Dye Production, Food Supply, and the Laboring Population of Oaxaca, 1750-1820

Abstract

IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY THE indigenous population of the southern Mexican province of Oaxaca still possessed the bulk of the land in the form of communal tenure. Indeed, most land disputes there tended to arise between Indian communities although clashes did occur between them and the owners of haciendas. The indigenous population provided the labor force for the production of basic foodstuffs such as maize, beans and wheat, and of the main export crop, scarlet dye. Thepresent study examines first of all, the two central and related aspects of Oaxaca's economy during the late colonial period: the problems of land tenure and the relation between the dye export trade and the subsistence economy. It then describes the worsening crisis in the region after the 1780s, the causes to which it was attributed, and the economic conditions there on the eve of Mexican independence in 1821. The predominance of indigenous landownership distinguished Oaxaca from the cereal-producing core of Mexico, especially the Bajilo. Since its haciendas continued in a state of crisis throughout the eighteenth century, their proprietors-among them the Dominican Province of Oaxaca-put constant pressure on indigenous communal lands and their labor force. The hacendados in collusion with the local political authorities, the alcaldes mayores, frequently and blatantly violated the Laws of the Indies and Royal Decrees designed to protect the Indians of Spanish America. Those of Oaxaca, however, did not passively resign themselves. They actively engaged in litigation on their own behalf before the Audiencia of Mexico and the Intendancy of Oaxaca. In some cases, when legal authorities procrastinated or failed entirely to redress an injustice, they resorted to limited demonstrations of force to settle particular grievances.