258 Erdkunde Band XXI

Literatur (Auswahl) Geiger, E.: Das Bergell. Forstbotanische Monographie. Jahresvers. Naturf. Ges. Graubiindens, Bd. 45. Chur 1901. Auer, Ch.: iiber die natiirliche Untersuchungen Verjiingung Grossmann, H.: Die Waldweide in der Schweiz. Diss., der Larche im Arven-Larchenwald des Oberengadins. Zurich 1957. Mitt. Schweiz. Anst. forstl. Versuchswesen, Zurich 1947. Gubler-Gross, R.: Moderne Transhumanz in der Schweiz. H.: Ober die lokalen Windverhaltnisse einer Aulitzky, Diss., Zurich 1962. zentralalpinen Hochgebirgsstation. Mitt. Arch. Met. Geo Holtmeier, F. K.: Die Waldgrenze im Oberengadin in phys. Biokl. Serie B 6, 1955. ihrer physiognomischen und okologischen Differenzie -: Ober die Windverhaltnisse einer zentralalpinen Hang rung. Diss., Bonn 1965. station in der subalpinen Stufe. Mitt, forstl. Bundes -: Die ?Malojaschlange" und die Verbreitung der Fichte. versuchsanst. Mariabrunn, H. 59, 1961. Beobachtungen zur Klimaokologie des Oberengadins. Bisaz, O. und W. Trepp: Der Stazer Wald. Bundner Wald, Wetter und H. 4, 1966 a. Beih. 1953. Leben, 5, -: Die okologische Funktion des Tannenhahers im Zirben Braun-Blanquet, J.: Pflanzensoziologie, Grundziige der Larchenwald und an der Waldgrenze des Oberengadins. Vegetationskunde. Wien, New York 1964. f. H. 3/4, 1966 b. H. Pallmann und R. Bach: Pflan Journ. Ornithologie, Braun-Blanquet, J. -: Das Symposium ?Ukologie der alpinen Waldgrenze" in zensoziologische und bodenkundliche Untersuchungen im Innsbruck. Erdk. Bd. XX, Lfg. 4, 1966 c. Schweizerischen Nationalpark und seinen Nachbargebie -: Zur naturlichen Wiederbewaldung aufgelassener Alpen ten. Ergebnisse der wiss. Untersuchungen des Schweize im Oberengadin. Wetter und Leben, H. 9/10, 1967. rischen Nationalparks, 1954. Kossinna, E.: Die Dauer der Schneedecke in den oster Brockmann-Jerosch, H.: Baumgrenze und Klimacharak reichischen Alpen. Jb. DDAV 1931. ter. Ber. Schweiz. Bot. Ges. H. 26, 1919. Moser, L.: Verbreitung und Bedeutung der Zirbe im Campell, E.: Der Tannen- oder Nufihaher und die Arven italienischen Alpengebiet. Jb. Ver. z. Schutze der Alpen verbreitung. Bundner Wald 4, 1950. pflanzen und -tiere, 1960. -: Der Wald des Oberengadins im Wandel der Zeiten. Ges. Rikli, M.: Die Arve in der Schweiz. Neue Denkschr. Festschr. 124. Jahresversammlung Schweiz. Naturf. Schweiz. Naturf. Bd. 1909. St. Moritz, Chur 1944. Ges., 44, E.: des Ber Daniker, A. U.: Die Rundhockerlandschaft von Maloja Rubel, Pflanzengeographische Monographie und ihre Pflanzenwelt. Chur 1952. ninagebietes, Bot. Jb. Bd. 47, 1912. Enderlin, F.: Ober die Verbreitung der Larche in Grau Schlatter, A. J.: Die Aufforstungen und Verbauungen biinden. Schweiz. Ztschr. f. Forstw. 1929. des Oberengadins in den Jahren 1875 bis 1934. Schweiz. Furrer, E.: Probleme um den Riickgang der Arve in den Ztschr. f. Forstwesen 1935. und Schweizer Alpen. Mitt. Schweiz. Anst. forstl. Versuchs Schmid, H.: Die Oberengadiner Land- Alpwirtschaft. wesen, Zurich 1955. Diss., Zurich 1955. zur zum -: Das Schweizer Arvenareal in pflanzengeographischer und Schreiber, M.: Beitrage Biologie und Waldbau d. 1921 und forstgeschichtlicher Sieht. Ber. Geobot. Forschungsinst. der Larche. Centralbl. f. ges. Forstwesen, Rubel, Zurich 1957. 1923.

* EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT VENTURES IN THE TROPICAL LOWLANDS OF MEXICO

With 3 figuresand 1 table

Rayfred L. Stevens

waren 13 weitere die sich Zusammenfassung: Das Schicksal der Europaer-Siedlungen Siedlungen gegrundet worden, als nicht erwiesen. im tropischen Tiefland von Mexiko jedoch lebensfahig In den sechs lebensfahigen Kolonien ist die Gewohnung wenn mit unter Wahrend des 19. Jahrhunderts haben sich verschiedene an die tropische Umwelt gelungen, auch Gruppen nichtspanischer Europaer in der Tierra caliente schiedlicher Schwierigkeit. Die Auflosung der Siedlungen Mexikos niedergelassen. Von den sechs lebensfahigen Sied und die Einschmelzung in die mexikanische Bevolkerung im Veracruz. lungen bestehen heute noch drei, alle Staate gehen auf nichtphysische Faktoren zuriick: 1) politische, von Den grofiten Erfolg hatte die franzosische Siedlung (ge wahrend der unsicheren Jahre der Revolution 1910 bis am unteren Rio Die italienische grundet 1833) Nautla. 1921 und der folgenden Agrarreform; 2) wirtschaftliche, sich in Kolonie (1857) am nahe gelegenen RioTecolutla loste den letzten Dekaden zum Teil auf. Als lebensfahiger erwies * in the sich eine Ansiedlung italienischer Kaffee- und Zuckerrohr The author takes pleasure acknowledging generous wo eine hohe Geburtenrate financial of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung pflanzer (1833) bei Huatusco, support italienischen the of the final version of this paper. die Wanderungsverluste mehr als ausgleicht. Die toward preparation are toDon Arturo Siedler von Lombardia und Nueva Italia im Balsas-Tecal Special thanks likewise extended Meunier, zerstreuten der der of San Veracruz, for information, orientation and catepec-Becken sich nach Enteignung Rafael, several field Latifundien, auf denen sie gearbeitet hatten. Aufierdem repeated hospitality during trips. Rayfred L. Stevens: European settlement ventures in the tropical lowlands of Mexico 259

und zwar a) die Konkurrenz einwandernder Indios und along theNautla River since 1833; Italians along the Mestizen, die billiger arbeiteten, und b) die Suche nach Tecolutla River since 1856 and on the lower, cloud anderen wirtschaftlichen Vorteilen in Mexiko. Die gleichen forested slopes of Orizaba since 1881 (see Fig. 1). For Krafte zerstorten auch andere landwirtschaftliche Gemein several generations these groups have withstood the den von Europaern im aufiertropischen Mexiko, wo aller ravages of tropical diseases and hard noch iiberleben, da sie sich performed dings einige religiose Gruppen manual labor the mit ihrer besonderen Lebensweise von der ubrigen Bevol despite supposedly enervating effects of the climate. have achieved a note kerung absonderten. Die franzosischen und italienischen They based on and tech Siedler im tropischen Mexiko richteten keine konfessionellen worthy prosperity largely crops Schranken auf, und die Sprachschwierigkeiten wurden nology which the immigrants had never known in schnell iiberwunden. Diese Umstande wie auch ihre geringe Europe. Zahl lassen ihr Fortbestehen als besondere Gruppen auf Previously, in Spanish colonial times, European die Dauer unwahrscheinlich erscheinen. migration to Mexico (thenNew Spain) had involved Die heute noch bestehenden im europaischen Siedlungen mostly individuals and families dispersed among other tropischen Tiefland Mexikos zeigen, dafi dort Europaer elements of the population, which to a great extent fahig waren, die Schwierigkeiten der tropischen Umwelt they exploited and by which were zu iiberwinden. Dies gelang ihnen vor allem durch die Uber they partly absorbed. this continued after nahme der Technologie, die sie vorfanden und die sie mit Generally pattern was secured: were attracted wenigen eigenen Anderungen anwandten. Im Gegensatz Independence immigrants more to as entre zu deterministischen Anschauungen und im Unterschied zu commercial and mining activities, anderen, fehlgeschlagenen Kolonisationsversuchen lafit sich preneurs and supervisory personnel, than to agri nur der bemerkenswerte Erfolg dieser Siedler dadurch cultural pursuits. Not until the founding of the dafi sie sich mit und erklaren, Ehrgeiz, Anpassungsfahigkeit French colony near the mouth of the Nautla River zu Geschick in der tropischen Umwelt behaupten wufiten. was a there successful community of Europeans doing their own hard work in the tropical lowlands of Introduction Mexico. Somewhat belatedly, the government began to actively encourage such ventures in the hope of to settle as Attempts by Europeans working peoples finding ways and means of incorporating the empty in the lowlands have met with fail tropical repeated lands of the country into the commonwealth. This ure. Sinister effects of the climate and its was a tropical task requiring far greater numbers than these diseases were taken for as mysterious long granted latter-day immigrations involved, albeit the achieve causes. The oft-cited contrast, that settlers from ments of the settlersare commendable when considered Europe and their descendants have become the major proportionately. ity of the population in the temperate zones of three in before had been other continents, North America, South America, and Already 1821, independence firmly was secured, another group of settlers of North Australia, supposed to be a response to favor European American started into the able climates similar to those of Europe. Such deter nationality moving extra-trop ical lowlands of the northeast of the 1836 ministic often real dif country. By they interpretations ignored very had become so not their own work ferences successful, doing only between the climates of the old and the new own but also their fighting, that they were able to pro areas. settlement Later scholars, tired of claim the as an ascribing province of Texas independent republic. of human events to patterns physical determinants, The ensuing chain of events cost Mexico still further in territorial sought explanations cultural forces, particularly losses and dampened enthusiasm for promoting technological and economic factors. Possibilistic inter colonization along its frontiers and coasts, where most of turned the lands were situated. pretations attention away from the purely empty physio-psychological effects of climate and insisted Nevertheless, permits for colonization continued to be issued. Most of the promoters had the sense to desist that "Europe-across-the-seas" flourished in areas good from their where soil and climate impractical schemes and many never incon permitted productive agri venienced the colonits culture based on the from the prospective by actually bringing technology brought them to dismal area. In left the homelands. fact, many promoters Further possibilities of adopting other and never - country returned, having found elsewhere more crops and in the new lands whether uses technology personally profitable for the money advanced by the or - temperate tropical may have been overlooked government for their "services". scholars the by seeking profound theories more easily During early decades of independence, as centralistas and than by settlers longing for a full stomach and quick federalistas vied for control, colonization was gener left to the individual or states. profits. However well theorists may explain the ally provinces The first concerted attempt directed the national general failure of European settlement in the tropics, by government was carried out in the administration of President there still remains the problem of for Ignacio accounting Comonfort the some (1855-58), of which Italian colony of sporadic successes, like those here reviewed. Gutierrez Zamora on the Tecolutla River was a result. Of twenty settlement ventures in the European The Wars of the Reforma (1857-61) and of the French lowlands of three still all tropical Mexico, survive, Intervention (1862-67) and other disorders obstructed in the State of Veracruz: French have been established further undertakings. Finally in the last quarter of the Band XXI 260_Erdkunde_ . X =\ \ .Limit ..r of humidu tropical ,,Lowlands , , tuxpam^ ^^^L.^ p=?y r-^ ~7t 0 400 800 km // \ ^-30? N^

