Villaseñor y Sánchez, Theatro Americano, Parte Segunda (Mexico, 1748)

A royal order of 19 July 1741 told the viceroyalty to describe itself. The crown's accountant for quicksilver, working from returns sent in by local officials, produced a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction survey of New Spain, printed in Mexico by a widow's press. Its second volume counts the republic of Spaniards and the republic of Indians separately, names the language each town spoke, and records where the conquest was accepted and at what cost.