Mexican Empire - First Mexican Empire

First Mexican Empire

The First Mexican Empire lasted eighteen months, from 28 September 1821 to 19 March 1823 and had one emperor, Agustín de Iturbide. Its origins can be traced to Napoleon I of France's conquest of Spain in 1808 and his installation of Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain. These events loosened Spain's hold on her American colonies, and the movement for Mexican independence grew stronger.

The Mexican War of Independence began in 1810 and continued until 1821, when rebel troops entered Mexico City after the Treaty of Córdoba was signed, whereby Spain's representative, Juan O'Donojú, recognized Mexico's independence. In that year, General Agustín de Iturbide, a Mexican-born criollo former royalist who had switched his allegiance to the insurgents in the final phases of the war, was elected head of a provisional junta government and of a regency that held the imperial power that the Spanish crown once had. On the night of 18 May 1822, a mass demonstration led by the Regiment of Celaya, which Iturbide had commanded during the war, marched through the streets and demanded that their commander-in-chief accept the throne. The next day the Sovereign Congress named him emperor, and on 21 May issued a decree officially confirming this appointment, which was officially a temporary measure until a European monarch could be found to rule Mexico.

Iturbide's official title was "By Divine Providence and the National Congress, First Constitutional Emperor of Mexico" (Spanish: Por la Divina Providencia y por el Congreso de la Nación, Primer Emperador Constitucional de México). His coronation took place on 21 July 1822, in Mexico City. The territorial area of the Mexican Empire of 1821 was about 5,000,000 square kilometers, ranging from the Oregon–California border at 42nd latitude north, to the boundary with Panama (at that time, part of Colombia). Most of the countries of Central America were part of Mexico—they became a separate federal republic after the Empire collapsed.

As factions in the Congress began to sharply criticise both Iturbide and his policies, the emperor decided on 31 October to dissolve it. This enraged the commander of the garrison at Veracruz, Antonio López de Santa Anna, who with his troops rose up against Iturbide and declared a republic on 1 December. Fearing for his life as the rebellion grew stronger, the emperor ordered the dissolved Congress to reassemble on 4 March 1823. He presented his abdication to it in a night-time session on 19 March. He fled to Italy shortly after. In April 1824 the Congress, having already declared his administration void, declared Iturbide a traitor. When he returned to Mexico in July 1824 he was arrested on arrival in Soto la Marina, Tamaulipas, and executed.