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_S V'Wp?_ 1: Fig. General location of viable European settlements in the tropical lowlands of Mexico (inset) and the transportation network serving the surviving settlements in Veracruz State (main map). ventures Mexico Rayfred L. Stevens: European settlement in the tropical lowlands of 261

19th century, under the rule of General Porfirio Diaz, the and the second study by de la Pena (1950) were established internal order and a modus Government, having not known to me at that time. The present extended fostered a number of offi vivendi with foreign interests, report is further based on two additional field trips, cial and colonization ventures. Of the Government private in February 1964 and August 1966, to gather up-to in lowland projects actually implemented tropical areas, date informations on the settlers and their near Huatusco. changing only one survived: that of the Italians land use practices. Professor Alberto Mori of the University of Pisa, Italy, accompanied me on the last The State of Investigations trip and is preparing a study on these and other These experiments in tropical living have been little Italian settlement ventures in Mexico. known outside Mexico and even there erroneous are still circulated about them. Perforce the reports French Settlers Along theNautla River investigator must rely heavily on interviews and field observation. Of the early history of the settle Environment most ments, that of the French colony is the obscure. On the western shores of the Gulf of Mexico is a first references are the brief notes of The published section of coastal plain strewn with alluvium, of Don Antonio Garcia Cubas theMexican geographer limestone and volcanic origin, transported by the some accounts at (1880), followed by journalistic the Nautla River system from the foothills and upper from some of these close of the century. Excerpts slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental. Here at 20o14' comments were offered Auguste and further by North Latitude the climate of this coast is appropri Genin Much material for a of the (1931). history ately tropical-humid, with a relatively dry season was the consulate at colony destroyed when French (spring) and heavy monsoonal rains (late summer was burned theMexican Revolu San Rafael during and autum), intermediate between the Am and Aw tion. It is that some official docu remotely possible categories of Koppen, or between VI and V2a of the ments on the establishment of the colony may yet Troll-Paffen classification. During the winter in some at be discovered archive Mexico, Veracruz, months stray polar winds and extra tropical cyclones or or in at overcast Jalapa, Jalacingo Misantla; France, Dijon bring skies and low temperatures. Frost is or Paris. tem scarcely known but occasionally near-freezing T. de la in his 'Veracruz Moises Pena, survey peratures are critical, reducing the yields of some Economico' discusses the and (1946), briefly history tropical fruits.Normally climate offers a year-round of the three colonies. In a later agricultural economy growing season formost crops and the faintly later de la Pena includes a far more de study, (1950) ized and alluvial soils are generally adequate for tailed account, based on field interviews observations, sustained production. with elder colonists and some documents which he Abandoned mounds attest thriving settlement along does not but which included fully identify apparently the lowerNautla before the coming of the Spaniards. some official on the two Italian colonies. reports Throughout colonial times the area remained very the of references Unfortunately shortage precise sparsely populated, returned to tropical forest and makes it difficult to evaluate de la Pena's work or one enter therefore ill adapted for cattle raising, the to take where he left off.Numerous contradictions up prise forwhich the large landowners bothered to use and obvious errors one to use typographical oblige these lands. Thus was the picture of the entire coastal his with some reservation in view of the area as von writings but, described by Alexander Humboldt of written sources in can .. two ore paucity general, they hardly 1811, I 273): three cattle stations, around be ignored. which roam some half wild bovines, occupy spaces of A account of colonization the thorough during many square leagues. A small number of powerful Diaz is Moises Gonzalez regime presented by families, who live in the Central Plateau, own the Navarro in a short book based on official (1960) larger part of the coast of the Intendencias of records and The latter sound journalistic reports. Veracruz and San Luis Potosi. There is no agrarian biased either for or the against anything government law which obliges these rich proprietors to sell their undertook. One finds in Gonzalez Navarro's work mayorazgos, although they persist in not wanting to so in that of ample documentary references, lacking turn to the plow themselves the immense lands they de la and one misses what the latter did Pena, control; they treat their sharecroppers badly and include: and based on field reporting interpretation kick them out of their haciendas at the slightest observation. whim!,, (translated). An earlier on the Colonies in the report "European Such was but part of the challenge awaiting the Lowlands of Mexico" was at the Tropical presented early French settlers. XVIII International Geographical Congress at Rio de Janeiro (Stevens, 1956), based largely on personal Early History interviews and field observations conducted in 1952 In 1831 Stephan Guenot, an ex-paymaster of the and 1956. An article by Franqois Chevalier (1947) French Army, naturalized as a Mexican citizen, 262 Erdkunde Band XXI

purchased twelve square leagues of land around Under these circumstances, subsistence had to be on Jicaltepec, the right bank of the navigable Nautla procured close at hand. The settlers, some of whom River. to Returning France, Guenot organized a had been artisans in France, soon learned to cultivate at and recruited the first the food corn colonizing company Dijon indigenous crops: (maize),beans,squash, of 80 sexes group settlers persons of all ages and and chili peppers. To this diet they added items of not even (some say 60, others 100). Nothing, housing, their own tradition through fishing and livestock had been for at prepared their arrival the settlement raising. At least one report indicates that they grew site in in 1833, September, normally the rainiestmonth wheat in the 19 th century (Gonzalez Navarro, of the year. 1960, p. 74). Some credit Guenot with to found an trying Cash crops for the colony had to have a high value socialistic lines agricultural community along Utopian per unit of weight. Tobacco, vanilla, and cacao were de Mexico, 1898; The (El Progresso Genin, 1931). valuable and light enough. To the Veracruz market venture, however, is described as purely capitalistic the harvests were taken by pack train along the de la Pena, The colonists were to by (1946, 1950). beach or by goletas, five of which were serving the work for the under Guenot's direction and company colony in the 1850's. The settlers began to prosper later to have the to land of their opportunity acquire and from time to time others of their countrymen own. The was soon modified to a were to plan sharecropper encouraged join them. basis, one-third for the company. In 1835 the second contingent of 124 colonists (some say 114) arrived Demographic Growth from the Franche Comte. By 1836 dissatisfaction was so great that Guenot was obliged to flee through the The newly arriving settlerswere haunted by yellow forest (El Progreso de Mexico, 1898). De la Pena fever as they travelled from the Port of Veracruz in infers that he not only escaped with his life but also small vessels or walked along the beach to the dense with his pockets well lined with somebody else's ly forrested promised lands. Many died along the money. way and whole families were wiped out by tropical diseases during the early years. A flood in 1861 was However melodramatic it may have occured, Guenot followed by an epidemic (some say of cholera, others succeeded in bringing about two hundred of his countrymen - - a to a desolate soon to be histile land where he left say yellow fever) which took tremendous toll betweem 117 and 300 victims. them in the lurch. During the Pastry War, 1838, refusal reported variously in were to fight against their homeland led to confiscation of the Soon these losses numbers partly offset by arms of the colonists. They appealed to the President, another influx of French immigrants, this time from Antonio de Santa their Lopez Ana, who, impressed by Louisiana, refugees from the War Between the States sense of ordered the arms to be returned loyalty, (El (1861-65). Sporadic immigration continued from de Progreso Mexico, 1898). various parts of France, Belgium and from the Italian on the Tecolutla River. There has been A reorganized company dispatched a third group colony nearby little new in the twentieth of colonists who arrived in 1840. Land title disputes very immigration century. A review of names shows and other difficulties continued and the company was family that, altogether, most of the settlers came from in and soon dissolved. The settlerswere now left entirely on Departements around the their own meager resources which did not even in Alps (Meunier, 1964). clude title to the lands tilled. Some colonists they The population of the colony was estimated at were to the same two or obliged purchase plots about 300 by Garcia Cub as at the time of his three times from different to be the parties claiming visit in 1865 (cited by de la Pena, 1950, p. 202). owners. to for land legitimate Others preferred rent, This figure is consistant with reports of arrivals, the be rented from the if it could cheaply latifundistas usually high birth and death rates and the recent could be rented at all. epidemic. Estimates of the population at about 500 at The colony was isolated from thepopulation centers the close of the century and "somewhat more than of the highlands. To the nearest inland trading cen 500" a generation later are reported by Genin (1931). ters (Misantla, Tlapacoyan, Teziutlan and Papantla) A list of 77 different French family names published there were no roads, only trails and paths, quickly by de la Pena (1950, pp. 215-216) coincides closely obliterated by the rank forest growth. Communica with a list of 76 such names compiled for this study tionwith the Port of Veracruz was much easier, some by Don Arturo Meunier in 1964. Allowing that 150 kilometers along the beach or by small goletas some families are quite numerous and that several which could cross the bar of theNautla at high tide families bear the same name, Meunier then estimated to there were more than 1000 of French descent. and navigate the fourteen kilometers upstream the persons Local was facil In recent been a influx of Jicaltepec settlement. transportation decades there has great course itated by small boats plying the lower river other population elements, predominantly mestizos, a as or and its associated bayous. few owner-operators of farms business, the Rayfred L. Stevens: European settlement ventures in the tropical lowlands of Mexico 263

