Spanish Colonization and Indian Property in Central Mexico,

1521-1620

JSTOR Article

After the Conquest of Mexico

• In 1519-1521, the Spaniards eliminated Indian administrative structures for the new king and Colonial governments and were to exploit traditional interests. Key participants of the military campaign were given the rights to encomiendas, limited labor conscription. Encomiendas did not give property rights, but holders received most of the earliest land grants and had the pick of labor during planting season.

Properties and Agriculture• Agriculture and stock raising became the

largest source of income for many new Spanish settlers. Public land was given to officials, the military, and the Colonial elite. Agriculture work was given to Indian labor. Property was the main competition between the Spanish and the Indians, ending with dispossessions of Indian lands by the 1600’s. Documentations of land grants provided tools to figure out regional settlement histories and to examine the amount of Spanish rights against Indian properly rights. Spanish agriculture expansion improved after the Indian population fell.