# Timeline of Mexican history

This is a timeline of Mexican history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events and improvements in Mexico and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see history See also the list of heads of state of Mexico and list of years in Mexico.

## 16th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1520 | 20 May | Massacre in the Great Temple: Spanish soldiers killed a group of Aztec nobles in the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan during the celebration of Toxcatl. |
| 1520 | 29 June | Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire: Moctezuma II, the tlatoani of Tenochtitlan and ruler of the Aztec Triple Alliance, was killed. |
| 1520 | 30 June | La Noche Triste: The Spaniard Hernán Cortés lost several hundred men in a fighting escape from Tenochtitlan. |
| 1520 | 7 July | Battle of Otumba: Combined Spanish and Tlaxcala forces seriously defeated a vastly superior Aztec force at Otumba de Gómez Farías. |
| 1521 | 13 August | Fall of Tenochtitlan: Tenochtitlan was taken by Spanish forces. The tlatoani Cuauhtémoc was taken prisoner. |

## 18th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1713 | 11 April | War of the Spanish Succession: The Treaty of Utrecht was signed, under which Great Britain, Savoy, Portugal, and the United Provinces recognized Philip V of Spain of the House of Bourbon as king of Spain, ending the war. In exchange, Philip renounced the right to pass the throne to his heirs. |
| 1724 | 15 January | Philip abdicated in favor of his son Louis I of Spain. |
| 1724 | 31 August | Louis died of smallpox. |
| 1767 | June | The Society of Jesus was expelled from New Spain. |
| 1776 | | The autonomous Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas was established under Teodoro de Croix in the northern provinces of New Spain. |