to now majority, however, work for the French, who bases for expropriation have been lacking. However, form less than half, possibly as little as a fourth, of the expropriation of nearby latifundios and their the total population. absorption into the ejido system has greatly reduced the amount of land subject to private onto Land Tenure and Settlement Patterns ownership which the colonists might otherwise have expanded. By the 1870's the land available for purchase or to The statistical table summarizes the rent around on either side of the river had following ownership Jicaltepec of land the settlers the lower Nautla was by European along been occupied and the prosperity of the colony at River in the 1940's, the close of the period of isolation: beginning to stifle. The situation was remedied by a Mexican Rafael Martinez de la Torre, who lawyer, Left a large tract of land on the left bank of the Right T j acquired Bank Bank Mimfundiosf^^a Nautla and subdivided much of it for sale at reason able prices to the colonists. In appreciation of their Area 13,010 6,988 19,998 13,384 benefactor the name of the chief community center on owners 206 75 281 265 the left bank was changed to San Rafael (previously it had carried the somewhat gruesome name of average 63 93 58 71 "Zopilote", which is Spanish for "buzzard"). Soon upper 10% 72 300 125 120 San Rafael began to eclipse Jicaltepec, hemmed as upper 36 112 50 71 was the expansion of the latter by latifundios. An quartile other factor in this shift was the somewhat better median 15 45 17 17

quality of the left bank lands for the cultivation of lower quartile 7 78 10 vanilla, then the leading money crop of the colony. lower 10 ?/o 54 5 3 The pattern of land tenure that soon developed is on typical of riparian settlements dependent water The size of on the bank is even more water a larger holdings right transportation: With frontage at premium, striking when we consider that more than one-third of the landholdings take the shape of long strips touching were left bank lands held by one partnership. The overall the river or a The remains 71 to bayou (see Fig. 2). imprint average of hectares drops 58 and the upper quartile on the water 71 to 50 we landscape today although transporta from when disregard the latifundios (three more tion is of little significance. holdings of than 500 hectares) and the minifundios The area of concentrated French settlement lies (13 holdings of two hectares or less), but other statistical are between theNautla downstream fromPaso de Telaya, highlights not greatly affected. Recent trends involve both continual subdivision and consolidation and the tributary bayous (esteros) Dulce, Tres En of holdings, are cinos and de la Puntilla. Here about 90% of the land processes which in part compensating one another so that the situation of the middle quartiles has is under French ownership and about 75% of the probably changed little in the last twenty years. land owners, in on their lands, are living dwellings This summary was the author from lists of French A considerable number of prepared by (Meunier, 1964). landowners published, with little attempt at evaluation, farm however, live in San Rafael de la owner-operators, by Pena (1950, pp. 215-16, 223). Since the and commute to their holdings. municipio of Jicaltepec has been absorbed into the muni The construction of paved highways serving the cipio of Nautla and San Rafael into that of Martinez de la left bank of the lower Nautla in the 1940's, without Torre, an up-to-date statistical treatment of land tenure, or other of the immediate prospects of such amenities for the right any aspect colony, could be done only by the most detailed field work. bank dwellers, led to still further shifting of the French settlers to the leftbank area. In 1964, although With increasing population succeeding generations more than five thousand hectares of right bank lands have divided and redivided the plots. In search for were still under French ownership, I was informed that purchasable farm land, many families have turned only four French families had homes in that area. away from the settlement nucleus: some to the sugar the mid-1950's a cane area Already by Jicaltepec had become centering around the municipal seat of virtual ghost town, its few mestizo families occupy Martinez de la Torre; others to the nearby munici ing only a fraction of the sturdily built, but long pios of Misantla and Tecolutla; still others as far as since dilapidated, houses. Tuxpan, Veracruz; Loma Bonita, Oaxaca; and Ta The Mexican Government of basco. In these policy expropriating movements, preference for tropical large landholdings (latifundios) and establishing com humid lands is strong. Migration to the highlands munal was holdings (ejidos), which accelerated in mostly involves persons tempted or forced to give 1938, has not affected the colonists directly, since up farming altogether. In any case, those who most of their farms are small enough to be exempt. migrate more than 100 kilometers tend to lose ties were no or Besides, there indigenous mestizo com with the community. Thus land shortage is once to munities that could claim have been dispossessed again? threatening the continued prosperity and the two by French settlers. Thus the primary legal cohesiveness of the colony. 264 Erdkunde BandXXI

?_,_?km \

French \ \ \ \ \ I I ^^^^^^^jlJii \ r^/^Y^ \ \ Ill Mexican * * 1 UPuntiuipleAldamaT^V /^C7/! 1y Y 1\ ! 1 \ ITvlFrench, Italian and Mexican I j']']f*s? ^J^^^/'

Fig. 2: Land ownership in the lower Nautla River area. The situation here shown is that prevailing toward the close of the period of isolation of the French colony. Although there has been some infiltration of Mexican landholders since area 1940, the that had been exclusively French continues to be overwhelmingly so. a (Sources: From landownership map of uncertain date by Pierre Pa yen, probably based on maps of the Comision were Geografica Exploradora (1902-1903); details adjusted according to data obtained from aerial photographs, interviews and direct observation by the author.) Rayfred L. Stevens: European settlement ventures in the tropical lowlands of Mexico 265

Changing Land Use Practices some to experiment with monoculture. However, a few bad years, with low yields caused by excep Striking changes in land use in the French colony tionally cool or dry weather, coupled with low began in the 1940's with the opening of paved prices, taught many of them a lesson. By 1952 they highways, one via Pachuca and Tecolutla, the other had returned to the habits of diversified farming via Teziutlan, linking this coastal area with the that their forefathers brought over from the Old The formermainstays of the local econo highlands. while of were World, planting crops mostly New World my, cacao, vanilla, and tobacco, gradually abandoned in order to devote the land and time to origin. bulkier but more remunerative crops: bananas, maize, Maize may be harvested twice a year from the more same one or chili peppers, beans, and recently, citrus fruits. land but rotation with two other annual crops is usually preferred. It is a common catch Vanilla (Vanilla planifola), indigenous to this area, crop between rows of young bananas or citrus had been gathered wild in pre-Columbian times to pre plantations. pare a flavoring for cacao. The forests of Quilate, adjoin the French settlement area and toward ing extending Difficulties of storing the grain under the high Misantla, led in production in the early nineteenth cen temperatures and humidity of summer are now over tury (Humboldt, 1811, II). Some plants were taken to come in two ways: 1) a dehydrating plant whereby Europe, and at the botanical gardens at Liege in 1836 a the grain can be made less perishable; and 2) by technique of artifical pollination was developed by Charles the harvest to cooler, drier warehouses at Morren (1838, 1839). Since the plant pollinates with diffi trucking Perote and other in the culty under natural conditions, this technique, brought to places highlands. the colony around 1850, permitted enormous increases, up The temporal maize crop is planted in June or to five fold, in vanilla yields and made its cultivation July to take advantage of the generally more reliable immensely profitable (Bruman, 1948). The French colony led (though often rains of summer and autumn. in the industry until at the and of the nineteenth century, excessive) While the is the are short that distinction migrated to Gutierrez Zamora and Papantla. crop maturing days getting skies are overcast and are In the mid-twentieth century Bruman (1948) had concluded er, frequently temperatures that the economic position of the Mexican vanilla industry lower. Maturation is slow and the harvest may be was "basically sound". The high quality of its product delayed until December. Optimal meteorological commanded on the world premium prices market, despite conditions normally attend the tonalmil corn crop, from the lower increasing competition quality, cheap planted from late January to early March. Plant labor of and other French producers Madagascar colonial is as the are and areas. growth rapid days getting longer Gradually the neglected plantations of the latter the skies are generally clear in the spring months. returned to full production after the close of World this is the driest season, soil moisture is War II. In the meantime, improved transportation had Although no for the corn and at the same made the French settlers longer dependent on light usually adequate young time weeds and are to weight cash crops. Resuming these developments, Meunier grasses easy control. By the more (1952) concluded: "To reestablish vanilla culture in the time the copious, temporal rains begin, in late to or colony, the price of vanilla has go up the price of April or May, the corn is large enough to fend for to come bananas has down" (translated). itself and to utilize the extra moisture as the ears Cacao found the Nautla form mature. along its northernmost and Ready for harvest in one-fourth Cooler winters to ecological margin. often caused the crop less time than the temporal crop, yields of tonalmil fail completely. Fortunately such winters favored vanilla; maize are to one fifty hundred per cent greater; conversely when in warmer years earnings from vanilla harvests of two tons per hectare without fertilizer were a better of cacao to balance the slack, yield helped are common. farmer's budget. Improved transportation enabled him to achieve a balance with other more crops promising reliable Citrus presents perhaps themost striking change yields. on the agricultural landscape from the mid 1950's Tobacco was still as a catch in the planted crop early to the mid 1960's. Oranges, grapefruit, and limes 1950's. under the overcast skies of autumn Maturing and next to together ranked bananas in the acreage seen the was of marketable early winter, product good quality in the and were my sample survey along motorable roads in yields reliable. However, with increasing costs 1964. In 1966 further of citrus were noted. of hand labor, for which its requirements are considerable, gains Banana have been because by 1964 tobacco had been almost entirely displaced by plantation retired, partly more of Panama disease and chamusco other crops susceptible to mechanization. infestations. Further, the chief competing areas are well to the south and Bananas find the Nautla and Tecolutla more along removed from cold-wave damage. Slightly rivers the nearest to the of Mexico more region capital that resistant to cold than bananas, citrus yields are has the proper combination of soil and climate for not seriously affected by the winter temperatures of their on a production large commercial scale. When the San Rafael area, which thereby enjoys a decisive enabled the French farmers to utilize over its main the paved highways advantage competitors, frequently this geographic advantage, banana prosperity led frostbittenorchards of northeastMexico. 266 Erdkunde Band XXI

