Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons

Faculty Publications Department of Geography & Anthropology

1997 Landscape change and livestock in sixteenth- century New Spain: the archival data base Andrew Sluyter Louisiana State University, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/geoanth_pubs

Recommended Citation Sluyter, Andrew, "Landscape change and livestock in sixteenth-century New Spain: the archival data base" (1997). Faculty Publications. 60. http://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/geoanth_pubs/60

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Geography & Anthropology at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Landscape Change and Livestock in Sixteenth-Century New Spain: The Archival Data Base

Andrew Sluyter Department of Geography The Pennsylvania State University UniversityPark, PA 16802 U S. A.

ABSTRACT. Despite the wealth of Mexican archival data pertinent to generations. And we, at present, surely have little the interaction between livestock and understanding ecological reason for embarrassment either. Despite the ample the sixteenth inNew some landscape during century Spain, squintingand scribblinginvolved inworking with fundamentalmethodological issues persist in the use of the Mexicanist mercedes, or land grants. The degree of completeness of the sixteenth-century paleography, extant mercedes record and the de facto areal extents of the cattle geographers have labored diligently to increase and sheep estancias both remain uncertain. A cartographic understanding of sixteenth-century landscape method to mercedes for the central Veracruz lowlands applied change, as a series of regional monographs well addresses those issues and suggests a general method for rigorous demonstrates (e.g., West 1949; Barrett 1970; analysis of thedata base. That method demonstratesthat the Trautmann forreviews of the extantmercedes provide a nearly complete recordand thatthe 1981;Murphy 1986; de factoareal extentsof theestancias fairlyclosely reflectedthe field:Robinson 1989; Butzer 1992). legal stipulations. Lesley Byrd Simpson, theprodigious Berkeley "historian," first took up the challenge to relieve his colleague's embarrassment by systematically analyzing the land grants preserved in theArchivo General de la Nacion (AGN).1 The resulting Factual data, localized, of enumerations of precisely monograph, published in the Ibero-Americana series, persons and goods, of land titles, assessments, pro provided the first quantitative overview of the spatial duction, lie neglected in various archives to await distributionof livestockduring the early colonial exploitation. There is an embarrassment of such period, a fine complement toChevalier's contempor riches in the old Spanish records forNew Spain.... aneous socioeconomic history (Simpson 1952; 1941, (Sauer 13). Chevalier 1952). Those two seminal works have the for a series of Sauer surely had little cause for embarrassment? provided impetus subsequent studies which contribute more certainly not for the riches, but neither for their particular, regional Licate Melville scholarly neglect. True, theMexican archives do understandings(Prem 1978; 1981; Pinon Flores Widmer contain a wealth of data pertinent to a spatial 1983; 1984; 1990; Sluyter perspective on long-term ecological change. True, 1995). that some no one with a sensibilityfor landscape and ecology Yet, despite growing literature, fundamental issues remain had by 1941 systematicallyengaged thosedata. Yet methodological unresolved use of the land documents those were years of exploration and discovery, for regarding grant to reconstruct While researchers the gleaning of the pithy fragmentswhich would landscape change. have several methods, frame the great research problems of succeeding employed uncertainty persists as to the completeness of the record, the areal extent

Yearbook, Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, 1997, vol. 23, pp. 27-39. ? Copyright1997, Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers _

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 28 CONFERENCE OF LATINAMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS

represented, and the head of livestock represented. 500 head for ganado mayor and 2,000 head for A testof a cartographicmethod employingdata for ganado menor. Without resolution, all three issues the central Veracruz lowlands addresses the first two compromise any archival analysis of the ecological of those three issues and suggests a general method interactions between livestock and landscape. extant for rigorous analysis of the land-grant documents. Regarding the completeness of the record, LOC-Kraus, ms. 140, NLC-Ayer, ms. 1121, and PERSISTENT METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES AGN-Mercedes, vols. 1-35 and 84 roughly span the first of colonization and contain The primary data base for studies of the century Spanish some interaction between livestock and landscape in 10,000 land grants (Simpson 1952). However, while informal local cabildos sixteenth-century New Spain consists of the volumes granting by began in theramo Mercedes of theAGN (Simpson 1952; duringthe 1520s and formalgranting by theviceroy Chevalier 1952, 1963; Prem 1978, 1988; Sluyter began during the 1530s, theviceregal scribes only 1995). The Kraus collection of the Library of began to keep the mercedes register in 1542, two after the introduced livestock Congress inWashington and theAyer collection of decades Spaniards first a before land was to the Newberry Library in Chicago each contain an and century granting virtually additional volume of mercedes, or viceregal land cease (Chevalier 1952,67,120; Doolittle 1987). Six occur grants (LOC-Kraus, ms. 140; NLC-Ayer, ms. 1121). further lacunae, totaling thirteen years, The two errant volumes and AGN-Mercedes between 1542 and 1620: 1544-1546, 1557, 1562, primarily contain grants for farmland and livestock 1569-1571,1578-1580, and 1610-1611 (Prem 1988, to use of estancias but also for building lots and other land 130). Moreover, due the simultaneous uses. The volumes also contain mandamientos several register volumes and due to possible loss of some but not all of those for acordados, the viceregal writs ordering inspections parallel volumes any even some in response to requests for grants, and other given period, years with extant grants or even documents related to land tenure and use. The grants might not necessarily indicate complete, for livestock estancias specify the date of the award, good, preservation. Indeed, the occasional copies the awardee, the location, the number of land units, ofmercedes which do not appear inAGN-Mercedes as and whether the land units were for ganado mayor but do appear in other documents, such the tenure or for ganado menor. Ganado mayor grants imply litigations inAGN-Tierras, indicate the incomplete ness cattle, unless specified as being for horses or mules, of the AGN-Mercedes register. In addition, and had a de jure area of 1,747 ha and a minimum Cortes and his heirs rather than the viceroy made stocking rate of 500 head. Ganado menor grants grants, actually perpetual leases, within the censos imply sheep, unless specified as being for goats or Marquesado del Valle, and those do not pigs, and had a de jure area of 776 ha and a minimum appear inAGN-Mercedes (Garcia Martinez 1969). stocking rate of 2,000 head. As Sauer (1941) Estancias as a whole, of course, only represent surmised, the richness of that data base should permit capitalist enterprises; individuals kept small numbers on a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of space-time of subsistence livestock non-estancia lands changes in livestock numbers for comparison with (Gibson 1964, 345). field and archival indications of ecological change. Regarding the areal extent of the land units, Analyzing that data base, however, entails despite a few references in the archival documents addressing three thorny methodological issues, all to circular estancias (AGN-Tierras, vol. 3460, exp. of themapparent to Simpson (1952) fromthe outset. 2, ff. 10-14v; vol. 3185, exp. 2, ff.62-63v), viceregal First, the extant mercedes inAGN-Mercedes, LOC ordenanzas of 1536, 1567, 1574, and 1580 clearly Kraus, and, NLC-Ayer might represent only a specify north-south oriented squares (Galvan 1851, fractionof all thegrants that the scribesoriginally 123-141, 166-167; Hackett 1923, vol. 1, 178-182; recorded in the viceregal register. Second, the de West 1949, 120; Sluyter 1995, 546-553). The de facto areas of the grants might not have been the de jure estancia was 5,000 varas, or one legua legal, jure 1,747 ha for ganado mayor and 776 ha for on a side for ganado mayor and 3,333 varas on a ganado menor. Third, the de facto stocking rates side forganado menor. Simpson (1952, 21) infers might not have been the de jure, minimum rates of that "each estancia was surrounded by a belt of open

