UT Libraries Exhibits

1521-1821

This exhibit traces the cultural, social, and political evolution of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from the fall of Moctezuma’s Tenochtitlan until the rise of Iturbide’s Mexican Empire.

This exhibit explores the history of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (1794-1876), a colossal figure in Mexico’s post-independence politics with a legacy of losing half the nation’s territory to the United States.

Territories in Dispute, Identities in Question

The maps presented in this exhibition serve as visual histories of Mexican territory, culture, and identity through three centuries of transformation. Through image and text, these documents trace the intertwined and often contentious relationships between indigenous and European, civil and religious, and “national” and foreign, in Mexico’s evolution from colonial territory to modern state.