Other to the crops grown from time time for ever, seasonal underemployment of other regions or use cash home include various tropical fruits, of Mexico, where the growing season is limited by beans and chili peppers. Papaya does better in dry cold or drought, makes a migrant labor pool so a years and provides convenient balance when other easily available that the farmer has not so much are harvests short because of drought. Pineapple incentive to adjust his operations to employ an produces well but with its biennial vegetative cycle entirely resident labor force. it is difficult to get the fruit to in this area ripen During the early decades the French women often at time but mid-summer when are low. any prices worked with their men in the fields, much to the horror Beans are as catch often intercalated planted crops, of the local mestizo population who regarded the practice not as an on with other plants, only for the value of the unchivalrous infringement woman's rights. Arti as a ficial of vanilla was as harvest but also soil improver. Sugar cane has pollination regarded respectable been abandoned because of the low sugar content of woman's work, at least for indigenous women. With in the French women the customs the oversized stalks produced on these humid soils. creasing prosperity accepted of the and ceased to work in the fields. as country Forest acreage has been greatly reduced Most of the French farmers continue to do much more and more land was required for crops and of the hard manual labor on their pastures. Chicle and rubber (Castilloa elastica) were holdings. Many have so that their time is formerly tapped. These, along with trees producing expanded operations largely with hired laborers. wild fruits (mamey, mango, tamarind) and precious occupied overseeing Altogether the French make more than a fourth of woods (mahagony, cedar, rosewood), are left standing hardly up the labor force on the lands own. when land is cleared for whatever purpose. They they The demonstrates the provide, together with the remaining forest areas, accompanying diagram pos a sort reserve. sibilities of seasonal of as incidental income and of capital deployment permanent labor force to the land use at Beef cattle raising is a principal occupation according practices the close of the of isolation in with for many of the larger landholders. This activity is period comparison those of themid 1960's. not so conspicuous along the highway and navigable waters but it is the chief means of inacces utilizing Living Conditions sible areas and the frequently inundated or otherwise For a number of years the newly arrived settlers less arable lands. Pastures have been improved, with had to content themselves with makeshift housing, Para and Guinea as well as native grasses. probably not too different from the jacales (shacks) Methods are efficient, the cattle of good marketable - occupied by the poorer mestizo families of nearby quality, and the breeding stock Cebu (Brahma), - communities As soon as the for Santa Gertrudis, and Charolais from ranches of today. struggle existence would let them, they began to make brick the French settlers are widely known. and tile from the sandy clays in the area, excellent for these and to construct houses of Outbreaks of a f t o s a (foot-and-mouth disease) from purposes spacious 1947 to 1953 seriously handicapped the livestock industry the type that they had known in the old country. in this area. After an extensive are of Mexico, particularly These characterized by spacious verandas and campaign involving slaughter of afflicted animals, quar bungalow roofs with Marseille-type of flat tile antine and the disease has been controlled if vaccination, shingle. Many such houses are well preserved and not completely eradicated. From records provided in still in the More recent ana occupied colony today. 1952 by inspectors of the Comision Mexico-Americ construction features flat roofs but the preference for para la Eradicacion de la Fiebre Aftosa, I estimated the at more verandas is firmly established. livestock population under French ownership than Shallow wells to the or sometimes 6000 bovines and some 500 pigs. With the continued adjacent house, beneath the roof water for domestic advancement in this activity it is probable that in the itself, supply are following fifteen years these numbers may have increased purposes. Windlasses often replaced by pumping up to fifty per cent. systems and plumbing has been installed in many houses. Drinking water is usually boiled or purchased in five-gallon jugs from an electro-purifying plant. Labor Force and ItsDeployment For three generations the colonists held tenaciously customs. The year-round growing season, permitting from to the French language and Intermarriage two to four harvests per year, the development of before the Mexican Revolution was seldom, partly were to tree crops and cattle raising, enable the French farm because contacts with Mexicans limitedmostly ers to operate without greatly contrasting slack uneducated peons and house servants. From the latter, learned As and peak-season demands for labor (see diagram, the French children Spanish early. pride to is no less Fig. 3). Problems attendant with large numbers the jarocbo (Veracruz native) worker the servants of migrant laborers and seasonal underemployment important than salary, objected hearing are thus reducible to a minimum, or can even French on suspicion that something bad was being be eliminated entirely. In actual practice, how said about them. In order to retain their personnel, Rayfred L. Stevens: European settlement ventures in the tropical lowlands of Mexico 267

jan. feb. mar. apr. may june july aug. sept. oct. nov. dec. jan feb. mar maize,tonalmil 111111111111111111_tjjjfj^l temporal I".|IMMIt|ll_? beans, alone. liiiiil_MMM LWlWWj_\x^2lllllllllllllll M or 1 intercalated LLLLLLL1LU_WmkLlilllii_HI chili,green. num_iiiJiiiiniJi_mmm 'I'iiiiii_M \ dry. Ulliilj_H ii|h.in_1H0I tobacco. _ W^k THTTT_ >-MSBBi vanilla. Ill'll._lllllllllll_J 1 bears for 6 years>_Kiifmmstfmtm_?. or more >_

cacao. > d^Jm_FpTTTTTUTTTT-? > - bears for 20 years >_ or more > >1 1 1 --

>-?iriii^iiijiiiiiiiiiijJ lllllllllllllll _ bananas. I|H1IIII11j 1 j ? bears for 15 years I [ I ..., .?? I,, ?,.> I >?_?_ja^.^...... ,.v?????M??,?..,.M...,l..,.,..l.,m.i?MJ* s - " - or more : !!- i | citrus. _TTTTTTTTTTTT

bears for 20 years >_?> or more >_??? _?_-S ^}]^^^J^^^^^iii^^^^. ^^g^ggggi^gg^ggggg ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ BBBBB^_MBaB^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ B^_|H^HHa| ^ ^g^gg^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^J^^^j ,^^,^,^^^,,^1^,^!^,^

jan. feb. mar. apr. may. june july aug. sept. oct. nov. dec. jan. feb. mar. average monthly ^^^^^7777777 rainfall (mm) _ r^r^ 777777?^-777777-777777^^^^^^^^

78 56 93 44 97 106 97 100 224 214 158 115 78 56 93

legend. iiiiiiiiiiiiii _ mmm mmm ttttttt planting growing harvest seeding transplanting

Fig. 3: The agricultural year at San Rafael, Veracruz. Common planting and harvest times and length of growing season for the principal crops 268 Erdkunde Band XXI many families came to use Spanish more and more in the consular offices of Mexico and the Republic of the home. Some French words and accents are heard Genoa, by contract with Luis Masi. Transportation in the local use of Spanish. Years after the closing of was provided and each colonist was promised 25 acres the consulate a language teacher was maintained by (10 hectares) or more according to the size of his the government of France but that practice has been family. As director of the project, Masi was to discontinued. Very few of the younger generation receive title to one-third as much land as was allotted can a in to return today sustain conversation French. the settlers, in for his services in "managing" was a Well-to-do settlers have at times maintained their the project. Each family to receive cow, work families in separate establishments in the highlands, animals, tools, and a daily subsistence allowance of even at Teziutlan, at Puebla, or at Mexico City. two reales (25 centavos) per person over 12 years old Usually themost compelling reasons formaking such and one real for each younger member during the - a move were the attractions of cultural amenities first year. - schools, social life, and and not hospitals, prestige How much of this aid, beyond transportation, the colo to the climate. Some of these simply escape tropical nists actually received, I have not been able to confirm. incentives are less critical now. At themunicipal seat Two hundred lots had been allocated but not even of Martinez de la Torre, only 30 kilometers from temporary shelters had been constructed for them at San Rafael and regarded as within commuting dis Texquitipan. The time of arrival was the worst choice the one month when both storms and tance, there is a hospital, a secondary school, and a possible, September, fever were in season. Local holds that a preparatory school is being established. yellow legend number of immigrants were drowned when the lifeboats While health and educational facilities have kept capsized in which they were disembarking. pace with rapid economic development during the Unfortunately the selection included a number of city last three decades, another cultural ameni important dwellers with a variety of occupations, as well as "vaga social have deteriorated. The ty, life,may transpor bonds and several unemployed artists, who like the others tation revolution and the pursuit of material wealth saw in the deal a chance to take a paid vacation, see the has reduced the colonists' mutual dependence and world and seek a fortune, in anything but agriculture." distracted them from the appreciation of one another. (de la Pena, 1950, p. 217). Considered as naturalized Mexicans some of the bolted Such was the opinion expressed during the carnaval upon arrival, motley group others succumbed to diseases and the rest season of 1964 by some informants as they recalled immediately; got away from Texquitipan as soon as a respite from nostalgically the close family ties and cordial socia malaria would let them. Among the deserters was the had enjoyed during the isolation of bygone bility they director himself, absconding with the remainder of the years. funds entrusted to him by the government (de la Pena, 1950, p. 217). At the end of four months not a single was to Italian Settlers Along the Tecolutla River colonist left at the site. Many went the highlands, others were succoured by the authorities and well-to-do families at Environment and Early History Papantla. The environmental conditions along the lower In 1857 twenty Italian families, endowed with or Tecolutla River resemble closely those described greater determination lesser alternatives than the to at a more above for the lower Nautla area. Entering the Gulf rest, remained settle El Cristo, healthier, ofMexico some 30 miles northwest of theNautla, the communicable site, some 30 kilometers from Papantla, on about 6 or 7 kilometers Tecolutla flows through an area that in the nineteenth the navigable Tecolutla so as from its mouth. that of century was not nearly empty that which Floods, especially 1888, caused of the colonists to rebuild their dwel awaited the early French settlers. And yet a site many far more isolated was first offered to the Italians lings on higher ground, so that the center of the who came in 1856 to establish the government community shifted to Cabezos del Carmen, since near renamed Gutierrez Zamora. sponsored "Colonia Modelo" at Texquitipan, Agua Dulce, 16 kilometers upstream from the head Dispersed settlementwith homes on their respective of navigation and about 10 kilometers southeast from farms was preferred by many colonists until the Papantla, a predominantly mestizo community and turmoils of theMexican Revolution (1910-21) drove trading center for theTotonac Indians. them to the relative security of nearby towns or distant cities. Some continued to work or administer "At the outset, the Government was deceived... in most infernal their Others sold out or chosing the site of the colony, in the place holdings by commuting. or for the lands to known along the river Tecolutla, Espinal Necaxa, became absentee landowners, entrusting ... or its climate, its inacessibility and unhealthiness regarded administrators and peons to sharecroppers. as ... for the natives them the least habitable place Late in the nineteenth century the development of selves" la (de Pena, 1950, p. 217, translated). sandbars upstream from Gutierrez Zamora gave it a There were 60 families, mostly from the Piamonte decided commercial advantage as entrepot for goods, and other parts of northwest Italy, recruited through not only for the local area but also for supplying L. Rayfred Stevens: European settlement ventures in the tropical lowlands of Mexico 269

