I wanted to add some additional information to the article I posted yesterday, titled, Rare Circa 1821-1840 Mexican Independence-Era Earthenware Dish Sells in Matt King Collection in New Hampshire: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2026/04/rare-circa-1821-1840-mexican.html.
"..Before Spanish explorers arrived in 1519, Mexico was made up of various powerful empires and civilizations that had thrived for thousands of years, which included the Aztecs and the Mayas. However, the Spanish arrived largely in search of wealth and gold from past discoveries, where they also brought the Catholic religion and claimed the region as theirs, keeping other countries, like France and England out. It was a similar situation with the Natives in New England, when the Puritans arrived in the 1600s; the English attempted to convert many to Puritanism. In regards, to the Spanish - converting Indigenous people in Mexico to Catholicism justified in their mind claims to the Indigenous land. However, if they refused to convert, the Spanish used a legal document called the Requerimiento for war and enslavement.
Unlike England and France, among other countries in the 1600s and 1700s, the Spanish influence in New England, New York City, Philadelphia and Canada was primarily limited to maritime trade, which is represented in various artifacts found in colonial archaeology sites, while Mexico (or New Spain) was central to the Spanish Empire in the Americas.
During the 1600s and 1700s, Mexico (then known as New Spain) was strictly controlled by Spain, which included a mix of Spanish, Indigenous people and Black slaves. There was extensive mining and constant land expansion. However, this ultimately changed under Father Miguel Hidalgo (1753-1811), who was born in Guanajuato, Mexico in 1753, although he was entirely of Spanish descent. Father Hidalgo was a Roman Catholic priest. He was ordained in 1778 at the age of 25 and served as a parish priest in several towns, most famously in Dolores (now Dolores Hidalgo) starting in 1803, located in central Mexico about 200 miles north of Mexico City.But Father Hidalgo did not just teach religion; in 1803, he transformed his parish in Dolores, Guanajuato, establishing a "School of Arts and Crafts" to train the Indigenous and Mestizo population in various trades, which included ceramics. The idea was to create sustainable trade for the local population. This eventually paved the way for more types of locally produced earthenware after 1820..."
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