The Spanish monarch in the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Africa, as the Greater Antilles, most of South America, Central America, and part of North America (including present day Florida, the Southwestern, and Pacific Coastal regions of the United States), as well as a number of Pacific Ocean archipelagos including the Philippines.

In 1515, two of the states in the Aztec Empire rebelled and beat the Aztec military badly. In 1517, Spanish conquistadors, Cortez as their leader, arrived in the capital of the Aztec Empire. At first, Motecuhzoma II, the Aztecs' ruler, invited the Spanish in, and things were friendly. Even when the Spanish made Motecuhzoma II a prisoner, the Aztecs stayed friendly. However, when Cortés was away, Spanish soldiers attacked and killed many Aztecs during a festival. When Cortés got back, he got Motecuhzoma II to tell the Aztecs to stop fighting the conquistadors. By this time, though, the Aztecs had made Motecuhzoma II's brother, Cuautemoc, the king. Nobody did what Motecuhzoma II said. They kept fighting the conquistadors, and they killed ⅔ of the Spanish soldiers. The Spanish survivors fled to Tlaxcala, where enemies of the Aztecs protected them. Ten months later, Cortés came back to Tenochtitlan with more Spanish soldiers and Tlaxcaltecas. They started a siege of Tenochtitlan, so that no food or supplies could get in. After 91 days, without any food, and with disease throughout the city, Cuauhtemoc finally surrendered to the Spanish on August 13, 1521. The Spanish destroyed Tenochtitlan. They started a Spanish colony that they named New Spain. The Spanish had destroyed the Aztec Empire.

After a struggle for independence from 1810–1821, New Spain became the ruling nation of Mexico, with the signing of the Treaty of Córdoba. A brief period of monarchy from 1821–1823, called the First Mexican Empire, was followed by the founding of the Republic of Mexico, established under a federal constitution in 1824.

The cultural relation between Mexico and Spain has always been very one sided, Mexico adopted much more from the Spanish culture than the other way around. Most of Mexican popular and folkloric musics are variations of Spanish music with a few elements incorporated from autochthonous styles and African music. Mexican music somehow mixed into Spanish culture, Chavela Vargas is probably more popular in Spain than in Mexico and Mariachi-style Spanish songs. With respect to Literature, the main figure in Mexico language still is Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and Mexico celebrates this figure every year at the Festival Cervantino and it is probably the most important cultural festival in Mexico. Most of the books read are from the same editorial houses such as Planeta and Alfaguara and the big figures in Spanish literature are more or less the same for both countries.