Producer - Severo Perez

In Development

For nearly 300 years Spain was a world superpower. Its great wealth came from its vast possessions. The Viceroyalty of Novoespaña, New Spain, especially the region that is now Mexico, was the richest most culturally developed province in the Americas. Literacy was on par to that of any European capital. Spain extracted a huge portion of its income from New Spain.

In 1808, Napoleon arrested the Spanish Monarchs and placed his brother Jose Bonaparte on the throne. Almost immediately an insurgency broke out against the French occupation. Soon the entire Spanish Empire was embroiled in a violent insurgency.

By 1821, when Mexico finally became independent, its treasury was bankrupt, its infrastructure was destroyed, and Spain was no longer an empire. The story behind this dramatic shift in world power is the subject of this three-part documentary.