User:CWReider/be bold

Upon the Spanish Empire’s arrival in Mexico during the 16th century, there was a rapid construction of numerous religious structures to expand the Catholic Church into the New World. However, the construction and establishment of these new communities promptly asserted Spain’s colonial dominance over the indigenous populace. The native population was quickly mobilized by Spanish forces as the labor force to construct new examples of religious architecture. The implementation of architectural forms, such as the ribbed vault, had never been seen before by the native population. Because the indigenous construction skill set was a stark contrast to Spanish building methodologies, the exchange of building information was achieved through pragmatic tactile developments. These included the late-gothic European method of applied geometry construction versus the indigenous masonry techniques. This integration of the preexisting native construction methodologies with newly introduced Spanish strategies thus was the catalyst to begin the rapid construction of monastic compounds throughout Mexico, further establishing the Spanish Empire’s swift colonial acquisitions throughout the country and bringing an end to the pre-colonial period of the nation. These achievements in religious architecture have now come to characterize the early colonial period of Mexico.