The Mexican Empire (Spanish: Imperio Mexicano, pronounced [ĩmˈpeɾjo mexiˈkano] (listen)) was a constitutional monarchy, the first independent government of Mexico and the only former colony of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after independence. It is one of the few modern-era, independent monarchies that have existed in the Americas, along with the Brazilian Empire and the Empire of Haiti. It is typically denominated as the First Mexican Empire to distinguish it from the Second Mexica