The Ties That Bind: Economic and Social Interactions in Early-Colonial New Mexico, A.D. 1598–1680

Abstract

Regional economic transactions in early-colonial New Mexico (1598–1680) have frequently been overlooked as archaeologists and historians focused on large scale, long-distance trade in the imperial economy or smaller scale household production. The few discussions of the regional economy, transactions within the colony, have generally described it as “primitive” and “crude.” There was, however, an active regional economy during this period that resulted in movement of goods between colonists’ and native peoples’ households. The nature of these interactions depended largely on the social identity of the household. In addition, the movement of goods bound households socially as well as economically. Analyzing economic interactions on the regional scale provides a better understanding the colonization process in general because economic restructuring is one way in which empires integrate newly conquered territories. In early-colonial New Mexico, more specifically, economic interactions formed one bridge between the individual household economies and the imperial economy.