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SLUYTER 29

land at least double the size of the piece granted" replicationon thebasis of his highlyaggregated data because those same ordinances stipulate that remains illusive. He further proposes correction estancias must one for ganado mayor be league apart factors to account for additional under-representation menor and estancias for ganado one-half league inAGN-Mercedes: + 6.86 percent for sheep estancias apart. That stipulation, however, might well refer to in Tlaxcala; + 5.45 percent for censos within the casas the distance between the y corrales idealized autonomous Marquesado del Valle. Again, the vague as being at the centers of estancias and thus makes correspondence between Simpson's data and no provision for buffer space between estancias. conclusions, even between his in-text calculations Nonetheless, because of rudimentary surveying, de and tabular summaries, does not encourage facto estancias could only have approximated the confidence. Nonetheless, Simpson estimates that for stipulations of the ordinances. all of New Spain only 75 percent of the mercedes Regarding the stocking rates, the specified 500 for livestock and agriculture granted between 1536 head of cattle and 2,000 head of sheep were the and 1620 are preserved inAGN-Mercedes. And, as minima necessary to secure and retain tenure?to a final correction factor, he derives the areal extent "prove up," in the dialect of another frontier.While of livestockestancias in 1620 by multiplying the some interpretations characterize those figures as the number of grants in each class by the de jure area legal stocking rates, as if they were the maximum for that class, summing the products, and multiplying "prescribed stocking rates" (Butzer and Butzer 1993, by three?a final "correction" based on his inference 93; Butzer and Butzer 1995, 156), themercedes that "each estancia was surrounded by a belt of open themselves clearly treat those figures as minimum land at least double the size of the piece granted." "improvements" (AGN-Mercedes, passim). Prem (1978,1988,1992) proposes an alternative Multiple examples illustrate how de facto stocking deductive method. He reasons that since the vice rates often exceeded the de jure minima, sometimes regal scribes recorded themandamientos acordados by an order of magnitude (Simpson 1952, 13; and the mercedes in the same volumes, the Morrisey 1957,24-29).While thefollowing analysis probability of preservation should be the same for most directly addresses the first two of the three those writs which actually resulted in grants as for methodological issues, of the completeness of the the grants themselves. Therefore, the extant docu archival record and of the areal extents of the land ments of AGN-Mercedes "se pueden tratar como units, the issue of stocking rates entails a related distributionbinomial" (Prem 1988, 131). In other solution (Sluyter 1995, 659-675). words, the number of extant writs with corresponding extant grants divided by the number of extant grants METHODOLOGICAL PRECURSORS should equal the number of extant grants divided by Deductive Methods the unknown, original number of grants. For the eastern Basin of that is and the Two deductive methods have emerged to address Puebla, quotient 0.6, deduced, number of is 256 the issue of completeness versus incompleteness of original grants (Prem the archival record. Both methods assume thatAGN 1992,449). Prem (1978,131) concludes thatfor the 1587-1620 60 of the livestock Mercedes preserves only a fraction of the original period only percent and are extant inAGN-Mercedes. grants. Both attempt to deduce the number of non agricultural grants Both of those deductive methods have serious extant grants from the number of extant grants. limitations. Efforts to reconstruct the record Simpson (1952), assuming that years with zero by between with fullest to-few grants in AGN-Mercedes represent lost interpolating years seemingly the of real fluctuations volumes, interpolates between "years of fullest coverage ignore possibility in due to in and economic coverage." He then employs the interpolated data granting changes political context, cessation of in to derive correction factors for each class of grant including complete granting some that the of extant forall ofNew Spain between 1536 and 1620: extant years. Assuming proportion writs which resulted in the grants + 40.5 percent for "Spanish cattle grants," + actually grants equals of extant seems a dubious stretch 25 percent for "Spanish sheep grants," and + 26.3 proportion grants of and demon percent for "Indian sheep grants." Given Simpson's logic: arguable possible, certainly; strable and frustratingly brief explanation of the method, plausible, hardly.

