the Americas through the Tributo de sangre (Blood Tribute) in the 18th century, many of them settled in Yucatán, where by the 18th century they controlled the trade network that distributed goods throughout the peninsula; their descendants are still counted among the most influential families of direct Spanish descent in Mexico. During the 20th century, another group of Canarians settled in Mexico in the early 1930s, and as with Galician and other Spanish immigrants of the time, there were high rates of illiteracy and impoverishment among them, but they adapted relatively quickly. History After the independence of Mexico and centuries of brutal colonial rule, animosity emerged against Spanish people in the new nation. From August 1827 to 1834, by a decree issued during the government of Lorenzo de Zavala, many Spaniards and their families were expelled from the State of Mexico and killed. The state government, influenced by English masons or Yorkers, based on the Plan of Iguala and Treaty of Córdoba, liberated the state by stripping Spaniards of their haciendas, farms, ranches and properties. On December 20, 1827, state deputies repealed the Spanish expulsion law, and many Criollo families returned to their farms and ranches protected by state congressional deputies. In the constitution of 1857, the ambiguities about Mexican citizens are removed, and Spaniards were recognized as foreign people. In the period 1850–1950, 3.5 million Spanish left for the Americas, with Mexico becoming one of the chief destinations, especially its northern region where president Porfirio Diaz encouraged European immigration in order to supply labor. In 1910, there were 30,000 Spaniards in Mexico, with many participating in economic activities as agricultural labor and trade in urban areas. However, because they proportionally only made up .02% of the population in Mexico at the time, they could not influence the country's political life. Most recent migrants came during the Spanish Civil War. More than 25,000 Spanish refugees settled in Mexico between 1939 and 1942, largely during the administration of President Lazaro Cardenas del Río. Some of the migrants returned to Spain after the Civil War, but many more remained in Mexico. The "Children of Morelia" were 456 children of Spanish Republicans, which were brought from Spain in 1937 on a steamship named Mexique which flew under a French flag, at the request of the Mexican Assistance Committee by Pueblo Spanish, based in Barcelona. This children were received by Mexican President Lázaro Cardenas