<Dt> Evolution of the race </Dt> <P> During the three centuries of colonial rule, fewer than 700,000 Spaniards, most of them men, settled in Mexico . Europeans, Africans, and indigenous intermixed, creating a mixed - race casta population in a process known as mestizaje . Mestizos, people of mixed European - indigenous ancestry, constitute the majority of Mexico's population . </P> <P> Colonial Mexico was part of the Spanish Empire and administered by the Viceroyalty of New Spain . The Spanish crown claimed all of the Western Hemisphere west of the line established between Spain and Portugal by the Treaty of Tordesillas . This included all of North America and South America, except for Brazil . The viceroyalty of New Spain had jurisdiction over Spain's northern empire in the Americas . When Spain established a colony in the Philippines in the late sixteenth century, the Viceroyalty of New Spain had jurisdiction over it, since there was more direct contact between the two than the Philippines with Spain . </P> <P> Hernán Cortés had conquered the great empire of the Aztecs and established New Spain as the largest and most important Spanish colony . During the 16th century, Spain focused on conquering areas with dense populations that had produced Pre-Columbian civilizations . These populations were a disciplined labor force and a population to convert to Christianity . </P>

What type of government did mexico have during the colonial period
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