Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco

Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco arrived in 1535 as the first viceroy of New Spain, the representative of the Spanish Crown in the colony. He governed for about fifteen years, a period that saw the founding of important schools and the first printing press in the Americas, before being sent on to serve as viceroy of Peru.

Don’t confuse him with Hernán Cortés: Cortés led the conquest and governed in its immediate aftermath, but he was never a viceroy.