Colonial agriculture was the main economic activity and the basis of wealth in the colony , both for the income generated and for the employed population. In the first years of the conquest, most of the agricultural production followed indigenous techniques and organizational criteria. It was a varied activity, of great regional diversity and that mobilized broad social sectors. For this reason, local production must be differentiated from products brought by Europeans:grapevines, cereals, olive trees, indigo or sugar. Among the American products were the crops destined to satisfy the indigenous food needs (corn, potato, beans, etc.) and those other species whose stimulating power gave them a specific function in the colonial system:coca, yerba mate or magüey (pulque). , condemned as "vices" by the church and other social sectors, a category shared with tobacco. There were other successful American products, such as cocoa, in southern Mexico and Central America, or grana-cochineal, a dye exploited by the indigenous communities of Oaxaca (Mexico), but not on Spanish haciendas. The first purely Spanish agrarian enterprise was sugar production, which began to stand out in Santo Domingo from 1515 and had to be carried out with African slaves given the disappearance of local labor.
Types of Land Distribution for colonial agriculture
The importance of colonial agriculture was noted by the Crown, which from the outset tried not to transfer the feudal model to America, especially with regard to land distribution. The wish of the Crown was reflected in the instructions of Carlos I to Hernán Cortés, in 1523. The monarch intended to create a group of proprietary farmers opposed to the conquerors, who wanted to be landowners and estate owners . Despite this, the Crown did not prevent the formation of large properties, such as haciendas or ranches, since many landowners came from the colonial bureaucracy as viceroys, oidores or corregidores, although some encomenderos knew how to reconvert themselves into agrarian entrepreneurs. An unresolved problem is the origin of the haciendas and large estates, although today it is pointed out that they did not originate in the encomiendas. According to Borah and Chevalier, its emergence and development coincided, at least in New Spain, with a moment of demographic and economic depression in the 17th century. But, all the agricultural exploitations were large haciendas, there were also small and medium-sized ones, such as cattle ranches, which in some Mexican regions were the typical small property of colonial society. Another small property was La Labor, whose extension varied between one and four caballerias of arable land.
Colonial Agriculture Organization
Colonial agriculture oriented towards external demand, basically plantation agriculture, can be separated from that oriented towards internal demand , which included both agricultural activities to supply mining centers and subsistence production, centered on indigenous communities. In many places, the latter possessed the best lands, causing conflict with the Spanish landowners who wanted to control them. To define haciendas and plantations we follow Eric Wolf and Sidney Mintz, who start from organizational and productive criteria and not from their comparison with large estates.
The Hacienda
The hacienda was the rural property of an owner with aspirations of power and a small capital , who exploited his productive unit with subordinate work and whose production was directed to a reduced market. The hacienda allowed to accumulate capital and consolidate the social status of the landowner , although this did not apply to the farms of religious orders, especially Jesuits, which responded to criteria of profitability.
The Plantations
The plantation was a production unit linked to a large-scale market , with the investment of large sums of capital. The schematic nature of the definition forces caution, given the existence of intermediate cases, such as the farms on the north coast of Peru that directed their production to important markets.
Location of the Lands for Colonial Agriculture
Creating large estates of thousands of hectares was easier in marginal areas, where the pressure for land was less and the control of the authorities was more lax. Sometimes, they were less fertile lands or located in areas of low population density, with less availability of labor or access to water.
Types of Workers for Colonial Agriculture
In haciendas located in areas with a low indigenous population wage labor and black slaves predominated. Among the salaried workers, the servants and ranchers and some artisans, such as carpenters or shoemakers, stood out. There were also butlers and administrators, of a higher income level. Slave labor was used in certain haciendas, depending on their geographical location or the type of production (such as sugar).
Rentadelas haciendasylatifundios
The low productivity of the farms, which only took advantage of a small part of the arable area, is a topic related to their limited exploitation, their low technological level and the reduced capital investments. The incomes of the latifundios were high and their owners preferred to acquire luxury products instead of investing them productively. Whenever possible, the landowners increased their income by building mills inside their possessions in order to appropriate part of the harvests of the peasants, who had to use their facilities for milling.