Taxco, Tepecuacuilco, and Ocuilán. For tribute purposes, the dominion was divided into two zones, one headed by Cuernavaca and the other by Huaxtepec.
At the time of the Spanish Conquest, Itzohuatzin was governing Cuernavaca. It was a rich city and densely populated, with large farms and its characteristic ravines bridged over. In the center of the city was a large fort, however, this fort and the entire city fell to the Spanish. The Spanish marched on Cuernavaca even before taking the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. They were led by Gonzalo de Sandoval and he was joined later by the conquistador, Hernán Cortés.
Cortés returned to Cuernavaca in 1523, stopping in Tlaltenango, where he founded the Church of San José and constructed the first sugar plantation. The fertility of these lands compelled the conquistador to found his favorite residence here. Juana de Zúñiga, Cortes’s wife, lived in Cuernavaca in the palace that was constructed in 1526. Cortes then moved the hacienda in Tlaltenango to Amatitlan and finally settled in his hacienda at Atlacomulco. The Franciscans arrived in Cuernavaca in 1529 and founded their fifth monastery in New Spain there. This first group included Martín de Lua, Francisco Martínez, Luis Ortiz, Juan de Cervo, Francisco de Soto, Andrés de Córdova, Martín de Jesús, Juan Juárez, Juan de Motolinía, and Juan García de Cervo. Originally they lived at the San Francisquito hermitage, but later they constructed the open-air chapel, Capilla Abierta, at the Church of San José in Tlaltenango. They extended their presence into the neighboring communities of Tetecala, Jiutepec, and Tlaquiltenango, among others, eventually forming the province of Santo Evangelio, which would be part of the province of Mexico in 1543. In 1646, this province was reorganized several times. Cuernavaca and Cuautla became high mayorships which answered directly to the viceregal authorities in Mexico City. In 1786, New Spain was divided into