indigenous and mestizo communities of the sierra Certificates of entitlement to free lands were likewise issued to the of whom sold the farther inland. Small ocean-going vessels could cross Indians, many documents, some while under the influence of for as little as the bar at the mouth of the Tecolutla, where larger alcohol, 10 pesos before the lands had even been This vessels waiting offshore could be loaded and unload surveyed. the fears that had led the Indians to the ed the sandbars moved down justified oppose by lighters.Gradually idea of in land in the stream private property first place. At and finally ruined the at Gutierrez extent landing their expense, the of land in the vicinity that could Zamora in the 1930's. But then itwas not until be at or long bought and sold reasonable even ridiculously low roads and motor trucks the hinter was asphalt captured prices greatly increased. In reviewing this situation de la land of theTecolutla waterway. Pena (1950, p. 218-19) infers that some Italians or thus, directly indirectly, came into possession of former Demographic Progress Totonac holdings. In fairness to the settlers, one must recall, as that author himself notes, it was not until 1885 The 1860's brought more immigrants, ten French that the Totonacs, in search of virgin lands for the families from Louisiana, of the war between refugees vanilla culture, began to settle among the Italians. These the States. in this was the Sharing migration perhaps circumstances of prior occupance perhaps account for the first and contact with the continued some only appreciable early inaffectability of of the larger Italian French along the Nautla. Another group of eight holdings to the agrarian reform laws. Italian families arrived, on private initiative, in 1880. Statistical information on land tenure among the Some sporadic immigration continued until the 1920's. colonists is not easily separable from the totals of the Return migration to Italy involved a confirmed net Mexican Census for the three municipios, Tecolutla, loss of only one family, balanced by the assimilation Gutierrez Zamora, and in which most of of one Greek to the There has been Papantla, family colony. their lands are located. A list of 83 landowners of some resettlement of families of French, Italian or Italian, French and Greek extraction has been pub mixed origin, in the Nautla area. Losses to internal lished by de la Pena p. the within Mexico have been more considerable (1950, 223), indicating migration size of their From this source I have com for the Gutierrez Zamora than for the other holdings. colony the statistical two puted following analysis: surviving colonies. Total area 15 376 hectares A total of 800 known descendants of the Italian reported: Size of holdings: settlers at Gutierrez Zamora was estimated by average 185 hectares de la Pena (1950, p. without how 223) clarifying largest 10?/o 545 hectares or more many were still in the area. He lists 26 living Italian, upper quartile 180 hectares or more 8 French family names as then present. In 1966 a median 51 hectares prominent colonist estimated the number of resident lower quartile 20 hectares or less descendants of Italians at possibly 500. This repre smallest 10?/o 10 hectares or less sented about ten cent of Data are not per the total population of available for making precise statistical the settlement area, where the colonists own most of comparisons with the present situation. There has been con the land; at the same time they control much of the tinued subdivision of holdings among the heirs of suc at same a commerce and local small industries. ceeding generations and the time tendency to as consolidate some of the heirs move away and sell out. To some extent these are Land Tenure processes compensating one another. Interviews and observations conducted for the for the Italian colonists the area where Fortunately present study indicated that the situation has not changed settled had not they already been monopolized by greatly during the last twenty years. latifundistas. There was only one latifundio, much The land tenure pattern of the Tecolutla is of the land was held in medium-sized and colony ranchos, still one of wide with small devot there were tierras variation, holdings extensive, unclaimed baldias (empty ed primarily to crops, but with a predominance of lands). On the inland were lands margins vaguely medium sized farms and a few small claimed but not the Totonac latifundios effectively occupied by devoted to and cattle some to Indians. crops raising, entirely the latter.Among the colonists most heads of families The government policy of the still area are subdividing empty residing in the farm owners, although lands and communal of holdings Indian communities many also have businesses in Gutierrez Zamora or and granting or them to owners was selling private Papantla. Absentee ownership, by families now resid carried out in this area in the 1880's and 1890's. Pre in ing Mexico City or other distant places, is more sident Diaz awarded each of the a common family colony here than in the other surviving colonies. certificate of entitlement to free lands, which were later to be Land Use exchanged for appropriate titles plots in size to varying according location and quality, Land use capability in the lower Tecolutla from 12 hectares at El Cristo to as area no much as 32 hec varies less considerably than does the size of tares in less other, favored localities. its small farms and latifundios. There are extensive 270 Erdkunde Band XXI

swampy areas, hardly usable except for grazing, and weight, the ease with which one can slip in and out stretches of old beaches suitable for cattle raising or of small plantings scattered here and there in the coconut areas groves. Hilly inland from Gutierrez jungle, is too tempting for some personalities, who are too Zamora well-drained, often dry for bananas, had rather be hunted for murder than caught steal to on but well adapted citrus, especially the steeper ing vanilla on a dark night. Yet the the large pro slopes. ducer, by maintaining open clearings around the Thus the above statistical summary of land tenure plantations, can, with a few well-placed guards, the harvest a (p. 269) may give a very misleading idea of the distri protect with minimum of personal bution of wealth. A small landholder with twenty danger. row Choice of land uses around Gutierrez hectares in bananas, citrus, and crops, may enjoy Zamora is same as a much greater income than another with two essentially the in the San Rafael area - better hundred hectares only fit for grazing. Of course only because of the availability of more land. The owner more many of the larger holdings include not only grazing has latitude in develop the various He most land but also large areas of good land devoted to ing possibilities. may elect the extensive land coconut or money crops. uses, groves cattle raising, or, thanks to the Totonac labor vanilla culti Vanilla was long a mainstay of the Tecolutla pool, vation, the most intensive of all local land uses since colony and for half a century Gutierrez Zamora vied the elimination of tobacco in the last two decades. with Papantla as the leading center of trade and Cattle is generally as the best business be processing of the product. For these purposes most of regarded cause of its lesser labor the raw vanilla from San Rafael since the turn of the requirements, although it presupposes a large outlay of capital for land and century moved through Gutierrez Zamora. From their breeding stock. The greater on cattle new neighbors the early Italian settlers learn emphasis raising quickly here than at San Rafael not ed to cultivate vanilla and added some innovations reflects only the larger size of the holdings but also the extent of and of their own, especially in processing techniques. sandy tracts contrast available seasonal labor the swampy along the Tecolutla. Another Readily provided by to be a noted here is the somewhat earlier concentration Totonacs permitted rapid extension of these opera on citrus areas tions and allowed the Italians to continue in the fruits. Bananas, developed in both about the same seem to business for a time after the French at San Rafael time, be retaining their importance around Gutierrez Zamora. had abandoned it in favor of other crops (see above, p. 265). Living Conditions and Assimilation from lands with Increasing competition cheaper Gutierrez Zamora is an elongated settlement on the and from made labor, synthetic flavoring, finally the left bank of the Tecolutla, the movement of its establishment of new vanilla in Veracruz street a plantations rectangular pattern concentrating about small no in of for longer profitable, spite premium prices plaza with the Presidencia Municipial, commercial the Mexican 1956 most of high quality product. By buildings and a church standing by. Houses are of the older had also been abandoned. Some plantations masonry, most of them stuccoed and at some time at Gutierrez Zamora continued to processors operate painted white, with overhanging eaves and roofs of raw vanilla from the by purchasing small, indigenous burnt red clay Spanish-tile now mottled with fungus cultivators and the semi-wild still production gather growth and weathering stains of the humid tropical ed the Totonacs in the recesses of the dank forests. by climate. These features are to be found repeated For this semi-wild production, the Totonacs go hundreds of times in the small towns of the lowlands through the forest and seek out thewild plants when of Veracruz. in flower and them. accord pollinate Superstitious, Hardly an aspect of the housing or other living to de la Pena then avoid the ing (1946), they conditions of the European settlerswould set them until harvest for fear that at the places time, looking apart from other local elements of the population would it "mal de or disease". plant give ojo" "eye with comparable economic status. Few of them today In 1966 a new chapter in the history of vanilla in can speak any language but Spanish. Some oldsters Veracruz had begun. Determined to keep alive the have lost fluency in their own mother tongue. Most family industry of producing fine vanilla extracts of the Italians at Gutierrez Zamora belong to the and liqueurs, senor Orlando Gaya (1966) was same social club but not all of itsmembership is of reestablishing his own plantations on a scale large Italian origin nor is it particularly concerned dedicat enough to supply his foreseeable needs for raw ma ed to preserving the Italian tradition. In contrast con terial. The semi-wild production was no longer to the situation of the French settlers,whose were adequate. What had happened to the small cultiva tacts with Mexicans, until the 1940's, largely tors? Many had become discouraged after some of limited to peons and other uneducated elements, the their number had been killed while defending their Italian settlers along the Tecolutla River came very crops against robbers. The high value per unit of early into contact with other population elements Rayfred L. Stevens: European settlement ventures in the tropical lowlands of Mexico 271 whose economic and social levels were compatible excellent for producing a high-quality product. This la accounts measure with their own. De Pena (1950, pp. 223-224) in great for the early and continu suggests, quite correctly, that these circumstances ing succes of the Italian colony. account for the rapidity with which the Italians are assimilated. being A Government Project

