Education in New Spain

Abstract

New Spain, also known as Colonial Mexico, existed for three hundred years, from 1521 to 1821. These dates mark the defeat of the Aztecs and the inauguration of the first independent government of Mexico at the end of the war of independence. Hernán Cortés in 1520 proposed calling the land the “New Spain of the Ocean Sea” because of its similarity to Spain in its fertility, size, and climate. New Spain extended from Chihuahua in the north to Oaxaca and Yucatán in the south. In 1810, the total population was 6,111,915 inhabitants, made up of Indians (60 percent), Mestizos (22 percent), and Spaniards and Creoles (18 percent). Twenty Spanish cities were spread over the territory, Mexico City having in 1793 a population of 112,926 inhabitants and Puebla, 52,717. Most of the Indian population lived in 4,468 towns where the natives headed their municipal governments. For all groups primary education was very important as the means of religious instruction. Girls and boys were educated separately. Private teachers and religious orders headed primary schools during the first two centuries, while important changes occurred in the 18th century with legislation ordering cities and Indian towns to establish schools funded by the municipal treasuries. The Jesuits also had primary schools, while girls could receive early education in religious houses called “beaterios” where the teachers (“beatas”) were women with temporary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The convents for nuns were all cloistered institutions without schools for girls, until the end of the 18th century when a newly established teaching order opened a large school. The Jesuit colleges located throughout New Spain offered the next level of education called “Artes,” which consisted of courses in Latin, rhetoric, logic, physics and metaphysics to prepare students for urban life or for university education. In the colonial period, the term “college” signified middle-level education between primary and university studies. The University of Mexico, founded in 1551, with degrees in medicine, civil law, canon law, and theology, was the only center of higher education in New Spain until the University of Guadalajara opened in 1792. New primary level textbooks written by local authors began to be used in schools late in the 18th century. The following sections present bibliographies related to the above topics.