## 19th century

| Year | Date | Event | Image |
| 1810 | 16 September | Grito de Dolores: The Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla encouraged his congregation to revolt against the Spanish crown in a speech made at Dolores. |
| 1810 | 28 September | Mexican War of Independence: After Hidalgo orders Juan Antonio Riaño the surrender of Guanajuato, the insurgent troops led by José Mariano Abasolo and Ignacio Camargo take the city. | |
| 1810 | 30 October | Battle of Monte de las Cruces: Insurgent forces under Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende defeated Spanish troops at Ocoyoacac. | |
| 1811 | 10 February | Miguel Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende arrive in Zacatecas. | Zacatecas |
| 1811 | 28 February | From Guadalajara, José de la Cruz offers Miguel Hidalgo pardon, according to the amnesty decreed by the Cortes. | Guadalajara |
| 1811 | 1 March | Near Saltillo, Ignacio Allende and Miguel Hidalgo reject the pardon. In San Antonio Béjar, José Manuel Zambrano recovers the city and Texas for the royalists. | SaltilloSan Antonio Béjar |
| 1811 | 10 March | Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Aldama, José Mariano Abasolo, and Ignacio Allende arrive in Saltillo. | Saltillo |
| 1811 | 21 March | The insurgent caudillos Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, José Mariano Jiménez, José Mariano Abasolo and Ignacio Aldama are captured by Ignacio Elizondo at the Wells of Baján and taken prisoner to Monclova and Chihuahua. The son of Ignacio Allende dies at the site of the capture. | |
| 1811 | 26 June | In Chihuahua, Ignacio Allende, Ignacio Aldama and José Mariano Jiménez are executed by a firing squad and decapitated. José Mariano Abasolo is sentenced to life imprisonment. | Chihuahua |
| 1811 | 11 July | From Zitácuaro, Ignacio López Rayón proposes to José María Morelos the formation of a governmental board. | Zitácuaro |
| 1811 | 30 July | Miguel Hidalgo is executed by a firing squad and beheaded in Chihuahua. | Chihuahua |
| 1813 | 14 September | The Congress of Chilpancingo is inaugurated. Morelos delivers the inaugural speech and Juan Nepomuceno Rosáins reads the Sentimientos de la Nación. | Congress of Chilpancingo |
| 1815 | 27 November | The Inquisition declares Morelos a heretic and sentences him to life imprisonment in Africa if he is not sentenced to the death penalty. The ecclesiastical degradation of Morelos is carried out in the chapel of the Holy Office. | Degradation of Morelos |
| 1815 | 22 December | José María Morelos is executed by a firing squad in San Cristóbal de Ecatepec. | Execution of Morelos |
| 1816 | 30 January | Pope Pius VII publishes the encyclical Esti Longissimo Terrarum, where he exhorts obedience and peace from the rebels in Spanish America, favoring Ferdinand VII. | Pope Pius VII |
| 1821 | 21 February | Mexican War of Independence: The Spanish colonel Agustín de Iturbide and the insurgent leader Vicente Guerrero together issued the Plan of Iguala at a meeting in Iguala, under which Mexico was to become an independent, Catholic constitutional monarchy. |
| 1821 | 24 February | Mexican War of Independence: The armies under Iturbide and Guerrero were consolidated into Iturbide's control in the Army of the Three Guarantees. |
| 1821 | 24 August | Mexican War of Independence: Iturbide and Spanish viceroy Juan O'Donojú signed the Treaty of Córdoba, recognizing the independence of Mexico in personal union with Spain. |
| 1836 | 10 February | General Santa Anna, commanding the battalions of Matamoros, Jiménez, San Luis, the regiment of Dolores and eight pieces of artillery, occupies San Antonio Béjar The settlers retreat to the fort of El Álamo. | San Antonio Béjar |
| 1836 | 6 March | After 12 days of siege, the army Mexican undertakes the assault on El Álamo. The Texan defenders are annihilated in combat. The Texas separatists forge the phrase "Remember the Alamo". | Battle of the Alamo |
| 1836 | 26 March | General Urrea abides by Santa Anna's order of executing the prisoners of Goliad under the charge of treason. | Goliad |
| 1836 | 7 April | Santa Anna arrives in San Felipe Austin and finds the city abandoned and burned by the Texans. He finds out that Samuel Houston, the rebel leader, is located 10 leagues on the left bank of the Brazos River. | San Felipe de Austin |
| 1836 | 21 April | Santa Anna's troops, stationed in a hill near the San Jacinto River receive the reinforcement of Perfecto of Cos. The enemy takes refuge in the forest and Santa Anna decides to offer rest to his troops. To his misfortune, Houston's men ambush him. The confrontation lasts for hours until the Mexican ranks disperse. | Battle of San Jacinto |
| 1836 | 22 April | Santa Anna, who had fled in the fray of the previous day, is captured by Texan forces. | |
| 1838 | 26 October | The remains of Agustín de Iturbide are transferred to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City in a sumptuous procession. | |
| 1838 | 27 October | In the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City, the funeral honors and the burial of the remains of Agustín de Iturbide take place. |
| 1846 | 25 April | The Thornton Affair is the first clash of the Mexican–American War as 80 cavalrymen under the command of U.S. Captain Seth B. Thornton are attacked by 1600 men under the leadership of Mexican General Anastasio Torrejón in the Nueces Strip between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. |
| 1846 | 13 May | The U.S. Congress declares war against Mexico. |
| 1846 | 14 May | The United States begins the Blockade of Veracruz. |
| 1847 | 22/23 February | The Battle of Buena Vista takes place. The Mexican army is superior in number, but it found poorly armed and exhausted by the march and severity of the weather; For its part, the US military is smaller, but is better organized and has more artillery. The result is indecisive. | Battle of Buena Vista |
| 1847 | 23 February | During the night, Santa Anna orders the withdrawal of his troops from the battlefield for his focus on the hacienda of Agua Nueva. | Agua Nueva |
| 1847 | 27 February | The Mexican army under Santa Anna undertakes a forced march to San Luis Potosí, arriving on 12 March. In Mexico City, the Rebellion of the Polkos breaks out against the sale of ecclesiastical property, the opposition to the government of Gómez Farías, and the intention to take Santa Anna to the Presidency. | San Luis PotosíMexico City |
| 1847 | 20 August | Regular Mexican troops and Saint Patrick's Battalion under Manuel Rincón hold a fortified monastery against Winfield Scott. |
| 1847 | 12/13 September | General Scott assaults Chapultepec Castle. Los Niños Héroes (six cadets between 12 and 18 years old who died in defense of the military academy) pass into legend. Some captured San Patricios members executed during the battle. |
| 1847 | 15 September | After several days of fierce fighting, Mexico City falls. |
| 1847 | 27 September | The Mexican government moves to Toluca. President Peña calls on the governors and deputies to meet in Querétaro. | Toluca |
| 1847 | 13 October | In the city of Querétaro, the executive power is established under General Peña y Peña. | Querétaro |
| 1848 | 2 February | The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican–American War is signed in Mexico City. The U.S. agrees to pay US$15 million to Mexico and to pay off the claims of American citizens against Mexico. It gave the United States the Rio Grande as a boundary for Texas, and gave the U.S. ownership of Alta California and a large area comprising roughly half of New Mexico, most of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. |
| 1848 | 4 July | The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo goes into effect. |
| 1854 | 1 March | The Plan de Ayutla is proclaimed, setting off a 19-month revolt against Antonio López de Santa Anna known as the Revolution of Ayutla, leading to La Reforma (The Reform) and the Constitution of 1857. |
| 1855 | | The Reform laws begin, separating the Catholic Church and the government of Mexico. Principal leaders were Juan Álvarez, Ignacio Comonfort, Benito Juárez, and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. |
| 1855 | 4 October | Juan Álvarez takes office as Interim President of Mexico in Cuernavaca. |
| 1857 | 5 February | The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 goes into effect. |
| 1857 | 17 December | The Reform War begins when the Plan of Tacubaya is proclaimed and conservative General Félix María Zuloaga ousts president Ignacio Comonfort. |
| 1858 | 15 January | Benito Juarez becomes president and he moves to Veracruz. |
| 1861 | 1 January | Juarez recaptures Mexico City and goes on to defeat the Conservatives. He is elected president in his own right in March. |
| 1861 | 31 October | France, Great Britain, and Spain agree to the Convention of London, a joint effort to extract loan repayments from Mexico, which President Juarez had frozen three months earlier. |
| 1861 | 8 December | France, Spain, and Great Britain disembark in Veracruz. Spain and Britain later withdraw. |
| 1862 | 5 May | The Mexican Army under General Ignacio Zaragoza defeats the invading French army led by General Charles de Lorencez in the Battle of Puebla. French forces took the city a year later, after the Siege of Puebla (1863). |
| 1863 | 10 July | The Second Mexican Empire is declared, with the support of French Emperor Napoleon III, as well as the Austrian and Belgian crowns. The Empire came to an end on 19 June 1867, with the execution of Emperor Maximilian I. |
| 1864 | 10 June | Fernando Maximiliano José María de Habsburgo-Lorena, Archduke of Austria, was offered the Mexican crown in October, 1863, which he accepted on 10 April. He and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium arrived in Veracruz on 29 May 1864, and they soon established their official residence at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. |
| 1867 | 19 June | Napoleon III withdrew his army from Mexico in 1866, and Juarez's liberal forces captured Mexico City on 15 May 1867. Maximilian was captured the next day, and following a trial, he was sentenced to death. Maximilian, General Miguel Miramón, and General Tomás Mejía Camacho were executed by firing squad in Cerro de las Campanas, Querétaro City at 6:40am on the morning of 19 June 1867. |

