The postal system of Mexico may be said to have begun with the Aztecs, who operated a system of messengers; they worked well enough that Hernando Cortes continued using them after the 1521 conquest. After 1579, the right to operate the posts was farmed out to members of the nobility, who were known as "Correo Mayor de la Nueva España". The most important part of their operation was the route between Mexico City and Veracruz.
In 1742, the administrator of posts in Madrid was ordered to improve the Mexican system, resulting in the 1745 establishment of a weekly post between Mexico City and Oaxaca, followed in 1748 by a monthly service to Guatemala. In 1765 the Spanish crown bought back to the rights to postal service, effectively "nationalizing" the posts.
2 real, 1856, Mazatlan district
In the 1820s both the British and French began packet service to Veracruz. A British postal agent operated at Veracruz 1825-1874 and at Tampico from around 1840 to 1876. While both were supplied with British stamps, only the Tampico stamps were used (obliterator "C76"). The British service ran continuously until 1914, while French service ended in 1835, was restored in 1862 at the Ligne de Mexico and continued until 1939.
Meanwhile, Mexico issued its first postage stamps on August 1, 1856. There were five values; 1/2-real, 1r, 2r, 4r, and 8r, all with the same design depicting patriot Miguel Hidalgo. The stamps also had district overprints with the names of district post offices applied to each stamp, as an anti-theft measure; the stamps were printed in Mexico City, and overprinted at the offices after receipt and before selling to postal customers. Unoverprinted stamps were presumed to have been stolen before reaching the offices, and were not considered valid.
1 real, 1864 eagle, Guanajuato district
The Hidalgo stamps were printed on papers of various colors. A redesign saw brief use in 1864 before the monarchy of Maximilian I of Mexico supplanted them with the Eagle stamps depicting an eagle wearing a crown. The district overprints continued, but with a year added; the possible variations of district and date number into the thousands, and are the subject of continuing research.
In 1866 new stamps featured a profile of Maximilian, and used the newly-introduced decimal currency.
After Maximilian was deposed in 1867, the old Hidalgo stamps came back into use, overprinted "Mexico" in Gothic lettering, and in 1868, a new Hidalgo design was issued. These were lithographed, and exhibit considerable variability in the figures of value, which may be thick or thin, and may or may not have periods after the numerals. In addition, the plates were retouched a number of times, yielding many minor varieties.
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