In the first half of the seventeenth century, cities such as Córdoba, Orizaba, and Xalapa were formed or expanded to protect the trade route between Mexico City and the port of Veracruz. During this time, the Spanish and mixed-ethnicities population increased as the purely indigenous population continued to fall to a fraction of pre-Conquest levels (due now to mixing, rather than disease). Almost all trade in and out of New Spain had to be with Spain except for some limited trade authorized with England and other Spanish colonies. This would stay in place until 1778, when the Decreto de Libre Comercio, allowing a limited free trade within Spanish-held realms, lifted many of these restrictions on trade with Europe. This would make the port more important than it had been, and led to increased prosperity for the inhabitants.
In the first half of the seventeenth century, cities such as Córdoba, Orizaba, and Xalapa were formed or expanded to protect the trade route between Mexico City and the port of Veracruz. During this time, the Spanish and mixed-ethnicities population increased as the purely indigenous population continued to fall to a fraction of pre-Conquest levels (due now to mixing, rather than disease). Almost all trade in and out of New Spain had to be with Spain except for some limited trade authorized with England and other Spanish colonies. This would stay in place until 1778, when the Decreto de Libre Comercio, allowing a limited free trade within Spanish-held realms, lifted many of these restrictions on trade with Europe. This would make the port more important than it had been, and led to increased prosperity for the inhabitants.