This chapter examines the portrayal of the Spanish conquest and colonial rule in a selection of Mexican primary school textbooks published between 1894 and 1972—a formative period for the contemporary understanding of colonisation in Mexico. Drawing on Rafael Valls Montés’ concept of school historiographies and Philip Abrams’ distinction between the state as “system” and the state as “idea,” the chapter argues that textbook representations of this historical era were deeply entwined with the Mexican state in two key ways. First, textbooks were products of a changing state system that, despite trends towards centralisation, remained a heterogeneous network of actors, institutions, and regulations, with varying degrees of control over educational content. Second, these textbooks mobilised a “state-idea”—an ideological construction of political authority—thereby contributing to the legitimisation of the state’s institutions and practices.