The peonage in New Spain and haciendas are two of the most characteristic elements of the economy during the colonial period. The territory governed by the Spanish through these viceroys was known as New Spain.
On the one hand, the hacienda was a type of property that the Spanish brought from Europe and that led to large tracts of land being awarded to a single owner.
On the other hand, peonage is the relationship that the laws established between the owners of the haciendas and the indigenous labor force. It contained elements similar to those of the feudal era.
The haciendas in New Spain
The hacienda became one of the most frequent types of land properties during the viceroyalty.
They were large tracts of land that belonged to a single owner of Spanish origin. Above all, indigenous people worked in these large estates with different conditions depending on the time.
Most of the time these estates were structured around the large house in which the owners resided.
There were other smaller houses in which high-level workers lived, such as foremen. Lastly, a church was never lacking, or at least a chapel.
Origin and types
There have been some discrepancies about the origin of the haciendas. All experts agree that it is a type of property that copies the one that existed in some places in Spain, but there are differences when explaining its creation in America.
Certain historians affirm that they began with the encomiendas granted to the conquerors in the 16th century. However, it seems that more than land, what they were granted was the right to use a certain number of indigenous people for work.
After this, if these commissions were granted, especially to the church and the descendants of the conquerors. The concession always linked the land itself with the labor.
There were several types of hacienda. The livestock, the benefit (linked to minerals) and the agricultural stand out.
Peonage
Peonage was the way in which labor relations were developed on the haciendas with indigenous workers.
It has elements that come from the old feudal systems and was one of the causes of the political instability that Mexico experienced in the 19th century and even in the 20th century.
Background
Upon reaching America and conquering it, the Spanish employed indigenous labor under the principle of "slavery by conquest." That is, they could freely dispose of them, even as slaves.
However, after some years, pressure from some religious orders, such as the Jesuits, and the reaction of the crown, put an end to this slavery. Indigenous people were recognized as legitimate citizens and the possession of slaves was prohibited.
How peonage works
The system that replaced the previous one was called peonage. In this way, workers were assigned to a settler and, in theory, were entitled to a salary.
The point was that this salary could simply be the payment of the debts that the natives acquired to pay the tribute that as citizens they were obliged to pay.
These debts could be passed from parents to children, so in reality the workers were tied to the land and the owner of it without having any rights.
Peonage ended up assimilating on many occasions to previous servitude. It was the landowner himself who decided the value of the work and the debt was never paid off.
It was not until the beginning of the twentieth century when it was repealed that debts could be inherited first and, somewhat later, peonage was prohibited.
References
- Fernández López, Justo. The Haciendas and the Latifundio. Obtained from hispanoteca.eu
- Zabala, Silvio. Colonial Origins of Peonage in Mexico. Recovered from aleph.org.mx
- World Atlas. What Is The Hacienda System ?. Retrieved from worldatlas.com
- Miracle. The Hacienda System and the Mexican Revolution. Retrieved from milagro.org
- Minster, Christopher. Spain's American Colonies and the Encomienda System. Retrieved from thoughtco.com