Part of a government venture which Italian Settlers in the Lower Cloud Forest of Orizaba grandiose brought some 2,500 Italian immigrants, this is one of two colonies of the six and the Environment surviving established, only survivor of three situated in the tropical low To describe as "cloud forest" the area on the slopes lands. The first contingent of 84 families disembark of Orizaba near Huatusco which the Mexican ed at Veracruz inOctober, 1881, and was immediately Government allotted a group of Italian settlers in transferred by rail to Orizaba, out of danger of 1881, may cause the reader to wonder if this really yellow fever. There and at Huatusco they were belongs to a study of tropical lowlands colonization, obliged to wait until temporary housing in the settle for cloud forest is generally associated with tierra ment area could be constructed. conditions. The site in lies in a templada question A small was built as an administrative cen belt of rain forest between the village squeezed wet-dry ter about three kilometers from Zentla, seat of the savanna climate area of the central Veracruz coast fo that name. The and itself and the cloud forest This situated municipio village colony proper. belt, were named Manuel after the then between 700 and 900 and therefore Gonzalez, presi roughly meters, dent of Mexico. Later the honor was extended to the beneath the mean level of condensation, is far less entire municipio and the municipal seat was moved often swamped in clouds than are the elevations in 1887 fromZentla to the colony center. immediately above it. Clouds coming in from the Most of the settlers were from the of ocean generally strike themountain sides at elevations province followed in those from the of 900 meters and above, banking up against it, Venetia, importance by Milano area and the a few from casting a "humid rain shadow" for a distance of ten Piamonte, Tuscany. no or twenty kilometers back down the hill. Thus the Unfortunately many of those recruited had had at nor were to learn. settlement area enjoys the life-giving rains of a experience farming disposed The later the had not been windward, tropical mountain location without hav contingents (of 2,500) recruited in but included ad ing to undergo so often the inconveniences of zero altogether Italy itself, ditions from the Italian of New visibility that afflict the zone of the cloud forest speaking vagrants York At an proper. City. early opportunity they resumed their accustomed of for which the Soils have deeply weathered profiles,with reddish way life, govern ment of Veracruz insisted in 1883 that brown topsoils underlain by distinctly reddish, though they apply for licenses sometimesmottled, subsoils, probably intergrades be beggars' (Gonzalez Navarro, 1960, tween Red Podzolic and Reddish Brown Lateritic p. 41). are groups. They young enough to be remarkably Passage was paid from Europe. Each family was fertile for soils of their kind. Exhaustible under to receive a plot of land, a small but serviceable continued cropping, yet responsive to careful treat house, work animals and other livestock and imple are ments. ment, theirmain problems the selection of proper A daily subsistance allowance of 25 centavos fertilizers and the maintenance of a protective cover for each family member aged 12 and above, and of vegetation, without which erosion quickly carves 15 centavos for each younger child was also promised deep gullies into the hillsides. along with medical service during the firstyear. The zone This evergreen forest remained underdevel allowance was generous when we consider that the oped economically throughout Spanish colonial times daily wage for rural peons throughout the country and was the early decades of independent Mexico, except usually two reales or less and that these are for the immediate vicinities of Orizaba, Jalapa, Cor hard metal quotations before the devaluations and doba and Orizaba City, way stations along the two inflations of the twentieth century so vastly reduced main routes connecting the Port of Veracruz with the purchasing power. These thingswere all provided in centers. highland The less accessible areas in between the form of a loan with repayment to begin with were little cane used but for scattered sugar planta the first harvest. Most important, it seems the pro tions in and, older clearings, pasture for cattle brought mises were kept in large measure (de la Pena, 1946, from the savanna up adjacent lands during the dry 1950; Gonzalez Navarro, 1960). Already existing season. Later in the nineteenth century the coming of plantations of coffee and sugar cane were to be ex the an railroad, togetherwith expanding world market ploited collectively during the period of adjustment, for a boom to area coffee, brought general the where, thus giving the colonists a running start for paying between 750 and 1500 meters, soils and climate are off their obligations. 272 Erdkunde Band XXI

The total outlay was 199.529 pesos when the Land Use and Transportation Problems closed the account in 1885. No interest government Local transportation difficulties was and 35% of the of charged only purchase price long limited the choice of crops at theManuel Gon the Land was in the rest could be payable cash; zalez settlement.During the early years good yields satisfiedwith the of then purchase government bonds, of maize and tobacco were obtained from virgin at 35 centavos of nominal value. quoted per peso soils while waiting for new plantings of sugar cane Thus after their the colonists meeting obligations and coffee, the main money crops, to come into pro had still received a net from the subsidy goernment. duction. Bananas were also grown, but for home consumption, to shade coffee and to feed livestock. Demographic Development Transport of the bulky perishable on mule back to The number of the arrivals is re early variously nearest railheads (Coscomatepec, 30 kilometers uphill, ported between 435 and 503. There were some deser or 38 kilometers downhill to Camar6n, seven hours - a few deaths in tions, very few comparison with in either case) would have been too costly to meet the at the Nautla and Tecolutla areas on early experiences competition from other producing the colonies. some were Together with later arrivals there markets of the highland cities. reportedly 654 Italians in the settlement area by the At the close ofWorld War II, during a period of high end of 1882. By 1884 only 391 Italians remained in and rising prices, freight to the nearest railhead or the in 1887 the number was down to 358 but paved colony; highway, by muleback or, in the dry season, by truck over to 378 at 46 increased again in 1895, which time rutty, dirt roads, cost for bananas as mach as one-half, were Mexicans living among them (Gonzalez seldom less than one-fourth, of their value on delivery. Navarro, 1960, p. 46). In 1904 when an envoy of Coffee was moved in the same manner for only two or cent the Italian government visited the colony, therewere three per of its value, tobacco for about four per cent. Similar costs of maize about reportedly 424 persons of Italian origin (Rosi, 1904, transporting equalled one-fifth of its value; so that crop continued to be grown cited by de la Pena, 1950, p. 125). Later demogra primarily for home consumption. phic progress is more difficult to ascertain for, the Sugar, marketed in the form of raw cones (piloncillo), colony's debts having been satisfied, the Mexican could bear the cost of transportation somewhat better Government ceased to records, nor does the keep than maize but less favorably than tobacco or coffee. Mexican Census tabulate data on the ethnographic Converted, however, into aguardiente, the transportation background of the population. During the Mexican disadvantages of sugar cane as a money crop were reasons known distilleries were Revolution, especially between 1914-17, for negligible. Twenty-one operating were to in the in the 1940's to de la Pena of safety, there further losses internal migra colony according There have been more clan tion. In 1950, de la Pena, (p. 229) supposed the (1950, p. 226). may many destine To about the latter can secure, number of persons of Italian origin, including those operations. enquire at best, only unreliable information, arouse suspicion on intermarried with Mexicans, to be nearly 1000. In the part of informants, and produce further unproductive spite of continued to the cities, it is migration possible inconveniences to the investigator. even as that today the number may be greater for, The between Huatusco and Cone one informant reported: "Hardly an Italian couple paved highway about 1947, missed a few kilometers has less than eight children before they are through; jos, completed by the lands of the On local initiative a though many move away, there are still many who colony. gravel road was constructed to Manuel Gonzalez to the stay." join paved road system and paid for, at least in part, by Land Tenure tolls (discontinued by 1966). Smaller but transitable For the settlement the Government had purchased roads connect further with Zentla and other, more settlement communities. 1.355 hectares at an average price of 32,60 pesos, dispersed come into on which some plantations of cane and coffee were Commercial fertilizers have use in trans already established. The land was subdivided into general following these improvements as to lots varying from three to seven hectares and sold at portation and the last of the virgin lands began of less than six prices from 16 to 35 pesos depending on quality. be depleted. Formerly, coffee yields were "25 or Many families acquired two or more such lots so quintales per hectare common, whereas can cared that in 1904 the average family holding, reported by 30 be obtained from plantations properly la Rosi, was 15 hectares. Some colonists had acquired for and with applications of fertilizers" (de Pena, In 1956 I some farmers lands outside the original settlement area and a few 1950, p. 227). found only to the idea Because of the boasted total holding up to 200 hectares and fortunes using them, others resistant was costs it was up to 100.000 pesos. Two generations later I involved. By 1966, however, commonly no no informed that most colonists had only one rancho, accepted: No fertilizers, harvests ("Sin abono, that the most common size was in the five to ten hay cosecha"). as once be tomarket hectare range, and that very few were as large Bananas, they could brought 40 or 50 hectares. economically in the 1940's, experienced a boom in the Rayfred L. Stevens: European settlement ventures in the tropical lowlands of Mexico 273

