Mexico celebrates 204 years of Mexican Independence

Independence Day celebrates the revolutionary cry issued Sept. 16, 1810, for Mexico's freedom from Spain. This call to action took place in the town of Dolores when the Catholic priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, encouraged peasants to fight for their rights. Mexican Independence Day is an annual event that remembers the Grito de Dolores as the revolutionary call that signaled the beginning of the end of Spanish rule and racial discrimination. After years of revolts throughout Spanish America, the "Cry" or Grito de Dolores launched the Mexican War of Independence.

Prior to the revolution, Mexico had been under Spanish control for 300 years. The explorer and soldier, Hernán Cortés, first conquered the territory after overthrowing the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1521. King Charles V of Spain then had Cortés build the capital city, Mexico City, on the same spot. The new territory was named New Spain and Cortés was appointed by the king as its first governor.

Criollos, those of Spanish descent but born in New Spain, held a privileged position in society although not quite as high as the Spanish born in Spain. The indigenous people and the mestizos, or those of mixed European and Indian heritage, did not have certain civil rights. Members of the upper classes from Spain redistributed the lands among themselves that had belonged to the Aztecs and other Indians. The lower classes lived in poverty.