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 30 CONFERENCE OF LATINAMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS

Inductive Methods simply because no grant in the name of Hernando Intensive study of regions within New Spain Hernandez remains extant seems fraught with permits two inductive methods that avoid the hazards. Most essentially, many grants changed limitations inherent in the deductive methods: first, owners soon after award, legally or illegally, and recovering copies of mercedes preserved elsewhere mentions of such estancias as linderos in subsequent than AGN-Mercedes; second, cross-referencing mercedes name the current owner rather than the estancias that lack extant mercedes but receive original grantee. The names of estancias?often mention as bordering estancias, or linderos, in extant quite generic, such as El Hato Grande or El Rincon? mercedes. also changed and provide but tentative Several researchers working at a regional scale identifications. Melville thus might have inferred have searched out copies of mercedes in addition to many more grants than ever existed and grossly those preserved in AGN-Mercedes (Prem 1978, overestimated the number of estancias, counting the 1984,1988,1992;Licate 1981;Melville 1983,1990, same location several times over simply because the 1994; Pinon Flores 1984;Widmer 1990; Sluyter owner changed several times. 1995). Copies of mercedes appear in regional Cartographic Methods archives and in other sections of theAGN?such as The only method that ensures reasonable rigor AGN-Tierras, where litigants in tenure disputes in inferring non-extant mercedes from linderos is to entered copies of their original grants into evidence. map grants as area symbols, thereby avoiding Some of those copies preserve mercedes not extant assigning the same location more than once. in AGN-Mercedes. Unlike studies at the scale of Simpson's (1952,28-87) maps assign quantities for New Spain,which have typicallyrelied on microfilm each class of grant to each of twenty-nine regions, copies of AGN-Mercedes, regional studies permit ranging from 5,250 km2 to 48,000 km2. Doolittle the intensive archival work necessary to search, (1987) usefully converts those regional figures to network, and cross-check several archives. Much area symbols in a series of choropleth maps. Those relevant documentation remains "en las partes aun highlygeneralized maps, produced at the scale of inexploradas, y que son muy grandes, del [AGN], o New Spain in order to address a quite different tal vez de otro archivo," and a thousand AGN-Tierras research problem, cannot address themethodological volumes remain entirely uncataloged (Melville 1983, issue of inferring grants at the regional scale, 82; Martinez 1992, research in those 132). Only however. archives themselves, as opposed to reliance on the While Simpson's area-symbol maps date to 1952 incomplete microfilm copies held by various North and might have stimulated similar projects at regional American institutions, will uncover documents and scales, point-symbol mapping has become themore insights which extend Simpson's and Chevalier's usual method. Licate (1981, 114-117) maps 68 out seminal research. of 178 grants for the eastern Mesa Central, with Intensive regional studies also permit cross individual point symbols for each grant, but does estancias that themselves lack extant referencing not differentiate between cattle and estancias. mercedes but receive mention as linderos in extant sheep Butzer and Butzer (1993, 93-95) map some 744 mercedes (Melville 1983, 1990, 1994; Butzer and estancias for the Bajfo, aggregating five estancias Butzer 1993). For theValle deMesquital, Melville per point symbol as well as producing similar, (1983,80) infersfully 56 percentof her claimed total aggregated point-symbol maps for theMesa Central of 776 sheep estancias on the basis of mention as and theGulf Coast (Butzerand Butzer 1995). Prem linderos. The proportion of grants Butzer and Butzer maps grants as point symbols for the western Basin (1993,93) inferto "compensatefor the losttitles" in of Puebla, backed up by full references to the the Bajio remains unclear, their publications thus far documents (Prem 1988,235-284). Yet none of those being previews of an eventual monograph rather than point-symbol mappings can address the detailed data presentations (Butzer and Butzer 1995, completeness versus incompleteness of the archival 153). Regardless, the that an estancia assumption record or the areal extent of the land units because belonging to an Hernando Hernandez mentioned as point symbols do not directly relate areal extent to a lindero in an extant merced represents a "lost" grant space-time distribution.

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SLUYTER 31

Only regional-scale, area-symbol maps can estancias inferred from mention as linderos (Figure resolve those two methodological issues. Prem 1). A card catalog to AGN-Mercedes and an (1978, 1984, 1988), by combiningarchival work at unpublished, handwritten "Guia Serie Mercedes" are theAGN and local archives with field work and aerial located at theAGN. The Catdlogo de Ilustraciones photographic interpretation, maps mercedes as area and Argena index many sections of the AGN, symbols for 2,000 km2 of the western Basin of including AGN-Tierras but not AGN-Mercedes Puebla, demonstrating the feasibility and utility of (Catalogo 1979-1984;Argena 1993). Amonograph an area-symbol approach. Those maps suggest that which references copies of grants in the Archivo by 1619, grantsfor farmlandfully occupied much Notarial de Jalapa (ANJ-Protocolo; Bermudez of the bottom land and grants for estancias much of Gorrochotegui 1987) and a written communication on the Popocatepetl and Iztaccfhuatl piedmont (Prem from K. W. Butzer of May 1993, based 1988,137-145,156-174). Few spatial gaps existed unpublished research notes derived from microfilm by 1619 except around Atlixco, suggesting recovery copies of the first forty-seven volumes of AGN of the vast majority of grants for the western Basin Mercedes, proved invaluable. An unpublished, of Puebla. Nonetheless, over 91 percent of the some typescript "Guia al Mercedes" became available at 1250 grants are for farmland rather than livestock, the AGN in July 1995.2 In addition, LOC-Kraus, ms. ms. demonstrating little about the de facto areal extent 140 and NLC-Ayer, 1121 rewarded folio of estancias. by-folio inspection with pertinent mercedes. Defining the locations of the recovered grants TEST OF THE AREA-SYMBOL METHOD entailed several preliminary operations. Full details Despite that variety of methodological precur sors, uncertainty persists as to the completeness of the archival record and the areal extent represented by estancia grants. Area-symbol mapping of livestock grants at a regional scale, inspired by Prem's initiative, for the lowlands of central Veracruz provides a deliberate test of thatmethod and begins to resolve that uncertainty.