1950's but they are currently out of favor as a cash to homes in the villages and as well to the dispersed crop. Having generally failed to respond to fertilizers, farm houses, where probably more than half the which stimulate luxuriant plant growth without colonists live. increases in fruit corresponding production, bananas, Maintaining living standards for increasing num at the same retard of coffee time, yields by depriving bers in the last two decades has been made possible the trees of needed nutrients. farmers are Many with greater harvests through the use of fertilizers. other shade c h a 1a - establishing plants, particularly The leading crops, sugar cane and coffee, when well huite a tree that has al earn net (Inga sp.), leguminous managed may profits of one to two thousand itself as a shader and soil builder in ready proved pesos per hectare. Thus five hectares might adequately other of the cloud forest. A parts coffee-growing support a family by Mexican standards, and ten feasible alternative be themanila might hemp (abaca), hectares could do so comfortably. There are still some a kin to the banana but no edible plant producing gains to be made by improving methods, but the end rather cultivated for the fiber of its leaves. fruit, is in sight under present circumstances. The younger Tobacco has been eliminated from practically generation must face the prospect of migrating in the Returns from the exhaustive cropping program. greater numbers than previously, or of accepting a hand labor it involves are considered in inadequate lower standard of living, since opportunities for view of other alternatives. non-farm employment or for acquiring additional Maize production is no longer sufficient to pro land in the area are limited. vide for local consumption. Sugar cane continues to hold its traditional Abandoned Settlement Ventures place in the cropping program, this assured by its noted responsiveness to fertilizers and by a rela Viable Settlements Arbitrarily Disbanded tively stable domestic market. It allows a certain Lombardia and Nueva security to the planter whose cash income is subject Italia in the as to thewide oscillations of theworld coffeemarket. Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression previously clari fied were never same Coffee still remains, amid the changes, the lead (Stevens, 1956), colonies in the sense as the above described settlements. ing money-maker. Rather they were haciendas which after 1938 were absorbed into Living Conditions and Assimilation the ejido system of communal landholdings. Not only Planning for theManuel Gonzalez colony foresaw the Italian owners, but also most of their countrymen an active cultural life, providing for construction of they employed, were forced to seek a livelihood a a as chapel and school, well as musical instruments elsewhere. In 1956 I found no Italians at Lombardia, a a a for band and printing press for local newspaper only two, married with Mexicans, at Nueva Italia. Navarro (Gonzales 1960, p. 39). Despite these The hacienda owners had developed an elaborate facilities little remains of a distinctly Italian cultural irrigation system, involving a siphon across a deep heritage today. Among the survivals, Polenta and ravine. But it seems that their main incentive was to mortadella are still as on prepared regular items of the grow rice their own extensive holdings of fertile, diet. volcanic soils, and that they shared neither water became the nor Spanish quickly everyday language, it land with their countrymen who might have being hardly more difficult for the Italians to learn wished to set up small farms. The former hacienda than the dialects of their fellow colonists from other lands lie within the planning area of the Comision of There has been considerable parts Italy. inter del Tepalcatepecy which is subjecting them to the with Mexicans. Not mixed marriage only families, but further intensive irrigation development. The ejidi also Lombards of the strains purest today think of tarios, beneficiaries of the Mexican communal system, themselves as Mexicans and when questioned about have been accused of illegally renting their plots to the refer to the in colony Italians the third rather private entrepreneurs equipped with modern machi than the first De la Pena person. (1950, p. 229) nery. Thus, instead of big landlords and small opera that the rustic suggests living conditions, among tors, there has developed a systemwith small land Mexicans of similar circumstances, has accelerated lords and big operators. the assimilation of these at a colonists, albeit level At nearby Apatzingan a group of Italians lower than that of their two considerably compatriots rented haciendas in 1885, and were reported as at Gutierrez Zamora. successful in 1887 according to a newspaper account in theManuel Gonzalez no Housing colony is by cited by Gonzales Navarro (1960, p. 54). Although means nor differs from I not pretentious particularly that did know this in time to inquiry directly during of other inhabitants of the lower cloud forest area of my visits (1954, 1956, 1966), in many conversations status. similar economic Walls are of masonry or, in on the topic of Italian settlementswith persons well more modest circumstances, mud and wattle, covered informed about the area, no mention was made of roofs are by stucco; mostly of clay tile. This applies the Apatzingan venture. 274 Erdkunde Band XXI

The Blalock Mexico Colony in 1903 was France had two occasions to seek geopolitical authorized by the Secretana de Fomento to settle 100 advantage from these migrations, during the short families at El Chamal, in the tropical savanna lands "Pastry War", 1838 (see above, p. 262) and the of southern Tamaulipas. In 1908 there were 103 intervention in the 1860's on behalf of the ill-fated families mostly North Americans, in large part from "Emperor" Maximilian. However, aid given at those was Oklahoma (Gonzalez Navarro, 1069, p. 71). Land times by the French colonists inconsequential. to was title disputes caused many migrate before the Further, their situation strategically unimportant won case. to colonists the Fifty-seven such families were the main theaters of operations. still in the area in 1909. The settlers fine brought Italy received some benefit financially from the stock and other for the breeding improvements colonists by their remittances to relatives and from livestock and, with of returnees industry help peon labor, with small fortunes. During the Italo raised of and crops corn, beans, potatoes, vegetables, Ethiopian War, residents of Gutierrez Zamora recall, established fruit orchards. the Revolution During the homeland sought to raise funds from their most of the settlers left and few returned; only patriotic sentiments through its embassy. twelve families of North American were origin area was a an asset to The liability rather than reported there in 1940 (de la Pena, 1950, France during the unstable revolutionary years from pp. 251-253). 1910 to 1921, for many of the settlers then still retained French A Other Abandoned Settlement Attempts citizenship. warship dispatched to evacuate them in 1914 found very few settlers To a discussion on in spare long negative results, who could sing correctly ?La Marseillaise* and left formation on thirteen other abandoned settlements with even fewer passengers. During the troubled times is summarized in the accompanying table (p. 275) the French consulate at San Rafael was burned. As it with similar data for the colonies reviewed was not no along reopened, most of the colonists thereafter above. It would be for some researcher to interesting longer bothered to register their children as French visit the areas of these abandoned colonies, to seek citizens. A number of the men returned to France out and ascertain any remaining survivors, possibly to fight during World War I. An attempt to recruit more precisely why the ventures failed. volunteers and solicit funds for the French resistance movement inWorld War II met with rather limited success. Benefits of theColonization Ventures One can correctly affirm, therefore, that the French and Italian colonies in Mexico have The success of any colonization or settlement ven tropical been of no benefit to the home ture can be quite fully evaluated according to the great countries, which, after have done little for the colonists. viability of the community, the degree to which it all, achieves its avowed purposes, and the other, inci Benefits to the colonists themselves or seen two as dental benefits thereform. Viability survival of may be from viewpoints: communi the community itselfmay or may not necessarily be ties and as individuals. After having been astablished one of itsmain purposes. The outlook of the surviv as cohesive communities for several decades the ing settlements is deferred to the concluding section. settlements now tend to become absorbed into the as First it is well to consider the experiments from the larger society of Mexico. Thus, insofar preservation viewpoints of those to whom the benefits of coloni of distinctive social groups of their own kind be as an one must zation may be expected to accrue: a) the country of regarded objective, consider the origin; b) the colonists themselves as a community; experiments as doomed to gradual failure. As indivi as individuals; c) the country of destination. duals, however, the survivors of the early epidemics and their descendants have prospered, many if not Benefits to theCountries of - Origin most of them to a far greater degree than they could France and Italy have expected had they remained in theOld World. These colonies were all founded during a century - Benefits to theCountry of Destination Mexico when European countries were actively encouraging one cent emigration, either to relieve population pressures, to Since less than one-tenth of per of the can trace to these remove persons dissatisfied with local conditions, or population of Mexico any ancestry in order to secure for the home country certain colonists, they have been obviously of minor impor a desired resources or positions. Since hardly more than tance in populating the country. They did play a couple of thousands of emigrants were involved, significant role as pathfinders in opening lands that were a but in com consequent relief of population pressures in France practically empty century ago; and Italy was insignificant. Trade between those parison with the total present population of the then countries and the settlement areas was likewise of undeveloped Mexico their numbers are still very small. little importance. Mexico Table: Summary of European Settlements in the Tropical Lowlands of

References Settlers * __ . *. ~ . . DE LA GONZALEZ Number of Year LocationT Kemarks established Nationality Name; Organizer; p?NA NAVARROestablished ,., ? , highest report last report _pages_pages_

I. Surviving Colonies French 1833 Stephen Guen6t; 200-217 35, 74-75 1200 P (1950) 1000 P (1964) Nautla River, Veracruz

Italians1856/7 "Colonia Modelo"; Luis 217-224 35 800 P (1950)500 P (1966) Masi; Tecolutla River, Veracruz

Italians1881/2 "Manuel Gonzalez" 224-230 37,44-45, ca. 1000 P (1950) 1000 P+ (1966) Ministerio de Fomento; 49, 51 near Huatusco, Veracruz Reasons for discontinuance: II. Viable Settlements Arbitrarily Disbanded - before 1893 Italians "Lombardia", "Nueva 54 no reportno reportexpropriation Italia" Daniel Cusi and, Luis Broschi Tepalcatepec area, Michoacan

North 1903 "Blalock Mexico Colony" 251-253 71-72 57 F (1909) 12 F (1940) unclear titles,Revolution Americans "El Chamal", Tamaulipas

III. Other Settlement Attempts - French 1830 Laisne de Villeveque; 192, 250 no report no report isolation, unclear titles (1834) Tancochapa, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Veracruz/Tabasco - French1857 "Colonia Eureka"; La Llave, 194,250 no report no reportnoreport Ozuluama/Veracruz - Yucatan Spanish 1881 80 322W (1882) sameassimilation (Canarians) - Germans1881 San Marcos, 72-73 20 C (1881) samenoreport (via San Acapulco, Guerrero Francisco)

Italians1882 "Carlos Pacheco", 237-241 37, 42, 384 P (1882) 4 F (1940) isolation Ministerio de Fomento; 44-46, 50 Mazatepec, Tlatlauquitepec, Puebla

Italians1882 "Porfirio Diaz"; 241-244 37-38,40, 597 P (1882) 31 P (1908) migration to other Ministerio de Fomento; 45, 49,opportunities 51 Las Estacas, Jojutla, Morelos - Spanish1882 Valle Nacional, Veracruz 77- 78 no reportno reportassimilation (Cubans) - Italians1885 Apatzingan, Michocan 54no reportno reportnoreport - North 1885 Navolato, Sinaloa 33, 70 12 C (1900) noreportsame Americans - North 1887 Tapachula, Chiapas 54-55 62 P (1887) noreportsame Americans - 1887"ColoniaNorth del Pacifico"; 5, 11, 61-63, 251 C (1895) 10 C (1896) ?utopianism" Americans Albert K. Owen;108 Topolobampo, Sinaloa - "Cid Spanish1887de Leon" 78 10 ? (1887) assimilationsame (Cubans) Papaloapan area, Oaxaca

North 1895 Metlaltoyuca, Puebla 253 11, 72 103 C (1895) 0 (1910-21) isolation, Revolution Americans - Spanish1895 "Puerto Morelos", "Vega 78 120 C (1895) 120 C (1897) assimilation (Cubans) de San Jose", "Yalikin"; "Compania Colonizadora de la Costa Occidental de Yucatan"; Yucatan - TabascoNorth1904 80 300 W (1904) same no report Americans (Puerto Ricans) - 1907Puerto Ricans "Gonzalez Cosio", Laguna 79 54 F (1910) assimilationsame del Rosario, Tabasco - Puerto Ricans Huimanguillo, Tabasco 250 no report no report no report _*_i_i______1 = ? C Colonists; F Families; P = Persons; W = Workers Band XXI 276_Erdkunde_

The contribution of these as to groups stimuli and technology of the local areas and, albeit they however some regional development, important locally, devised improvements, the immigrants' role was fell far short of the great expectations once held in largely that of apprentices rather than teachers in the country for such schemes, particularly during the their new homelands. administration of Porfirio Diaz. These notions, no doubt, were reports of pro partly inspired by rapid Conclusion: Limits and Keys to Successful Settlement gress in the opening of empty lands by European immigrants in Anglo-America, southern South Ame Three colonies of Europeans have survived for rica and Australia. But unlike the latter lands, the several generations while doing hard manual labor under the tropical lowlands of Mexico for the most part lay humid tropical climate of Veracruz. This is as in contradiction to sparsely settled strips near long-settled, densely apparent deterministic theories, populated regions. Implementation of the colonization advocated by Ellsworth Huntington, among oth schemes was too little and too late to attract from ers, which hold that physiological and psycholo to Europe great numbers of small farmers, who, by gical forces deriving from climate doom failure to the last quarter of the nineteenth century, were the attempts of white peoples settle permanently in the becoming a steadily smaller percentage of the popula tropics. In to one must not tion of the old continent. Those farmers anxious to fairness these theorists, forget more - that the areas are immigrate usually had attractive alternatives here studied in themarginal tropics. other empty lands with fewer riddles to solve or Unpleasantly hot weather normally occurs only from even lucrative city jobs in "Europe-across-the-seas". mid-April through September, and then not continuously; fromNovember through February With the fall of the Diaz regime in 1910 active the weather is cool and often uncomfortably chilly. solicitation of European colonists forMexico ceased. Even so, seasonal differences are not so great as to When Europe again was openly promoting emigra that many settlers suffer from tion of afterWorld War Mexico preclude "tropical displaced persons II, common memory", in areas where monotony of was not become very receptive, having inceasingly climate indistinct of the of concerned with its own gives impressions passing accommodating rapid popula time. tion increase. Therefore, in recent decades the devel Having observed these colonies at intervals during opment of the tropical lowlands ofMexico has mostly 15 years I am more optimistic about their prospects been the work of government-directed projects for for continued survival than reported earlier (Stevens, ejidos, and of small, private entrepreneurs, predo 1952, 1956). Although the colonists think of them mestizos and Caucasians descended from minantly as selves Mexicans today, their consciousness of earlier (Spanish) immigration. having been French or Italian is still strong and apt The of theDiaz did not planners regime altogether to continue for generations to come, barring any a mass movement of to expect Europeans populate developments that might arbitrarily disband them. empty areas. What was hoped for, was to establish The extent to which this ethnic self-consciousness communities with a more advanced and technology reflects itself in the standard and style of living will traditions of who would find a to ingenuity way probably become less and less pronounced; it is farm those lands and set for Mexican examples already an elusive theme to trace. farmers to follow. behind such a settle Reasoning The patterns of theVeracruz colonies are essentially ment scheme was success was rather sound, but the same as those of other small groups of European limited. peoples that settled in temperate climates of the In the areas of tropical settlementshere studied, as highlands and extratropical regions of Mexico. As in other colonization attempts in the highlands, the reported by Nathan Whetten (1948) migration or Mexicans who moved in did so mostly to work for absorption has been their fate except for a few the Europeans. The former usually had neither the religious groups whose peculiar ways of life make know-how nor the financial backing needed for farm them exceptionally cohesive and relatively unassimil ing like the latter. Besides, many European settlers able into theMexican population. weakened the force of the experiments by moving Grenfell Price (1938) found that the common away to economic and cultural attractions in other causes of failure by white settlers in the tropics were parts of the country. Improved methods of livestock that they came too few in number to establish raising, notably the fine breeding stock, introduced permanently viable communities and eventually by North Americans at El Chamal, Tamaulipas, migrated or became absorbed wherever and whenever remained in the area after most of the settlers dis forced to compete with other peoples who, willingly persed. This is recognized laudably even by the or of necessity, had a lower standard of living and hypercritical de la Pena (1950, pp. 251-253). One therefore could displace the Europeans by underbid must concur with that author's observation that the ding them on the labor market. Farm wages in none three successful Veracruz colonies adopted the crops of these settlement areas are great enough to retain Rayfred L. Stevens: European settlement ventures in the tropical lowlands of Mexico 277

the Europeans as laborers. The dependence of the Garcia Cubas, Antonio: Atlas Mexicano. Mexico, 1880. colonists on the labor of others, however it may Garcia Cubas, Antonio: Diccionario Geografico de 1883. account for the prosperity of those who can afford Mexico, Mexico, Garcia Villareal, Cesareo: on the it, does not seem to explain the survival of the Unpublished report of Martinez de la Torre in the archives of colonies themselves.Witness thereof is the overwhelm Municipio the Secretaria de of at on Agricultura y Ganadena, Mexico, ing reliance the Italians Manuel Gonzalez 1941. their own labor. Gaya, Orlando: Verbal information, Gutierrez Zamora, The size of landholding available to a colonist 1966. seems to be the factor in the decisions sur key individual Genin, Auguste: Notes le Mexique, Mexico: Imprenta area whether to remain in the or to migrate. It does Lacaud, 1908. not necessarily have to be large enough to enable Genin, Auguste: Les Franqais au Mexique du XVle Siecle a nos Paris: the settler to employ peons, but it must be large Jours. Nouvelles Editions Argo. 1931. enough to provide full employment for him and the Gonzales Navarro, Moises: La Colonizacion en Mexico, working members of his family. Birth rates are high 1877-1910. Mexico, 1960. enough that the colonies can maintain for a long Alexandre de :Essai sur as as Humboldt, Politique le Royaume time their numerical strength long everyone de la 2 1811. who desires to remain as a farmer has land Nouvelle-Espagne. vols., quarto. Paris, enough Huntington, Ellsworth: Climate and Civilization. 1915. to do so. Huntington, Ellsworth: Mainsprings of Civilization. The successful colonies in the European tropical New York, 1945. lowlands ofMexico hardly had any better advantages Koppen, Wladimir: Grundrifi der Klimakunde. Berlin of environment, economic or opportunity technology and Leipzig, 1931. thanmany of the other 17 settlement attempts which Meunier, Arturo: Verbal information, San Rafael, 1952, have failed. lies the secret of success of Where, then, 1956, 1964, 1966. these What did or use groups? they have that the Mori, Alberto: Article on Italian Settlers in Mexico. In others did not? How is it that they have achieved, press. with technology acquired in the new homeland, a Morren, Charles: "Sur la fructification de la vanille au standard of living generally above that of other obtenue moyen de la fecondation artificielle", Rendus... des elements of the population who some generations Comptes (Academie Sciences, Paris), were at VI (1838), pp. 489-492. back comparable economic and cultural Morren, Charles: "On the Production of Vanille in levels? The keys to success, if not demonstrable in Europe", Annals of Natural Ser. the or or History (London), 1, environment, economics technology, alone III (1839), 1-9. altogether, must be sought in the settlers themselves. Moises T. de la: Veracruz Economico. The ambition to be a the Pena, Jalapa, landowning farmer, patience Mexico. 1946. to withstand to adversity, the readiness try something Moises T. de la: Pena, "Problemas demograficos y new and the resourcefullness to make it were work, agrarios", in: Problemas Agricolas e Industrials de in measure in the successful probably present greater Mexico. Mexico, 1950, vol. II, No. 3-4, pp. 9-335. colonist. Grenfell: White Price, Settlers in the Tropics. New York: American Geographical Society, Publ. No. 23, 1939. Literature Ricci, Juan: Verbal information, Gutierrez Zamora 1966. Bruman, Henry: "Cultural of Mexican History Vanilla", Rayfred Stevens, L.: Some Geographical of in: Hispanic American Historical Review, Aspects Durham, Use in Tropical Land Martinez de la Torre Municipio, North Carolina, August, 1948. Veracruz State, Mexico. Master's thesis, Mexico Chevalier, Francois: article in: Boletin de las Alianzas City Collede (microfilmavailable), 1953. Francesas de Mexico. Publicaci6n bilingiie mensual, Stevens, Rayfred L.: "European Colonies in the August, 1947. Tropical Lowlands of Mexico", in: Proceedings of the XVIIIth Cuspinera Gonzalez, Juan L: Estudio preliminar sobre International Geographical Rio de condiciones y economicas del de Congress, Janeiro, agricolas Municipio 1956. Martinez de la Torre. Unpublished report in the archives Troll, and K.-H.: zur Karte: Die of the Secretaria de Agricultura y Ganaderia. Mexico, Carl, Paffen, Legende 1943. Jahreszeitenklimate der Erde. Beilage zur Erdkunde, El Bd. Heft 1964. Progreso de Mexico. Seminario dedicado a la Agricul XVIII, 1, tura Practica, a la Industria al Comercio. Ano Nathan: y VI, Whetten, Rural Mexico. Chicago: University of No. 251. December 1898. Mexico, 22, Chicago Press, 1948.