The Sixteenth-Century Transformation of the Valle Del Mezquital
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2009 People, sheep, and landscape change in colonial Mexico: the sixteenth-century transformation of the Valle del Mezquital Richard Hunter Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Hunter, Richard, "People, sheep, and landscape change in colonial Mexico: the sixteenth-century transformation of the Valle del Mezquital" (2009). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1230. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1230 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. PEOPLE, SHEEP, AND LANDSCAPE CHANGE IN COLONIAL MEXICO: THE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY TRANSFORMATION OF THE VALLE DEL MEZQUITAL A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography and Anthropology Richard William Hunter B.A., South Dakota State University, 2001 B.S., South Dakota State University, 2001 M.S., South Dakota State University, 2003 May 2009 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the construction of a dissertation one becomes indebted to a variety of organizations, professionals, and friends. The Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University provided me with travel funds that enabled me to collect archival and field data, without which this dissertation would have been impossible to complete. The Interlibrary Loan staff at Middleton Library fulfilled my hundreds of requests for materials often rare and obscure, and I salute their commitment to the University’s faculty and students. I offer special thanks to the staff at the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City, who with warm alacrity made my time spent in their archive a distinct pleasure. I offer my full appreciation to my committee members Drs. Craig Colten, Kent Mathewson, Miles Richardson, Alejandro Cortazar, and my committee chair, Dr. Andrew Sluyter, for their continual and cheerful encouragement. Each has treated me not only as a colleague, but also as a friend, perhaps because in their eyes there need not be a distinction. The many people who assisted me in the Mexican municipal governments of Apaxco, Hueypoxtla, and Tequixquiac gave freely of their time and knowledge. I offer my heartfelt thanks to Joel Bautista Juárez, who took a personal interest in my project and went well beyond his official duties as an employee in Hueypoxtla’s city planning office. Joel introduced me to contacts, gifted me maps from his personal collection, and accompanied me on treks into the countryside. Lastly, the friends I have made in the past four years, in whose company I shared the trials and tribulations of life as a graduate student, deserve special recognition for their comradeship. They are Paul Watts, Corey Sills, Amy Potter, Jörn Seemann, Amy Sumpter, and Joyce Chan. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... ix ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ x CHAPTER 1: UNDERPINNINGS ................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1 KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION .................................................................... 4 NARRATIVE .................................................................................................. 13 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 17 END NOTES .................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS .............................................. 22 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 22 THREE KEY METHODOLOGICAL CONCERNS ............................................... 24 THE “SOUTHERN PLAIN” ............................................................................. 30 ESTANCIA REIFICATION ............................................................................... 32 CONCEPTUAL AND OPERATIONAL MAPS ................................................... 40 PERCEPTION ............................................................................................... 42 RANGELAND ECOLOGY ............................................................................... 50 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 60 END NOTES .................................................................................................. 62 CHAPTER 3: THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT ............................................................ 66 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 66 GEOMORPHOLOGY ..................................................................................... 68 CLIMATE AND HYDROLOGY ......................................................................... 73 VEGETATION ................................................................................................ 79 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 83 END NOTES .................................................................................................. 83 CHAPTER 4: THE PRE-HISPANIC INHABITED ENVIRONMENT .................................. 85 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 85 DEMOGRAPHY AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION ......................................... 86 CULTURAL ECOLOGY AND LAND-USE .......................................................... 89 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 99 END NOTES .................................................................................................. 100 iii CHAPTER 5: SPATIAL ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 103 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 103 SPATIAL ANALYSIS ....................................................................................... 108 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 134 END NOTES .................................................................................................. 135 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ....................................................................................... 138 SUMMARY.................................................................................................... 138 THE PROCESS OF ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSFORMATION ............................ 140 END NOTES .................................................................................................. 142 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 143 APPENDIX A: MERCEDES SOURCES ......................................................................... 171 APPENDIX B: ESTANCIA LOCATION ANALYSIS ......................................................... 178 APPENDIX C: ESTANCIA SLOPE AND ASPECT DATA ................................................. 191 APPENDIX D: ESTANCIA ELEVATIONAL DATA .......................................................... 193 APPENDIX E: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE MERCEDES ............................................. 195 VITA ......................................................................................................................... 200 iv LIST OF TABLES 3.1. PRECIPITATION DATA ....................................................................................... 75 5.1. DIVISION OF ESTANCIAS INTO FIVE TEMPORAL GROUPS ................................. 108 A.1. MERCEDES SOURCES ........................................................................................ 167 C.1. ESTANCIA SLOPE AND ASPECT DATA................................................................. 191 D.1. ESTANCIA ELEVATIONAL DATA ......................................................................... 193 E.1. SITING OF ESTANCIAS ....................................................................................... 195 E.2. LANDSCAPE FEATURES NEAR ESTANCIAS ......................................................... 195 E.3. LANDFORMS NEAR ESTANCIAS ......................................................................... 196 E.4. VEGETATION REFERENCES