, where Spanish culture took deepest root.
It had the first institution of learning in America
(opened in 1553 by decree of Charles I) and the first
printing-press (1540?). Some 116 books were printed in
Mexico City during the sixteenth century, most of which
were catechisms or grammars and dictionaries in the native
languages. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
several Spanish poets, mostly Sevillans, went to Mexico.
Among these were Diego Mexia (went to Mexico in 1596);
Gutierre de Cetina, Juan de la Cueva, and Mateo Aleman
(published _Ortografia castellana_ in Mexico in 1609).
_Certamenes poeticos_ ("poetic contests") were held in
Mexico, as in other Spanish colonies, from time to time.
The first of importance occurred in Mexico City in 1583,
to which seven bishops lent the dignity of their presence
and in which three hundred poets (?) competed. After the
discovery and conquest of the Philippines, great opulence
came to Mexico on account of its being on a direct route
of Pacific trade between Europe and Asia, and Mexico
became an emporium of Asiatic goods (note introduction of
Mexican dollar into China).

The first native poet deserving of the name was Francisco page 308
de Terrazas (cf. Cervantes, _Canto de Caliope_,
1584), who left in manuscript sonnets and other lyrics and
an unfinished epic poem, _Nuevo mundo y conquista_. It is
interesting that in the works of Terrazas and other native
poets of the sixteenth century the Spaniards are called
"_soberbios_," "_malos_," etc. Antonio Saavedra Guzman was
the first in Mexico to write in verse a chronicle of
the conquest (_El peregrino indiano_, Madrid, 1599).
_Coloquios espirituales_ (published posthumously in 1610),
_autos_ of the "morality" type, with much local color and
partly in dialect, were written by Fernan Gonzalez Eslava,
whom Pimentel considers the best sacred dramatic poet of
Mexico. Sacred dramatic representations had been given in
Spanish and in the indigenous languages almost from the
time of the conquest. According to Beristain, at least two
plays of Lope were done into Nahuatl by Bartolome de Alba,
of native descent, and performed, _viz._: _El animal
profeta y dichoso parricida_ and _La madre de la Mejor_.

The first poet whose verses are genuinely American, exotic
and rich in color like the land in which written (a rare
quality in the Spanish poetry of the period), was Bernardo
de Balbuena (1568-1627: born in Spain; educated in
M