Hacienda Social Relations in Mexico:The Chalco Region in the Era of Independence

Abstract

T HE Mexican hacienda, a great agricultural estate, evolved at junction of Spanish power and Indian resistance.' Through ownership of rural properties, Spaniards strove to control land and water resources and thus to profit in an economy based on feeding Mexico's urban population. In opposition to long-term growth of great estate, Indians struggled to retain subsistence lands, fighting to avoid total dependence on Spaniards' economy. Estates developed, with important regional variations, from resolution of this widespread conflict. By late colonial years hacienda had become, in words of Charles Gibson, the most comprehensive institution yet devised for Spanish mastery and Indian subordination.2 The present inquiry examines hacienda as a vehicle of SpanishIndian relations at Chalco, a region of fertile lands and dense Indian settlement lying from fifteen to forty miles southeast of Mexico City. Primary attention is focused upon both persons involved and their relationships: a landed elite residing in capital and directing hacienda economy; estate administrators and village priests serving urban, Spanish interests in rural environment; village leaders tying Indian population into wider society; and Chalco village Indians laboring at estates yet preserving remarkable social cohesion and autonomy. During three decades following achlievement of national