Central Veracruz Lowlands As the beachhead for the invasion of Mesoamerica and the entrepot for the subsequent colony of New Spain, the environs of the port of Veracruz bore the first brunt of the war, the disease, and the livestock; they thus rank high in relevance for understanding the ecological consequences of the introduction of livestock into the New World.

Beginning with the first introduction of cattle at Veracruz around 1521, by the end of the sixteenth century these lowlands had become the quintessential cattle range of New Spain and winter pasture for flocks of sheep from theMesa Central (Chevalier 1952; Simpson 1952; Acuna 1985, vol. 2, 314; Sluyter 1995, n.d.).

Methods . ::ftfUFurliiir : :*F'Wr**W*WWW: In order to gain a quantitative perspective on that landscape change, seven separate, partial listings of Figure 1. Extant volumes inAGN-Mercedes and grants for cattle mercedes facilitated recovery of documentation for and sheep estancias in the central Veracruz lowlands, 1540s 228 livestock estancias, with four additional 1620s.

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 32 CONFERENCE OF LATINAMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS

S O 20 1 0 tern**** 4 Sff* J Idlom^ ( Ml MedsHlr* ContourInterval $00 Meiers Corttetir180 Meiers SH Santiago HuatUSCO Supplefiwt^aiy

Figure 2. Physiography and grants for cattle and sheep estancias, 1540s-1620s (Marquesado boundaries after Gerhard 1993, 364).

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SLUYTER 33

of that paleographic transcription, orthographic and ...merced a Nicolas de Salazar de dos sitios de terminological interpretation, paleotoponym estancia para ganado mayor en terminos y de la ciudad de La Veracruz entre el no reconstruction, and localization of grants bordering jurisdiction de ella y el de el uno nombrado La Mata de the study region appear elsewhere (Sluyter 1995, Jamapa, Cordero que esta de la dicha ciudad quatro leguas y 373-620). Regarding terminology in specific, una de la estancia de Santa Fe hacia la banda del because of its importance in localizing estancias, norte y a la parte del sur esta el dicho Rio de Jamapa distance references such as leguas would have been una legua poco mas apartado y a la banda del poniente to rather than "air distance" and "ground" typically esta el dicho sitio que nombran de San Joseph y hacia would have been to the centers of or the grants donde el sol sale esta el Cerro de JuanMorrisco, y el casas planned locations of the y corrales rather than otro sitio en la Laguna de Moreno que estara de la to estancia boundaries. Like linear measures, dicha ciudad seis leguas y de la estancia de Moreno references to cardinal directions would have been la cual tiene a la parte del norte una legua poco mas no more than nominal. o menos y del pueblo deMedellin que esta de la dicha banda del rio estara una hacia In essence, localizing the estancias with legua y aquella parte tiene un monte grande al sureste y esta apartada de acceptable precision requires spatially reconciling dicho Rio de Medellin poco menos de media legua the overall granting pattern (Figure 2). Even so, entre la dicha Laguna de Moreno de a donde solia localization precision varies from grant to grant. At ser el pueblo viejo deMedellin, lo cual... vido Esteban one extreme, the locational details of some mercedes Gomez teniente de alcalde mayor de la dicha ciudad and inspection reports?including boundary lines, de La Veracruz... extant an toponyms, and associated maps?facilitate (AGN-Mercedes, vol. 19, f. 81). individual precision of ?2 km: for example, the grant toNicolas de Salazar near Medellin (Figure 3).

Tintura deCSur (PinturadeC Sur | primersitio segxmdositio \ , r ?> ~ Y?*n?? 1j p n. nPueblo deMede&n

m* .^-^ **. L& valuta, SitiodeSan'Joseft I & r * r . ^ deMomw , CerwdefimnMonsco^ ? defRodrwo'Buzon^ i LqgurmI ^ ^^^^thb^^p m Mata1] de cordero I elsitio quepiden I y^^deMntno

1 "EstaneiadeSantafe del 8. ?jl1 S | LkertciadoCabrera I o g^B <5 8|

!^^fl I ^raa^ 1

Figure 3. Two maps from 1592 related to a request for cattle estancias (AGN-Tierras, vol. 2764, exp. 15).

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 34 CONFERENCE OF LATINAMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS

Estando arrimado a una laguna que llaman deMoreno The forties and fifties represent a transitional tiene unmonte grande que hacia el sureste que estard period, characterizedby grantingof de jure title del de Medellm una y de la estancia de pueblo legua lagging de facto occupation, increasingly effective ganado mayor que llamanMoreno otro legua la cual control of space under the first viceroy (Antonio de dicha estancia de Moreno esta a la banda del norte Mendoza, 1535-1550), a diversifying economy, and [illegible] de la dicha laguna y ella dicha laguna thepolicy of the second viceroy (Luis de Velasco I, distara del Rio de Xamapa que por otro nombre llama 1550-1564) to shiftcattle out of themore el Rio deMedellm a una o media legua y de la palma ranching que llaman de Guinea estara media legua poco mas denselypopulated highlands (Chevalier 1963,100). The cattle estancias cluster in the environs of La o menos estando en el dicho lugar que es dos tirasde arcabuz de a donde solia cerca pueblo antiguo de Antigua Veracruz and Zempoala except for one grant Medellm... on the southern margin of the study region near vol. f. (AGN-Tierras, 2764, exp. 15, 189v). Santiago Huatusco (Figure 4). The coastal plain, open savanna on vertisolic plains interrupted by At the other lack of extant extreme, generic details, streams and wetlands, made for prime cattle pasture. and and lack of toponym landscape referents, maps Just as importantly, the camino real from La Antigua lowers individual to ?10 km: for precision example, Veracruz through Rinconada and on to Jalapa and the to Pedro Garcia del Valle near grant Guatusco, Mexico City provided access to the developing urban now Santiago Huatusco. markets of theMesa Central. .. The flood of the sixtieswas a .hagomerced a Pedro Garcia del Valle de un sitio grantingduring to of de estancia para ganado menor en terminosdel pueblo response development silver-refining de Guatusco en una sabana rasa junto a un cue technologyand thebeginning of themining boom, pequeno todo de piedra y encima del estan dos arboles the consequent and exponentially increasing cue uno pequeno y otro grande y junto al dicho estan immigration from Spain, and the parallel growth of tres o cerrillos todos de quatro pequenos piedra y the flesh-eating populations of Mexico City and hacia la banda del oriente esta una mata de otates y Puebla. The land rush stretched the length of the otros arboles, lo cual...vido Payo Patino de Avila narrow coastal plain. Some of the grants might have de corregidor Tequila... formalized estancias that had been in existence for a (AGN-Mercedes, vol. 14, ff. 161v-162v). decade or more. The five sheep estancias probably supplied the local and naval mutton markets, two of Overall, the higher precision localizations establish thembeing near theslowly growing port of San Juan a series of interconnected, local grids which, de Ulua, at present-day Veracruz. The sand dunes collectively, more closely define the location of of the coast rather than the wetlands of the coastal particular, problematic mercedes. The end result is plain made the better sheep range; wet pastures a fair representation, in conceptual terms, of the encourage sheep parasites and infectious diseases, space-time patterning of land granting?not, by any especially foot rot (Gatenby 1991). methodological stretch, a cadastral map. A relative hiatus during the seventies reflected a Results change inviceroy (Martin Enriquez, 1568-1580) and The earliest livestock in the studyregion have inpolicy, responding to suitesby Native communities left few archival but ordenanzas tracks, regarding throughout New Spain against livestock damages to herding demonstrate establishment of a few informal theiragricultural fields (Chevalier 1963,93). Much estancias as early as the 1520s (AGN-Mercedes, vol. of thegranting that did occur filled in the interstices ff. vol. ff. vol. ff. 20 1, 31, 36v; 6, 218v-219; 13, between existing estancias in the prime zones of the vol. Paso 20v; AGN-Tierras, 2764, exp. 17; y coastal plain. But granting for both ganado mayor Troncoso vol. Those 1938-1940, 6,185). precocious and ganado menor also occurred in the environs of estancias of the twenties and thirties eventually Santiago Huatusco. That latter activity might reflect became absorbed by the formal granting process in early speculationregarding the possibility of a new theforties and fifties,the operators seeking legal title camino real fromVeracruz toPuebla through Orizaba after several years, even decades, of de facto (Rees 1975;Driever 1991). occupation (AGN-Mercedes, vol. 7, ff. 136-136v).

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SLUYTER 35

Figure 4. Grants for cattle and sheep estancias by decade, 1540s-1610s.

The eighties saw renewed granting as theNative Huatusco comprised the prime range, co-opted for population throughout New Spain approached its cattle estancias. nadir after the epidemics of the seventies, resulting The land rushes for sheep estancias, in the 1590s in vacant land, reduced food supplies, inflation, and and 1610s, represented the continuing growth of the high foodprices (Chevlaier 1963,104). In part,the textileindustry (Chevlaier 1963,107; Salvucci 1987, flurry of mercedes around Santiago Huatusco 135-136) and the need for lowland, winter pasture probably relates to continued speculation over the as the flocks of theMesa Central pressed the limits southern camino real. Estancias along the new route of thehighland carrying capacity (Melville 1990). would have ready access to the domestic market for Most of those grants again focused on the piedmont meat, wool, hides, and tallow and to the export near Santiago Huatusco, but generally on more market for hides, 150,000 leaving through Veracruz dissected terrain than the plains to the northwest. in 1598 alone (Chevalier 1963, 106-107). The Sheep grantsalso fdled thedunes near theby then vertisolic savanna plains northwest of Santiago booming port of Veracruz, eventually transferred

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 36 CONFERENCE OF LATINAMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS

from La Antigua Veracruz to San Juan de Ulua circa evident in the area-symbol maps, the spatial 1600. Many of those grants probably represent dry distributionof grants in 1619 confirmsthat all of season agostadero for sheep from theMesa Central the precocious estancias of the 1520s-1530s (Sluyter 1995, 281-282). Most of the good cattle eventually absorbed into the formal granting process pasture of the coastal plain had been occupied by and that no significant spatial lacunae match the the 1580s,but filling incontinued during the 1590s, temporal lacunae inAGN-Mercedes (Figure 4). The with interstices too small for ganado mayor estancias patterning also suggest that Spanish space granted as ganado menor. During the 1610s, a accumulation largelyproceeded throughviceregal laggingrush for sheep grantsspread up thecentral granting rather than through other processes, such near piedmont, relatively the northern camino real as purchase from Natives or "squatting." Thus, access to as and with good theMesa Central but not accounting for putative "lost" mercedes by ideally situated as the Santiago Huatusco zone. interpolation, adding 40.5 percent to cattle estancias The effectivecessation of grantingduring the and 25 percent to sheep estancias (Simpson 1952), 1620s reflected the decline in silver production, is unjustified?at least for the central Veracruz modest population growth, and deepening stagnation lowlands. Similarly, accounting for putative of theprevious century of economicgrowth (Gibson "squatters" by inference from linderos, adding more 1966, 103-105). And the landscapewas full. By than 100 percent to the total estancias (Melville some 1619, 2,950 km2 of estancias occupied more 1983), is unjustified?again, at least for the central than 50 percent of lowland central Veracruz and Veracruz lowlands. nearly all of its prime range. Only the Cotaxtla and Regarding the areal extent of the land units, the Rinconada enclaves of theMarquesado del Valle, de jure areas of 1,747 ha for ganado mayor and 776 the central piedmont, and buffers around Spanish and ha for ganado menor represent a close approximation surviving Native communities remain as blanks on of reality. The blanks among the densest groups of themap. estancias might represent a few missing mercedes but more likely represent the difference between the DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS conceptual and the operational, the neighboring Regarding the issue of completeness of the extant estancias and a scattering of farms, or caballerias, record, the rhythm of the granting process evident co-opting the interstices. The Spanish and surviving in the extant mercedes is real, a function of changing Native communities also retained minimal buffer political and economic context rather than an artifact zones, accounting for other interstices. Nonetheless, of "lost" volumes of mercedes. First, the temporal in no case could any estancia have been "surrounded gaps inAGN-Mercedes do not particularly correlate by a belt of open landat leastdouble the size of the with the ebbs and flows of granting (Figure 1). piece granted"and thusjustify multiplying thede Second, only the Cotaxtla and Rinconada enclaves jure areal extent by three (Simpson 1952, 21). To of theMarquesado del Valle and the central piedmont varying degrees in space and time, the central as on remain significant blanks the map by 1619 piedmont did serve as common range during thewet (Figure 2). The former blank reflects occupation by season, the cattle retreating to their home estancias censos rather than mercedes in theMarquesado; the on thecoastal plain during thedry season (Sluyter on grantsthat do intrude theMarquesado largelydate n.d.). But that seasonal round between piedmont to the long period of sequesteringand viceregal and coastal plain does not equate with Simpson's control,from 1567-1593 (Sluyter1995). The latter hypothesized buffer zone around each estancia, and blank to relates the inaccessibilityof the central understanding the environmental implications of the piedmont, difficulty of north-south movement such transhumant ecologies will require analysis of a zone in dissected by barrancas and the distance thestocking rates of theestancias and of thechanging from the caminos reales to the north and south. Of patternsof landownership (Sluyter 1995,621-653, the total of 232 estancias mapped, only four represent 659-675). from as inference mention linderos and only twenty In conclusion, the localization and area-symbol five exclusively derive from repositories other than mapping of land grants addresses two of the most AGN-Mercedes. Given the space-time pattern persistent methodological issues regarding archival

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SLUYTER 37

analysis of landscape ecological change.3 The ACKNOWLEDGMENTS method, at least for the lowlands of central Veracruz, Karl W. Butzer and Elizabeth K. Butzer gener demonstrates that the extant grants represent a fairly ously shared microfilm copies of some of the relevant record and that the de facto dimensions of complete documents from theArchivo General de la Nacion. the estancias reflected the de fairly closely jure My thanks, also, to the staffof thatwonderful archive dimensions. the distinct environ While, arguably, and to the staff of the Benson Latin American mental and cultural contexts of other regions, Collection. The National Aeronautics and Space in the ofNew particularly highlands Spain, might Administration, Social Sciences and Humanities have resulted in different of processes space Research Council of Canada, and the Graduate accumulation than those of the study region, only School of theUniversity of Texas atAustin funded can differences. further research demonstrate those the research. Most essentially, that research will employ spatial, cartographic methods.

NOTES

1 Although Lesley Byrd Simpson, SherburneF. Cook, and However, without royal ratification of those viceregal awards? Woodrow Borah havemade many seminal contributionsto our never tomaterialize during thesixteenth century?the mercedes understandingof Latin American historyand might be charac remainedbut dubious land titles(Chevalier 1963,16,264-265). terizedas 'The Berkeley (History)School," onlyBorah held an The periodof composicidnduring the seventeenth century, when appointmentas an historian,Cook being a physiologist and thecrown finallyratified the mercedes, reached a peak during Simpson being a literaryscholar. the 1630s-1640s (McBride 1923, 56-57; Recopilaci6n 1987, 2 Full references to and, inmany cases, transcriptions of rel libro4, titulo 12, leyes 15-21; Prem 1988, 1992; e.g.,AGN evant documents appear elsewhere (Sluyter 1995). Continued Mercedes, vol. 45, ff. 135-137v). At the same time, composici6n archivalwork since thedissertation work has recoveredaddi allowed thosefew colonistswith capital to subsumemany small tional mercedes, totaling one cattle estancia and twenty-three holders, includingNatives (McBride 1923,58; Chevalier 1963, came sheep estancias (AGN-Mercedes, vol. 15, ff. 182v-183v; vol. 266-277). With composicidn, space legally under the 16, f. 27v; vol. 17, ff.25v-26v; vol. 18. ff.373v-374; vol. 19, controlof a minorityof individualsand thehaciendas came into ff.130-131,133v-134v; vol.20,ff. 112v-114v, 117-120v, 141 being. Just as central to geographical research as those social 142,182-182v; vol. 29, ff.139-139v). Some of thatadditional and economic themes, the emergence of the hacienda from the an recovery has been on the basis of the new "Gui'a al Mercedes" estancia connoted ecological transformation. After as and some on thebasis of the renewed availability of several composicidn, stipulations regarding land use became super or en some volumes which had long been under restoration copias. fluous in law as they,at least in cases, might alreadyhave in the transformation of estancias into haciendas im 3 Clearly the localization of sixteenth-century land grants been fact: might also address issues other thanecological change per se, plies thatowners legallybegan todecide land use irrespective issueswhich remainbeyond the scope of thisparticular contri of originalgrant designations as ganado mayor, ganado menor, butionbut include,for example, theemergence of thehacienda or caballena (e.g., AGN-Mercedes, vol. 37, ff. 80v-81v). (cf.Lockhart 1969;Morner 1973;Frank 1979;Van Young 1983; Florescano 1987). Ifhacienda historiographyhas produced no definitive answers, hacienda geography barely exists. Magnus REFERENCES Morner offeredan insightfulprescription more thantwo decades Acufia,Rene\ ed. 1985.Relaciones GeograTicas del Siglo XVI: ago: 'To understandthe role and of thehaciendas, development 2 vols.Mexico: Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de or Tlaxcala, it seems even more important to place them, the entire agrar Mexico. ian structurein a certaindistrict, in an ecological contextand to General determine the cartographical dimensions through time.... It Argena. 1993. Argena (CD-ROM). Mexico: Archivo would seem thatinterdisciplinary teamwork between historians de laNaci6n. and rural or other social scientists geographers, sociologists Barrett,Ward J. 1970. The Sugar Hacienda of theMarqueses would oftenbe the rationalsolution" 1973, (Morner 215-216). del Valle.Minneapolis: Universityof Minnesota Press. In contrastto theoriginal grazing licenses of the 1520s-1530s, Bermudez Gilberto. 1987.El Mayorazgo de la which conceived pasture as usufruct,the mercedes impliedan Gorrochotegui, Universidad Veracruzana. award of inheritableprivate property (Chevalier 1963, 87-97). Higuera. Jalapa:

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 38 CONFERENCE OF LATINAMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS

Butzer, Karl W. 1992. "Ethno-Agriculture and Cultural Ecol _. 1966. Spain in America. New York: Harper and ogy inMexico: Historical Vistas and Modern Implications," Row. C.L.A.G. Benchmark 1990. Conference of Latin Americanist Hackett, C. W., ed. 1923. Historical Documents Relating toNew Geographers Yearbook 17/18:139-152. Mexico, Nueva Viscaya, and Approaches Thereto, to 1773, 3 _, and Elisabeth K. Butzer. 1993. "The Sixteenth vols. Washington: Carnegie Institution ofWashington. CenturyEnvironment of theCentral Mexican Bajfo: Archival Licate, Jack A. 1981. Creation of a Mexican Landscape: Terri Reconstructionfrom Colonial Land Grants and theQuestion of torial Organization and Settlement in the Eastern Puebla Ba Spanish Ecological Impact," Culture, Form, and Place: Essays sin, 1520-1605. Research Papers, no. 201. Chicago: Depart in Cultural and Historical 89-124. Kent Geography, ment ofGeography, University of Chicago. Mathewson, ed. Geoscience and Man, vol. 32. Baton Rouge: Lockhart, James. 1969 "Encomienda and Hacienda: The Evo Geoscience Publications, Department of Geography and Anthro lutionof theGreat Estate in the Indies," Ameri pology, Louisiana State University. Spanish Hispanic can Historical Review 49:411-429. _. 1995. "Transfer of the Mediterranean Livestock Martinez, 1992. "Los Libros de Gobierno de Antonio Economy toNew Spain: Adaptation and Ecological Conse Rodrigo. de Mendoza y Luis de Velasco," Las Formas y Las Politicas del quences," Global Land Use Change: A Perspective from the Dominio a Francois Chevalier, 123-135. Columbian Encounter, 151-193. B. L. T\irner II, Antonio G6mez Agrario, Homenaje Ricardo Avila Palafox, Carlos Martinez Assad, and Jean Sal, Fernando Gonzalez Bernaldez, and Francesco de Castri, Meyer, eds. Editorial Universidad de eds. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. Guadalajara: Guadalajara. McBride, M. 1923. The Land Mexico. New Catalogo. 1979-1984. Catdlogo de Ilustraciones, 15 vols. (in George Systemsof York: American cluding vol. 0). Mexico: Archivo General de la Nacion. Geographical Society. Elinor G. K. 1983. The Pastoral and Envi Chevalier, Francois. 1952. La Formation des Grands Domaines Melville, Economy ronmental in Central Mexico, 1530 auMexique: Terre etSociete auxXVI-XVIl Siecles. Paris: Institut Degradation Highland 1600. Ph.D. dissertation, of d'Ethnologie. University Michigan, Department of Anthropology. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms Interna _. 1963. Land and in Colonial Mexico: The Society tional. Great Hacienda. Translation of La Formation des Grands _. 1990. "Environmental and Social in the Domaines au Mexique, Terre et Societe aux XVI-XVII Siecles, Change Valle de Stud 1952.Lesley Byrd Simpson, ed.,Alvin Eustis, trans.Berkeley: Mezquital, Mexico, 1521-1600," Comparative ies in Society and History 32:24-53. University of California Press. _. 1994. A Environmental Conse Doolittle, William E. 1987. "La Marismas to Panuco to Texas: Plague of Sheep: the Mexico. The Transferof Open Range CattleRanching fromIberia through quences of Conquest of Cambridge: Cambridge Press. Northeastern Mexico," Conference of Latin Americanist Geog University raphers Yearbook 13:3-11. Morner, Magnus. 1973 "The Spanish American Hacienda: A of Recent Research and American Driever, Steven L. 1991. "The Debate Over the New Road to Survey Debate," Hispanic Historical Review 53:183-216. Mexico During theViceroyalty of Luis de Velasco, el Hijo 1991 Annual Association (1590-5)," Meeting Abstracts, of Morrisey, Richard J. 1957. "Colonial Agriculture inNew Spain," American 52. Wash Geographers, Miami, Florida, 13-17April, Agricultural History 31:24-29. ington: Association of American Geographers. Murphy,Michael E. 1986. Irrigation in theBajio Region of 1987. "The Hacienda inNew Co Florescano, Enrique. Spain," Colonial Mexico. Dellplain Latin American Studies, no. 19. lonial Spanish America, 250-285. Leslie Bethell, ed. Cambridge: Boulder: Westview. Cambridge University Press. Pifi6n Flores, M. Irais. 1984. "La Tenencia de la Tierra en la Andre Gunder. 1979 Mexican 1521-1630: Frank, Agriculture Regi6n de Tlazazalca-Zacapu-Huaniqueo," Michoacan en el theMode Production. Cam Transformation of of Cambridge: Sigh XVI, 105-189. Colecci6n Estudios Michoacanos, vol. 7. bridgeUniversity Press. Carlos S. Paredes M., M. Irais Pin6n Flores, Armando M. Escobar O., and Maria Trinidad Pulido Soli's. Morelia: Fimax. Gal van, Mariano. 1851 Ordenanzasde Tierras yAguas. Mexico: Mariano Galvan. Prem, Hanns J. 1978. Milpa und Hacienda. Indianischer und Landbesitz imBecken des Alto Garcia Martinez, Bernardo. 1969. ElMarquesado del Valle: Tres Spanischer Atoyac, Puebla, Mexico Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner. Siglos de Regimen Senorial en Nueva Espaha. Mexico: El (1520-1650). de Colegio Mexico. _. 1984. "Early Spanish Colonization and Indians in the of in Gatenby,Ruth M. 1991 Sheep. London: Macmillan. Valley Atlixco, Puebla," Explorations Ethnohistory: Indians of Central Mexico in the Sixteenth Century, 205-228. Gerhard, Peter. 1993.A Guide to theHistorical Geography of H. R. Harvey and Hanns J. Prem, eds. Albuquerque: University New Norman: of Oklahoma Press. Spain. University of New Mexico Press. Gibson, Charles. 1964. The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule: A His _. 1988. Milpa y Hacienda: Tenencia de la Tierra toryof theIndians of theValley ofMexico, 1519-1810. Stanford: Indigena y Espahola en la Cuenca del Alto Atoyac, Puebla, Stanford University Press. Mexico (1520-1650). Translation ofMilpa und Hacienda.