## 20th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1910 | 20 November | Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero calls for armed rebellion against the government of President Porfirio Díaz. |
| 1917 | 5 February | Mexican Revolution: The current constitution of Mexico was approved by a constituent assembly in Querétaro. |
| 1920 | 3 January | An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 hits Puebla and Veracruz, leaving 648–4,000 dead. |
| 1938 | 18 March | Mexican oil expropriation: President Lázaro Cárdenas expropriates the oil industry. |
| 1960 | 21 September | President Adolfo López Mateos nationalized the electrical system. |
| 1968 | 2 October | Tlatelolco massacre: The government fired on a crowd of student protesters in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Mexico City, killing between thirty and three hundred. |
| 1973 | 28 August | An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 hits Puebla and Veracruz, leaving 539–1,000 dead. |
| 1982 | 1 September | President José López Portillo nationalizes the banking industry. |
| 1985 | 19 September | 1985 Mexico City earthquake: An earthquake centered off the Pacific coast of Michoacán caused ten thousand deaths and between three and four billion US$ in damage in Mexico City. |
| 1988 | 6 July | 1988 Mexican general election: Carlos Salinas de Gortari of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was elected president in a rigged election, with an official 51% of the vote. The PRI maintained its majority in the Chamber of Deputies. |
| 1989 | 5 May | Constituent parties of the National Democratic Front (FDN) established the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) under the leadership of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas. |
| 1994 | 23 March | Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated during his campaign to become the Mexican president in a rally in Tijuana. |

## 21st century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 2003 | 6 July | 2003 Mexican legislative election: The PRI won a plurality of seats in the Chamber of Deputies. |
| 2006 | 2 July | 2006 Mexican general election: Felipe Calderón of the National Action Party (PAN) won the presidency with 36% of the vote. The PAN won a plurality of seats in the Chamber of Deputies. |
| 2006 | 30 July | Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the PRD led hundreds of thousands in a protest against the election results at Zócalo in Mexico City. |
| 2009 | 5 July | 2009 Mexican legislative election: The PRI won a plurality of seats in the Chamber of Deputies. |
| 2012 | 1 July | 2012 Mexican general election: Enrique Pena Nieto of the PRI won the presidency with 39% of the vote. The PRI won a plurality of seats in the Chamber of Deputies. |
| 2017 | 19 September | 2017 Puebla earthquake: struck at 13:14 CDT on 19 September 2017 with a magnitude of Mw 7.1 and strong shaking for about 20 seconds. Its epicenter was about 55 km (34 mi) south of the city of Puebla. The earthquake caused damage in the Mexican states of Puebla and Morelos and in the Greater Mexico City area. 370 people were killed by the earthquake and related building collapses, including 228 in Mexico City, and more than 6,000 were injured. Twelve days earlier, the even larger 2017 Chiapas earthquake struck 650 km (400 mi) away, off the coast of the state of Chiapas. |
| 2018 | 1 July | Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Together we will make history (a coalition of MORENA and the Labor Party) is elected 58th president with 53% of the vote. Together we will make history also won majorities in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies and 5 governorships. |