ferdinand I , and the second honored his late maternal grandfather, Maximilian I Joseph , King of Bavaria . His father was Archduke Franz Karl , the second surviving son of Emperor Francis I , during whose reign he

24048-443: Was born. Maximilian was thus a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine . His mother was Princess Sophie of Bavaria , a member of the House of Wittelsbach . Intelligent, ambitious and strong-willed, Sophie had little in common with her husband, whom historian Richard O'Conner characterized as "an amiably dim fellow whose main interest in life was consuming bowls of dumplings drenched in gravy". Despite their different personalities,

24215-653: Was built in the Mesoamerican heartland of the Aztec Empire in Central Mexico. The South (Oaxaca, Michoacán, Yucatán, and Central America) was a region of dense indigenous settlement of Mesoamerica, but without exploitable resources of interest to Europeans, the area attracted few Europeans, while the indigenous presence remained strong. The North was outside the area of complex indigenous populations, inhabited primarily by nomadic and hostile northern indigenous groups. With

24382-617: Was closely supervised. Until his sixth birthday, he was cared for by Baroness Louise von Sturmfeder , who was his aja (then rendered "nurse", now nanny ). His education was then entrusted to a tutor. Most of Maximilian's day was spent in study. The hours per week of classes steadily increased from 32 at age seven to 55 by the time he was 17. The disciplines were diverse, ranging from history, geography, law and technology, to languages, military studies, fencing and diplomacy. From an early age, Maximilian tried to surpass his older brother Franz Joseph in everything, attempting to prove to all that he

24549-581: Was established in 1527, prior to the establishment of the viceroyalty. The First Audiencia was headed by Hernán Cortés 's rival Nuño de Guzmán , who used the court to deprive Cortés of power and property. The crown dissolved the First Audiencia and established the Second Audiencia. The audiencias of New Spain were Santo Domingo (1511, effective 1526, predated the Viceroyalty); Mexico (1527, predated

24716-477: Was established. Former royalist military officer turned insurgent for independence Agustín de Iturbide would be crowned as emperor. The Kingdom of New Spain was established on 18 August 1521, following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire , as a New World kingdom ruled by the Crown of Castile . The initial funds for exploration came from Queen Isabella . Although New Spain was a dependency of Castile, it (Mexico)

24883-459: Was founded as a villa in 1618, to serve as a Spanish base against runaway slave ( cimarrón ) predations on mule trains traveling the route from the port to the capital. Some cimarrón settlements sought autonomy, such as one led by Gaspar Yanga , with whom the crown concluded a treaty leading to the recognition of a largely black town, San Lorenzo de los Negros de Cerralvo, later called the municipality of Yanga. European diseases immediately affected

25050-621: Was impossible for Archduke Maximilian since her family was Orthodox and did not belong to the family reigning or former reigning monarchs. When their romance was discovered, her father Ioan Keșco (1809–1863), who served as Russian Marshal of Nobility in Bessarabia , quickly sent her back home and forcibly married her off to her longtime admirer, local rich nobleman of Greek descent, Alexander Dimitrievich Inglezi (1826–1903), son of Dimitri Spiridonovich Inglezi (1771–1846). Not destined to rule, Maximilian entered military service, training in

25217-509: Was impressed enough to immediately consider building a residence there, a goal which he actually carried out in March 1856, when he began construction of what would later be called Miramare Castle , located near the city of Trieste. At end of the Crimean War in March 1856 that brought a period of peace to Europe, Maximilian traveled to Paris to meet Emperor of the French, Napoleon III and his wife

25384-425: Was in charge of creating the roof garden on the building. Additionally, the Emperor brought from Europe countless pieces of furniture, objets d'art and other fine household items that are exhibited to this day. At the time, as the castle was on the outskirts of Mexico City, Maximilian ordered the construction of a straight boulevard (modeled after the great boulevards of Europe, such as Vienna's Ringstrasse and

25551-607: Was in doubt since the United States continued to recognize Benito Juárez as the legal head of state rather than Emperor Maximilian. The U.S. saw the French invasion as a violation of the Monroe Doctrine , but the U.S. was unable to intervene politically due to the American Civil War (1861–1865). With the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the United States began providing material aid to Juárez's republican forces. In

25718-426: Was living in Spain, where he was recruited by German intelligence. He was arrested as a traitor by the French and executed by firing squad in 1917. According to the biographer's account, citing no sources in his publication, the charge read out at his execution began "Sedano, son of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico." Since Maximilian and Carlota had no offspring, there are no direct descendants. However, today members of

25885-556: Was often the instigator of pranks – including even his uncle, the emperor, among his victims. His attempts to outshine his older brother and his ability to charm opened a rift between himself and the aloof and self-contained Franz Joseph that widened as years passed, and their close relationship in childhood would be all but forgotten. During revolutionary unrest in Europe in 1848, Emperor Ferdinand abdicated in favor of Maximilian's older brother Franz Joseph. Maximilian accompanied his brother on campaigns to put down rebellions throughout

26052-561: Was overthrown at the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution it remained the presidential residence. Presidents Francisco I. Madero (1911–13), Venustiano Carranza (1915–20), Álvaro Obregón (1920–24), Plutarco Elías Calles (1924-28), Emilio Portes Gil , Pascual Ortiz Rubio and Abelardo Rodríguez all lived there during this time. It was then used for a time as an official guest house or residence for foreign dignitaries. Finally on February 3, 1939, President Lázaro Cárdenas decreed

26219-529: Was overthrown. Several new rooms were built on the second floor of the palace during the tenure of President Miguel Miramón , who was also an alumnus of the Military Academy. When Mexican conservatives invited Maximilian von Hapsburg to establish the Second Mexican Empire , the castle, now known as Castillo de Miravalle , became the residence of the emperor and his consort in 1864. The Emperor hired several European and Mexican architects to renovate

26386-515: Was poisoned. No evidence has yet been found which supports this claim. Lacking a head engineer, the Spanish Crown ordered that the building be auctioned at a price equivalent to one-fifth of the quantity thus far spent on its construction. After finding no buyers Viceroy Juan Vicente de Güemes Pacheco de Padilla y Horcasitas intended the building to house the General Archive of the Kingdom of

26553-457: Was privileged in a number of ways, starting with its status as a Spanish settlement not founded on existing indigenous city-state, but with a significant indigenous population. It was located in a fertile basin on a temperate plateau in the nexus of the key trade triangle of Veracruz–Mexico City–Antequera (Oaxaca). Although there were no encomiendas in Puebla itself, encomenderos with nearby labor grants settled in Puebla. And despite its foundation as

26720-455: Was renamed Paseo de la Reforma , after the Liberal reform . The castle fell into disuse after the fall of the Second Mexican Empire in 1867. In 1867, the explorer James F. Elton wrote the castle was not "surpassed in beauty in any part of the world." In 1876, a decree established it as an Astronomical , Meteorological and Magnetic Observatory on the site, which was opened in 1878 during

26887-589: Was responsible to the Viceroy of New Spain in administrative matters (though not in judicial ones), but they also answered directly to the Council of the Indies . The Captaincy Generals were the second-level administrative divisions and these were relatively autonomous from the viceroyalty. The viceroy was captain-general of those provinces that remained directly under his command. Santo Domingo (1535); Philippines (1565); Puerto Rico (1580); Cuba (1608); Guatemala (1609); Yucatán (1617); Commandancy General of

27054-401: Was shot in 1824. Nonetheless, Conservatives continued to see monarchy as a viable option. Monarchist plans had most clearly been laid out in an 1840 essay by the statesman José María Gutiérrez de Estrada , which argued that after two decades of chaos, the republic had failed, and that a European prince ought to be invited to establish a Mexican throne. Such ideas received official interest during

27221-443: Was small, with its hot, pestilential climate not a draw for permanent settlers: its population never topped 10,000. Many Spanish merchants preferred living in the pleasant highland town of Jalapa (1,500 m). For a brief period (1722–76) the town of Jalapa became even more important than Veracruz, after it was granted the right to hold the royal trade fair for New Spain, serving as the entre for goods from Asia via Manila galleon through

27388-461: Was strongly resisted by the viceroyalties and general captaincies similar to the opposition in the Iberian Peninsula when the reform was adopted. Royal audiencias and ecclesiastical hierarchs opposed the reform for its intervention in economic issues, for its centralist politics, and the forced ceding of many of their functions to the intendants. In New Spain, these units generally corresponded to

27555-447: Was the better qualified of the two and thus deserving of more than second-place status, but with primogeniture, Maximilian was destined for secondary status. The highly restrictive environment of the Austrian court was not enough to repress Maximilian's natural openness. He was joyful, highly charismatic, and able to captivate those around him with ease. Although he was a charming boy, he was also undisciplined. He mocked his teachers and

27722-455: Was used through rather the vice royalties rather than contact with European countries due to piracy, and smuggling. The indigo industry in particular also helped to temporarily unite communities throughout the Kingdom of Guatemala due to the smuggling. There were two major ports in New Spain, Veracruz the viceroyalty's principal port on the Atlantic, and Acapulco on the Pacific, terminus of

27889-624: Was welcomed into the Belgian Court. He later remarked on the contrast of the Belgian Palace of Laeken to the splendor of the Imperial Viennese royal residences, not surprising since Belgium was but a small and new kingdom. Prince George of Saxony , who previously had been rejected by Charlotte, warned Leopold I of the “calculating character of the Viennese archduke." The son of Leopold I,

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