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SLUYTER 39

Indianischer und Spanischer Landbesitz imBecken des Alto Sluyter, Andrew. 1995. Changes in the Landscape: Natives, Atoyac, Puebla, Mexico (1520-1650), 1978.Maria Martinez Spaniards, and the Ecological Restructuration of Central Penaloza, trans. Mexico: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Veracruz, Mexico During the Sixteenth Century. Ph.D. disserta Superiores en Antropologia Social, Estado de Puebla, and Fondo tion, The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Geogra de Cultura Econ6mica. phy. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International.

_. 1992. "Spanish Colonization and Indian Prop _. (forthcoming).'The Ecological Origins andCon erty in Central Mexico, 1521-1620," Annals of the Association sequences of Cattle Ranching in Sixteenth-Century New Spain," of American Geographers 82:444-459. The Geographical Review.

Recopilacidn. 1987. Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de Trautmann, Wolfgang. 1981. Las Transformations en el Paisaje las Indias, 5 vols. Mexico: Porrua. Cultural de Tlaxcala Durante la Epoca Colonial: Una Contribution a la Historia de Mexcio Bajo Especial Rees, PeterW. 1975. "Origins of Colonial Transportation in Consideration deAspectos Geogrdfico-Economicos y Sociales. Mexico," Geographical Review 65:323-334. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner. Robinson, David J. 1989. "Latin America," Geography in Van Young, Eric. 1983. "Mexican Rural History Since Cheva America. L. Gaile and Cort J.Willmott, eds. Columbus: Gary lier:The of theColonial LatinAmeri Merrill:488-505. Historiography Hacienda," can Research Review 18(3):5?61. Salvucci, Richard J. 1987 Textiles and Capitalism inMexico: West, RobertC. 1949.The Mining Communityin Northern New An Economic History of theObrajes, 1539-1840. Princeton: Spain: The Parral Mining District. Ibero-Americana, vol. 30. Princeton University Press. Berkeley:University of California Press. Sauer, Carl O. 1941. "Foreword to Historical Geography," An Widmer, Rolf S. 1990.Conquista yDespertar de las Costas de nals of the Association of American Geographers 31:1-24. laMar del Sur (1521-1684). Mexico: Consejo Nacional para la 1952. Land inCentral Simpson, Lesley Byrd. Exploitation of Cultura y las Artes. Mexico in the Sixteenth Century. Ibero-Americana, vol. 36. Ber keley:University of California Press.

RESUMEN. A pesar de la riqueza de datos en archivos Mexicanos pertinentes a la comprehension de la interacci6n entre el ganado y el cambio ecol6gico duranteel sigloXVI, algunos puntosmetodol6gicos fundamentals persistenen el uso de los documentos de la tenencia de la tierra, o las mercedes. Ambos el grado de preservaci6ndel registrode mercedes y la extensi6n de la superficie de los estancias para ganado mayor menor m?todo y ganado permanecen inciertas. Un cartogrdficoque emplea datos de las tierrasbajas del centro de Veracruz elucida esos puntosy sugiereun m&odo general para el analisis riguroso de las mercedes. El m&odo demuestra que las mercedes existentes representa un registro casi completa y que las extensiones de las superficies de las estancias bastante estrechamente reflejd las estipulaciones legales.

This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:45:52 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions