"Our Suffering with the Taxco Tribute": Involuntary Mine Labor and Indigenous Society in Central New Spain

Author(s): Robert S. Haskett Source: The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 71, No. 3 (Aug., 1991), pp. 447-475 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2515879 . Accessed: 27/05/2011 20:13
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"Our Suffering withthe Taxco Tribute":Involuntary Mine Labor and IndigenousSocietyin CentralNew Spain
ROBERT S. HASKETT

were seekinggold,itwas silverthatmade New Spain a populouscentral area ofcolonialism. Large-scalesilverextraction began after 1550,and, by the end ofthe sixteenth century, bullion(some of it gold but mostsilver)represented percentof early 8o Mexico's totalexports.The industry would have its ups and downs,but by independencethe colonyhad produced300 millionmarksof silver, equivalentto about twoand a halfbillionounces.' While the best known and mostthoroughly studiedsourceofthispreciousmetalis the Mexican silvermining North,New Spain also had significant centersat its heart. Important amongthemwas Taxco,usually ranked fourth fifth overall or in used more mercury thantheircounterparts output;in 1590 its refiners anywhere else, including Zacatecas. It was in Taxco thatthe celebrated don Josede la Borda,known the eighteenth in as miner century "thefirst oftheworld,"made his fortune Chontalpa, silver at a minethatproduced overtwomillion its pesos during mostproductive yearsin the eighteenth
century.2

L T H O UGH

theSpanish invaders Mesoamerica of

Unlikethe northern Mexican mines,Taxco was located in a thickly

i. D. A. Brading, Minersand Merchants BourbonMexico,1763-1810 (Cambridge, in 1971), 6; RichardL. Garner,"Silver Production and Entrepreneurial Structure 18thin von Staat, Wirtschaft Gesellschaft Century Mexico,"Jahrbuch Geschichte far und Lateinamnerikas,17 (1980), 157. For instance,after period of reduced outputthe eighteenth a century an overallproduction saw increaseof300 percent. 2. On mercury use, see Silvio Zavala, El serviciopersonalde los indiosen la Nueva Espaiia, 3 vols. (Mexico City,1984-87),III, 320. On Borda,see Brading,Minersand Merof minesis PeterJ. Bakewell,SilverMining chants,13. The otherclassicstudy thenorthern and Society in Colonial Mexico: Zacatecas, 1546-1700 (Cambridge, 1971). For a discussion B. A Lockhart Stuart Schwartz, and ofcentral areas, see James EarlyLatinAmerica: History of Colonial SpanishAmericaand Brazil (New York,1983),59.

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populatedregionwhose sedentary indigenous peoples were familiar with variousforms tribute laborand kind.The demographic of in situation was similarto thatfoundin the miningregionsof colonialPeru, where the of rigors minelaborhave become quitefamiliar. same subjecthas reThe ceived little in attention studies central of New Spain'smining system, yet of nativecommunities deepen analysis Taxco'simpacton surrounding can our understanding the waysin whichthe silverindustry of acted on the fabric indigenous of acrossthehemisphere.3 society Even thoughTaxco's nativepeoples lacked the miningskillsof their preconquest Andeancounterparts, Mexicanmineowners wereable to use variousforms involuntary of intribute labor.This obligation, eventually volvingpeople from wide surrounding a area, had a profound effect on Indian workers, theirfamilies, and theirtowns.The regularmovement the of laborersto and from minesincreasedcontact amongIndiansfrom manydifferent regionsand betweenthemand a variety non-Indians. of Tributary mine workers became intermediaries a sort,linkingtheir of withthe outsideworldand facilitating certainamountof communities a cultural exchange.Yet as in Peru,theIndiansusually leastfrom benefited the exchange,giving morein time,labor,and livesthantheyever refar ceived in return. Because involuntary minelaborbecame a hatedburden, affected in Indiansfrom townsengagedsingly collectively whathistoor rian Steve J. Sternhas called "resistive adaptation" theytriedvarious as means,legal and illegal,peacefuland violent, winexemption to from the labordraftt' extensive The their records producedduring struggles expose the tensionscreatedby the miningdraft well as the techniquesused as to fight The Indian perspective the issues at stake,whichrevolved it. of aroundfamily community and and local control the of integrity preserving municipality's humanresources, own leaps forcefully thedocuments. from

3. The principalsourcesforthe presentstudyare foundin Mexico'sArchivoGeneral de AGN and AGI). Whenever possible, de la Naci6nand Spain's Archivo Indias (hereafter and the searchfor Nahuatl-language recordswere used to recoverthe Indianperspective, more such vital documents continues.For Peru see the workof Bakewell,Millersof the A. Red Mountain:Indian Labor in Potosi,1545-1650 (Albuquerque,1984); Jeffrey Cole, The "An Abolitionism BornofFrustration: Conde de Lenios and the PotosiMita, 1667-73," Indian HAHR, 63:2 (May1983), 307-333, and The PotosiMita, 1573-1700: Compulsory Peru'sIndianPeoplesand theChlalLabor in theAndes(Stanford, 1985);and SteveJ.Stern, comparative lenge of Spanish Conquest: Huamanga to 1640 (Madison,1982). A suggestive in and Harry Cross,"ColonialSilverMining: E. studyofmining Mexicoand Peru is Brading 545-579. Mexico and Peru,"HAHR, 52:4 (November 1972), 4. Stern,"New Approaches the Studyof PeasantRebellion,"in Resistance,Rebelto lion, and Consciousnessin the Andean Peasant World, z8thto 20th Centuries,ed. Stern (Madison, 1987), 11.

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PrehispanicTlachco and Early ColonialTaxco Tlachco, the "place of the ball court"(tlachtli, ball game, plus -co, a locative),was originally capitalofa Chontal-speaking the region(also inhabitedby some Mazateca)oftwelvealtepetl(city-states). the fifteenth In centurythe regionwas conquered by forcesof the expandingMexica empireunderMoctezumaI, who subordinated local populationand the established military a governor garrison Tlachco. Sixteenth-century and at Spanishpenetration theTlachcoregioncame as a resultofexpeditions of led by the conquerors Juande Cabra and Juande Salcedo, dispatchedto locate the sourcesof Mexica gold and silver.At first theyfoundwas all copper, knownto have been exploitedin some fashion beforethe conas quest and used by the local inhabitants a kind of currency. Copper and ore, alongwithsomeiron,was reportedly beingextracted smeltedas earlyas 1524. Spaniardswere soonactively exploiting goldplacersin the area as well, thoughthisboom was disappointingly short-lived. Luckily silver was an enticingly of forthe first noticeable miners, by-product gold whichwouldprove Suchwere thehumble of beginnings silver mining, to be Taxco's major economicreasonforbeing forthe restof the colosilverstrikes occurredin 1534 nial era and beyond.The first important and continuedinto the 1540s, by whichtime deep depositsreportedly were being worked.The initial"bonanza"came in 1542 at mines held held the office alcalde of by Luis de Castillo,who rather conveniently disthatthe original mayor Taxco at the time.Legend has it,however, of covererwas actuallyan Indian charcoalmakernamed Miguel Jose,who whileengagedin his dailyactivities of on found threads silver theground. founda vein so rich Miguel searcheddiligently more,and he finally for thatby 1700 itwas said to haveproducedmillions pesos' worth silver. of of Of course it was not Miguelwho benefited, rather alcalde mayor the but thisis the first recordedinstance an of Castilloand otherIberianminers; in Indianlosingout to Spanishinterests theTaxcomining region.6
a had province,Tlachco and its hinterland to send to Tenochtitldn 5. As a tributary boltsofcloth,and maize, whichwas grownin specially certainamountofcottonclothing, of A designatedfields.See Peter Gerhard, Guide to the HistoricalGeography New Spain (Cambridge,1972), 252; Franciscodel Paso y Troncoso,ed., "Relaci6nde las minas de de Taxco,"Relacionesgeogrdficas Mexico (Mexico City,1979),276; and Manuel Toussaint, thecopper used Tasco (Mexico City,1931), 9-15. Perhapsthealtepetl had been a sourcefor weapons,etc. See Carlos Prieto,Miningin by the peoples ofcentralMexico forceremonial Tasco, 23. For silveras a by-product, theNew World (New York,1973), 21, 154;Toussaint, existedat early conditions see PeggyLiss, MexicoUnderSpain (Chicago,1975), i86; similar Sultepecand Zumpango. see Prieto,Miningin the New World,21; Toussaint,Tasco, 26. 6. On silverstrikes, en La itineria la inetalurgia la America Espay see On the 1542 strike, ModestoBargall6,

extraction.5

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Located at i,8oo metersamongoak forests a dramatic in mountainous setting,the area of the silverstrikes enjoyeda temperate and dry climate. Similarto Peru's Potosi,miningactivity centeredon a mounwithore-bearing tain, knownas Huizteco, shot through veins running from southwest the northeast. the to Boomingsilverproduction here had many important implications the indigenous for populationof the surroundingregion,as well as forthe whole of centralNew Spain. Since the minesthemselves were locatedat a distanceof two leagues or more muchofitscentrality fiomthe original Tlachco,thealtepetlrelinquished and importance. Renamed "Taxco el viejo," it suffered some population loss as its citizenswere drawnto the threereales de minas established forthe Catholicchurch,the majority the region's of 4,000 Nahuatl-and still tributaries their and families residedin theoriginal Chontal-speaking Taxco,as well as in five otherself-governing Indiancommunities, Hueyizand But by 1599 taca, Atzalan,Tenango,Acamixtiahuaca, Tlamacazapan.] Taxco el viejo was describedas being in some decadence, and thoughit remaineda cabecera it was overshadowed the other,more populous by in area. Indiancommunities thesurrounding Meanwhile,the threereales,Teteltzingo (modern-day Taxco de Alarand con), Cantarranas, Tenango,had become the mostimportant centers and colonialbureaucracy the region.As of in of population,commerce, was the seat ofan alcalde mayor and the focusof reli1569, Teteltzingo gious administration the entiremining for complex.The Spanishpopulationofthe threereales totalled92 male heads ofhousehold.There were also some 516 blackslavesofbothsexes,905 indigenous males above the age of twelveknownas indiosde cuadrilla(a termused interchangeably withnaboria [dependent], but referring specifically Indianslivingas to partofcuadrilla laborgangs),and inTeteltzingo alone6o6 male tributaries overtwelve.Some ofthe indiosde cuadrillahad been partofa streamof from otherregions.Following classicpatterns noted indigenous migrants in New Spain's north, in theyseem to have livedtogether theirown barrios. The cabecera ofTenango,forinstance, had two districts populated who made theirlivingsupplying charcoaland by Tarascan immigrants humanpopulafirewood the mines.Because ofthe mines'burgeoning to tionand boomingsilverproduction, administrative further consolidation in occurred 1570,whenthethreerealeswerecombined intoone, theReal
nola durantela 6poca colonial (Mexico City,1955), 56-58, 94, 211. On Miguel, see J. R. Southworth, Mines ofMexico (Liverpool,1905), 122. The Mines ofMexico, 120-121. All references the 1569 to 7. On Huizteco,see Southworth,

after1534. In 1569, the year a detailed report of the region was compiled

en 1570 (Mexico City, 1897), 170-184.

Descripci6ndel Arzobispadode Mexicohecha reportcan be foundin Alonsode Mont6far,

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y Minas de Taxco. By 1580 the numberof Indian cabeceras under the controlof Taxco's alcalde mayor had reachedtwelve.This was the form thatthe realesofTaxcowouldmaintain mostofthecolonialera.8 for Reales de Taxco Labor in the Sixteenth-Century HernandoCortescontrolled in mostofthe earlymining the Taxco area. in The first shaft exploited his name,known the Socavondel Real, was as reportedly largeenoughfor mounted a rider enter. to The mostproductive Cortesmine,however, was a complex held in the Real de Cantarranas, in of a 1568 consisting houses forworkers, church,and threemills,one of themwaterpowered.The Corteslaborforce was made up almostentirely in ofIndians.An unknown were brought from Toluca Valley, the number Indiansfrom Marquesadoholdings theregion, the in encomienda possibly perhaps naborias working wages, or both. Cortes,along withother for the earlyminers, also exploited laborofIndianslaves,who toiledin gangs ranging from to ioo individuals bothsexes. In fact,the buyingand 28 of sellingofIndianslavesforuse in Taxcoand elsewhere was notuncommon intothe late 1540s.The records thenotary of archives Mexico Cityare of fullof references Spaniardstrading indigenous to in lives. In 1528, for in example,AntonCarmona,who had mining interests Taxco,purchased ioo Indian slavesofbothsexesfrom another SpaniardofOaxaca.9 As faras a Corteshaciendade minasand a mineknown Guaytepetl as were concerned, inventory July an and of 1549 listsa cuadrilla 8 African of 114 male and femaleIndian slaves. Thirty-six the Indians were from of withMexico City,Tlaxcala,Texcoco, townsin the centerof the colony, and the Puebla regionall makingsignificant contributions. Another30 werefrom Taxcoarea itself. the Sixteen camefrom South,Tabasco and the Veracruz(especiallyPanuco);5 from North,Colima the Oaxaca; 13 from and Hidalgo; and 3 fromGuatemala.While womenoutnumbered men the ma(66 to 48), because of the presenceofmanyunmarried females,
8. Toussaint,Tasco, 27, 32; Paso y Troncoso,"Relaci6n,"266. For a description of cuadrillaorganization, Bakewell,SilverMining see and Society,125. 9. On the Socav6n del Real, see Southworth, Minesof Mexico,121; the shaft was still in existencein 1905 and had reacheda lengthof650 meters.On Cantarranas, Zavala, see El servicio personal,II, 192. On laborgangs,see Jean-Pierre Berthe,"Las minasde oro del Marqu6s del Valle en Tehuantepec,1540-1547,"HistoriaMexicana,8:1 (July-Sept.1958), 122-123; Liss, Mexico UnderSpain, 187. On slave transactions, A. MillaresCarlo and see J. I. Mantec6n,Indice y extractos los protocolosdel Archivode Notarias de Mexico, de D. F., 2 vols. (Mexico City,1945-46), I, 296, and especially352, the case of Servdn Bejarano,sometime mineownerofTaxco,selling1oo Indianslavestoanother Spaniardin 1528. For comparison consult thatGasparde Zavala, El servicio personal,I, 203-204,who records Soria of Mexico Citysold Crist6balde Cisnerosa number Indian and black slaves,along of withmining equipment and mining rights, 2,500 pesos in September1536. for

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TABLE

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Places ofOriginofMarriedIndianSlaves
PAnuco Texcoco (8 Tutultepec couples)

Pairfrom same town(13 couples total) Izhuatlan M6xico Oaxaca

listedfirst) towns(24 couples total,males'towns Pairfrom different Chalco and Texcoco Chinantla and Texcoco and Tutultepec Chinantla and Oaxaca Chinantla Guatemalaand CulhuacAin Guatemalaand Tlaxcala M6xicoand ZacatlAn Oaxaca and Colima Oaxaca and Meztitldn Oaxaca and PAnuco Oaxaca and Texcoco Tacacula and AcatlAn Sources:See note Lo. and Tecamuztian Tuzapan Teneztiquapac and PAnnuco Tetlanand Iz6car Texcocoand Cuernavaca Texcocoand Xalatlaco Tlaxcalaand M6xico Tlaxcalaand Ochicoztla Tlaxcalaand PAnuco Tlaxcalaand Texcoco Tonalkand Cuautitkin and ZacatlAn Iz6car and ZacatlAn Texcoco

couples(74 people or 37 couples). In 13 cases jority slaveswere married of the husbandsand wiveswere from same place oforigin,but moreoften after indicating marriage different townsand regions, spouses came from in (see Table i).1o together theslavecuadrilla theyhad been brought in brought The earlyend ofwarfare centralMexico had theoretically a halt to the practiceof enslaving people in "just war." It is indigenous possiblethata fewofthe Indianslavesheld by Cortesand being bought, in and merchants MexicoCitywere sursold, and tradedby otherminers But of from earliertimeofconflict. onlya handful the marques's an vivors such as CentralAmerica,where "just regions, humanchattelwere from led combination circumstances to of war" stillapplied. What unfortunate of of the loss offreedom the majority theTaxcoslaves? the Charles Gibsonhas suggested that,by extension, "justwar" conof to that"all thenativeinhabitants theValley cept was interpreted imply thatCorin for [ofMexico]had been captured war."He reports, instance,
HJ), leg. 129, exp. 4, fols. 1002v-1007v (copy located in Tulane University, Latin America

(hereafter in of io. Inventory the Cort6shacienda de nw-inas AGN, Hospitalde Jesu's

Library,France V. Scholes Collection). For locationsof the slaves' places of originsee de Nombres geogrdficos Mexico(MexicoCity,1979),and Francisco CUsarMacazagaOrdofio, de Gonzalez de Cossio, ed., El librode las tasaciones pueblosde la NiievaEspaiio, sigloXVI to weretransferred Taxco.The 1549 slave Cort6sgoldminesinTehuantepec the from failing of that his does notsupport contention all ofthemwere natives Tehuantepec. inventory
(Mexico City, 1952). Berthe, "Las minas de oro," 126, noted that in 1548 100 Indian slaves

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tes brandedand sold IndiansofTexcocointoslavery; perhapssome ofthe TexcocanslavesofTaxco had been amongtheseunfortunates. Moreover, the idea thatall conqueredpeople were war captivesled to a blurring of distinctions betweentheencomienda outright and slavery. the first In encomiendageneration, was notunknown encomenderos renttheir it for to Indiansto miners, even though rental indigenous the of people to others had been legallybanned in 1528. In 1536, a Mexico Citymerchant who also had mining interests Taxco,JuanFernandez,securedthe services in of forty Indians fora year of labor at the minesfor550 pesos froman encomendero Tequipaque namedFrancisco Zamora.Evidence from of de MexicoCity'snotary archives indicates thatother earlyTaxcominers were similarly involvedin the illegalrentalof encomienda Indians. Spaniards also expropriated Indianslavesfrom theirindigesurviving preconquest nous masters.ThoughIndianshad been forbidden hold otherIndians to as slaves soon after Spanishinvasion, institution the the survived intothe just i55os at Texcoco,Culhuacan,and elsewhere.Furthermore, as Indian criminals sentencedto obraje labor were consideredslaves, it does not stretch the imagination farto thinkthatat least some of the Taxco too a slaves,including Martin Cayntl, principal(noble)ofMexico City,were criminals sentenced minelabor.Suchsentences to wereindeed metedout in the Cuernavacaregionas late as theeighteenth century." Mine labor was evolving of after silverstrikes 1532, even though the Indian slaves were still common.However,as in the northern mining some enslavedChichimecain the complex,whichhad initially employed mines,by the mid-iL5ostheuse ofIndianslavelaborin thecentral Mexican mines had ceased. Although in probably part a resultof high slave this mortality, development-nowthatconquestwas completein all but thefarthest reachesoftheemerging colonialempire-corresponded with the end of Indian slavery mostregions.Black slaves,once in the mliin in as nority places such as Taxco, were employed replacements their for and indigenous counterparts, their presencegrewaccordingly.'2 But Africans were costly, and in Taxco, at least, theydid not replace
ii. CharlesGibson,TheAztecsUnderSpanishRule(Stanford, 1964), 77-78. Oil rental, see Zavala, El serviciopersonal,I, 281, 203-204;forotherminers in involved similar rental transactions the middle 1530s, see MillaresCarlo and Mantec6n, in indice y extractos, II, 30, 131. See 1725 sentencing ringleaders TepoztlAn of of in rioting AGN, Civil, vol. .6o8, exp. 10, and Gibson,Aztecs,154, 244. 12. Bakewell,SilverMiningand Society,122; Berthe,"Las minasde oro," 126; Zavala, Tributosy serviciospersonalesde indios para Hernan Cortes y su familiar (extractosde docunentosdel siglo XVI) (Mexico City,1984), 283-289. For comparison, WilliamL. see in Sherman,"Some Aspectsof Forced Labor in Chiapas (Sixteenth Century)," El trabajo y los trabajadoresen la historiade Mexico,Elsa Cecilia Frostet al., comps. (Mexico City, CentralAmerica(Lincoln, Century 1979), 192-195,and Forced NativeLabor inl Sixteenth 1979), 158-159.

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minelabor.Blackslaveswerejoinedbylargenumbers naboindigenous of and in rHas local tributaries every facetofmining. 1576,2,300 naborHas By in wereresiding Taxco,outnumbering African the slavepopulation 6oo of and dwarfing 150 Spanishheads ofhouseholdof the reales.13Tributhe taryIndiansin the immediate Taxcoregionsupplieda good deal oflabor, as well. Those indigenous citizens employed mining in not itself supplied and fodderforthe horsesand otheranimalsused in charcoal,firewood, the reales.14 The IndiansoftheTaxcoareawerea goodsourceofminelaborbecause in theywere not primarily agriculturalists, partbecause of the difficult, rough,and dryterrain, partowingto the demandsofthe mines;it fell in to othersto meetTaxco'ssubsistence needs. Some mining entrepreneurs, such as Antonde Carmonain the 1530s, were also involved supplying in foodfortheTaxco reales.15However, foodearmarked slavesand other for seemsto have comeprincipally theform tribute workers in of collecteddirectly fiomcommunities in encomienda thesurrounding held in region.It is probablethatforeveryIndianminer slaveworking the reales,the in or efforts fiveotherIndianswere needed to supplythe requiredamount of offood,clothing, and otheressentials.16 The weeklyallotments goods of suppliedby meansofthe encomienda variedwiththe natureofthe local economy. Manywere traditional tribute prehispanic items, suchas beans, aji, chia, copal, pottery jars, salt, and above all maize. Items of native and cotton clothwere standard, clothing too. Thus in 1541,TolucanIndians held by Cortesin whatamounted an encomienda to were obliged to send the conqueror's mayordomo 24,000 cacao beans and 300 fanegasof maize to Taxco and Sultepec"for slavesofthemarques."Clothingfor the slavescame from sametypeofsource;in 1539, Cuernavaca, the whichalso owed tribute Cortes,senteightloads ofclothing his Taxco Indian to for Much of the cacao bean tribute was used to pay forthe servicesof Indian bearers who continuedto perform same kinds of tamemnes, the tasks as had theirpreconquestforerunners. 1542, forinstance,the In townof Tlaltenangowas obligatedto Cort's forthe provision 24,000 of beans to pay forthe servicesof goo tamemes "who take flour Taxco." to Tamemelabor was crucialto the openingand supplyof minesin Taxco because of the poor stateof the trailsin and out of the mountains. The
El serviciopersonal,III, 300. 14. Descripci6ndel Arzobispado,171-184.
13. Zavala,
15.

17 slaves.

indicey extractos, 34. II, MillaresCarlo and Mantec6n, were developed in the studyof the Liss, Mexico Under Spain, 187; these figures Tehuantepecmines. 17. Zavala, El serviciopersonal,I, 225-226.
16.

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evenhad largenumfor narrow erodedpathswereunsafe muletrains, and service tamerne bers of such animalsbeen available. Earlypostconquest porters had provedso onerousthatin 1528 an orderwas issued limiting goods onlywithinan orbitof to tribute servingencomenderos carrying constantly violatedthese twenty leagues of theirhomes. Encomenderos theirchargesto carrytribute goods well by strictures, however, forcing in of Bowingto reality, 1533 grants. beyondthe limits theirencomienda the tamemne to allow the use of paid law the royalauthorities modified if was Indianporters no other form transport availableand ifthe Indians of the was trueof (if were willingto servevoluntarily; former notthe latter) could theTaxcomines.Underthisnewlaw tamnernes onlybe askedtocarry to a maximum two arrobasand were to be paid according the weight of to did carried.The regulations not end abuses, but the use of tarnemes for to mining regions shipment Spain was on the way out carryore from in century everywhere New Spain, mainlyas a reby the midsixteenth availableand thedecreasing number draft of animals sultoftheincreasing number Indians.The tarnerne tribute came to an end in Taxcoin 1549.18 of As earlyas the 1530s blackand Indianslaves,naborias,and the local of cabecerashad proved tributary population therealesand thesixnearby unTaxco withadequate inexpensive, unequal to the task of supplying skilledminelabor.Accordingly, least nineteen at otherIndiancommunitiesbegan to send labor,as well as food,to Taxco. Thoughsome ofthese six were in the greater Taxcoregionitself, were in Michoacan(Cuzamala, Taimeo, Zinapecuaro,and Araro)and threewere in Jacona,Tarimbaro, the Toluca Valley (Coatepec, Metepec, and Tepemaxalco).They were to operations theirenof requiredto send levies ofworkers the mining comenderosat varying days. A good exintervals, usuallyeverythirty of ample is providedby thepueblo ofTaimeo,in the corregimiento Yetecomalin Michoacan.As of 1548, every thirty daysTaimeo'sencomendero to indiosde servicio be dispatched Taxco,alongwith to demandedtwenty and a nahuatlato had twoprincipales Each groupofworkers (interpreter). to bringfivecargas ofbeans, a certain amount chili,fivelargepottery of five jars, fivepairsofalpargatas, cakesofsalt,and ten shallowbasinsused to wash ore. Such legal servicecould weighheavilyon the communities but therealso is some evidencethatminers Taxco were able of involved, to coerce involuntary labor and servicesfrom otherIndiansoutside the remain be discovered. the of to law,though exactmechanisms thissystem
18. Ibid. Zavala notes thatToluca was obligatedto dispatch20,000 beans to pay the who takethe wood whichtheycut to the minesofTaxco and Sultepec, "Indiancommoners loads, 125, 146; on the demise of tmeinze withwhichthe ingeniosare built";on maximum tribute, 165-166.

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People from Xochimilco, instance, for had been sentto Taxco to workas woodcutters thistypeofextralegal in arrangement.'9 Mine Labor Repartimiento The natureofminelaborchangedagainby the midsixteenth century. By the early 1550S the encomiendahad ceased to be an effective source of mine workers. part,the institution fading importance In in was because ofcompeting demandsforaccess to Indianlaborby a growing numberof nonencomnenderos. epidemicdisease and the resulting But demographic declinewas the mainculprit, Taxcowas notexempt.Majoroutbreaks and in 1544-45 and 1576-77 leftonly200 encomienda Indiansin the area. In the face ofthisdrasticdecline,and at least partially responseto pleas in from affected communities havetheir to tribute obligations adjusted,many oftheoriginal townssupplying encomienda labordrafts the realeswere to givenexemptions. Moreover, amount tribute goods owed to enthe of in comenderos these communities first was by to reduced,thencommuted fixed quotas ofcash and maize.20 Other forms coerciveworkwere also harderto obtainbecause of of the changinggeneraldemographic and official situation action. In April 1551,Viceroy Velascoattacked problem illegalforced the of laborby issuing ordersprohibiting minersfromcompelling free Indians to workat Taxco as woodcutters the refineries. for Townssuch as Xochimilco stood to benefit, but similarpractices continued, anotherroyaldeprompting cree in 1552 thatall involuntary contributions food,fodder, of and fuelto the minesofNew Spain were to cease. Combinedwiththe end ofIndian and the failure the encomienda supplyadequate amounts of to of slavery labor and goods, these regulations caused an uproaramongNew Spain's mine owners,who claimedthattheywould soon lack sufficient for food theirworkers fuelto runtheirrefineries.2' and taken up by a growSome of the slack in labor was undoubtedly such freewage labor was ing naboria population.As in Peru, however, probablytoo expensiveto use in a variety heavy,unskilled, and often of betweenthe reales ofTaxco and the dangeroustasks.Another similarity
19. Gonzalez de Cossio, Tasacionesde los pueblos,scattered entries, 163-556. It is not serviceto Taxcowas forencomenderos who had minclear thatall encoimienda completely Indiansmayhave been ing operations there,thoughmanydid. In othercases encomienda mine ownersfora fee. The Tainleo encosupplyinggoods and labor to nonencomendero miendawas held jointly Gaspar Ddvila and the unnamed by wifeand children Francisco of of see Rodrigues, Zacatula(ibid., 316). On Xochimilco, Zavala, El servicio personal,II, 161. On the epidemics,see Zavala, El servicio 20. personal,III, 300; and Paso y Troncoso, "Relaci6n,"265. On tribute reductions, Gonzalez de Cossio, Tasacionesde los pueblos, see 163-166. 21. Zavala, El servicio personal,II, 161,202.

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TABLE 2: Population of the Cuernavaca Jurisdiction Figures forthe 4-percent Rule

Year
1588
1644 1692 1710 1721

Tributary population
8,1o8.o
5,313.0 5,079.0 5,628.5 6,498.5

Per week
324.32
212.52

Per year
16,864.64
11,051.04

203.16 225.14 259.4

10,564-32 11,707.28 13,488.8

for Note: None of these figures reflect exemptions givento varioustributaries age, church service,etc. Sources: 1588, Biblioteca Nacional, Fondo Reservado,Fondo Franciscano, leg. 89, exp. 1376; 1644, 1692, Jos6Miranda,"La poblaci6nindigentde M6xicoen el sigloXVII," Historia Mexicana, 12:2 (Oct.-Dec. 1962), 182-189; 1710, AGN, HJ,vol. 50, exp. 6, fol. 4r;
1721, AGN, HJ, vol. 50, exp. 6, fol. 88r (maize tribute records).

highlands of Peru worked in the miners' favor:Taxco was situated within the range of sedentary Indian population. In Peru, this meant that the mita, a tribute labor system of prehispanic origin molded to the needs of the Spanish economy, provided mining centers such as Potosi with large numbers of workers beginning in the second half of the sixteenth century. In Taxco and other central Mexican reales, mine owners could tap the repartimniento,government-controlled a drafttributelabor systemthat had begun to replace the encomienda as a source of involuntaryworkers in the 1550s. Many of the repartimientoworkersemployed at Taxco came from the adjacent Marquesado jurisdiction of Cuernavaca, though some originated in areas north of the mines and fromtowns within the greater hinterland of Taxco itself. In 1588, under a rule that communities were to provide 4 percent of their tributarypopulation per week for distribution to various private and public enterprisesby royal officials overseeing the repartimiento,the Cuernavaca jurisdiction had the potential to send a weekly levy of 324 workers, or a yearly total of 16,864 tribute laborers. By 1721, aftera period of demographic decline followed by slow recovery, the region could still potentiallymuster 259 tributariesa week, or 13,488 per year (see Table 2). While these gross figuresdo not take into account holiday periods and include an unknown number of people who would have been exempted fromthe repartimiento,the Cuernavaca jurisdiction was clearly an attractivesource of involuntary mine labor.22
at 22. On the mita,see Cole, The PotosiMita, 17-18; freeworkers Potosidemanded 307. to Also, Cole, "Abolitionism," For highwages forsuch workor refused do it outright. mines,see Bakewell,SilverMiningand Socicomparison laborin New Spain's northern to in ety, 124-125. The 4-percent rule was in place by 1587 and reaffirmed 1590; Zavala, El of recruitmnent and serviciopersonal,III, 366, 373. For a concisedescription repartimiento distribution, Gibson,Spain in America(New York,1966), 143. see

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individual tributaries New Spain'smine in The conditions servicefor of at repartimiento were closelycontrolled, least on paper, and somewhat the required less onerousthanin the mitaofPeru,whichfrom beginning to longertermsof serviceand forcedregions send muchlargerlevies of workers.The Recopilacionde Leyes is fullof laws intendedto govern minelabor.Aside from the everypossibleaspect ofIndianrepartimiento regulations stipulated thatonlytowns 4-percent rule,the moreimportant twenty leagues or closer to the mineswere liable forthe mine repartimientoand that workers could not be takenfromone type of climate a to to another, practicethought pose a serioushealthhazard. Members and of the nobility, certainhigh-level townofficers, churchfunctionaries the levy. One or a few "pious and such as cantoreswere exemptfrom were to accompany who were to be paid a workers, good" townofficers dailywage ofone, and latertwo,realsfortheirlaborand fortraveltime. Once in the mines, theywere to be treatedwell, workedonly in the and encouragedto hear daytimeand on the surface,not in the shafts, mass. Adequate housingand access to agricultural were to be made land labor endangeredthe available. Any evidence that mine repartimiento livelihood theIndiansinvolved supposedto lead to theirexemption of was from obligation.23 the is by workers seldomspelled The actuallaborperformed repartimiento out in detail. Many seem to have been employedto carrybags of ore laborunderground since out ofshafts regulations against (perhapsskirting heavy unskilled theywere not actuallydiggingore). Othersperformed and laboredin thehaciendasde minas,or taskson the surface, stillothers black slaves. Short-term reparrefineries, oftenalongsidehigher-skilled were hardto trainin the complexities smelting of timiento workers and, suffered high death toll as a refinery workers, along withwage-earning of a resultof lead poisoning(lead-laced smoke,a by-product smelting,
Peru,where reports from hearddistressing had 23. New Spain'sgovernment apparently labor in the were employed dangerous in of to from one-third three-quarters mitaworkers See Cole, The PotosiMita, 9, 12, 23-24; and Bakewell,Minersof themselves. mine shafts a have been compiledfrom variety regulations the Red Mountain,141-142. Repartimiento AGI, Patronato Real, leg. 238, no. 4, ramo2, fol. ir (New Spain, late ofsources,including AGN, Civil, vol. 16o8, exp. 10, fols.43r, 71r-83v(Cuernavacajuriscentury); sixteenth
diction, 1725); AGN, HJ, leg. 208, exp. 210 (Ticuman, Cuernavaca, 1732); AGN, Indios, vol. 4, exp. 768, fol. 221V (Iguala, 1590), vol. 29, exp. 15, fol. 20, exp. 144, fol. 124, and

(San GasparCoatlan, 1684, San Lorenzo,Cuernavaca,1686); and exp. 167, fols. 140v-141r RobertoMoreno,"R6gimende trabajoen la mineriadel siglo XVIII," in El trabajo y los

sunriseto sunsetand thattheycould notworkin the shafts, workers could laboronlyfrom pay repartimiento at one real a day,while the Indian and anotherofJune9, 1599, setting to workers the mineswereto receiveone real foreveryeightIndian alguacileswho brought Zavala, El serviciopersonal,III, 373, 389. workers;

trabajadores en la historia de Mexico, 251-252. See also an order of 1590 that repartirniento

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was inhaled by workers). For these reasons, the repartimientoquickly fell out of use in smelting, which in any event was being overshadowed by another technique better suited to the typicallylow-grade Mexican ores, the well-known "patio process." Employed at Taxco in at least twentyeight refineries 1563, it produced an easily processed amalgam of silver by and mercuryafterthe latterhad been stirredby workers,including at least some repartimientoworkers, into a slurryof mud formed from crushed ore and then heaped in vats or in a large, stone-paved yard (the "patio").24 The Impact of Repartimiento Service Repartimiento service in Taxco (known as the tlachcotequitl within the indigenous communities) had both positive and negative aspects as far as the Indians of the Cuernavaca region were concerned. On the positive side, the mines and their growing permanent and temporarypopulations continued to demand a wide varietyof goods. With the demise of the encomienda, it was increasingly left to individual producers and estates to meet this need. Indian citizens of the Cuernavaca jurisdiction, including and their wives, were tributariessubject to repartimiento,town officers, actively involved in the resulting trade, selling items of clothing, fruit, in and other foodstuffs the reales.25 An unknown number of ambitious repartimientoworkers and sometimes whole families, eager to earn more money than was possible if they stayed at home and perhaps to escape tribute obligations altogether,chose to relocate permanentlyin the mines as naborias. There they joined a growing communityof migrants from
24. Tributaries fromJonacat6pec and Xantelelcoworkedin the shafts,1619 (AGN, Indios,vol. 7, exp. 361, fol. 174r);repartimiento workers laboredin refineries, Apaztlaand Izeateopan,Zacualpan, 1735 (AGN, Indios,vol. 54, fols. loir-lo2r). And see Cole, "Abolitionism," 309. Descriptions the patio process,whichalso used a certainamountof salt of and in whichhumanstirrers were notreplacedby animalsuntilthelate eighteenth century, in can be found Bakewell,SilverMining de and Society, 139-141;Alan Probert, -Bartolom6 Medina: The Patio Processand the Sixteenth Century SilverCrisis," Journalof the West, January 1969, pp. 91-96, 104; Elias Trabulse,"Aspectos la tecnologia inineraen Nueva de Espafiaa finales sigloXVIII," HistoriaMexicana, del 30:3 (Jan.-Mar.1981),346; and Zavala, "La amalgamaen la mineria Nueva Espafia,"HistoriaMexicana,11:3 (Jan.-Mar.1962), de a scarce commodity distributed 416-421. Taxco consumeda good deal of mercury, costly, in was used, the highest amountofanyof New Spain's mining centers thatyear(Zavala, El serviciopersonal,III, 320). had itsoblisuch 25. See scattered information, as evidencethatthetownofMayanald in to gation send maize to Taxcolimited theviceroy 1590,in AGN, Indios,vol. 3, exp. 38, by of from fol.9 and othervolumesand expedientes thissame ramio. Townofficers Tepoztlhn sold clothing, some of it made by theirwives, 1725 (AGN, Civil, vol. 16o8, exp. 10, fols. jurisdiction, customarily traveled Taxco to sell to 135r-141r); people ofCoatlan,Cuernavaca sugarcane, 1591(AGN, Indios,vol. 3, exp. 488, fol. 133v).
under royal monopoly. In 1590 1,171 quintales, 50 libras, valued at over 209,000 pesos,

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Michoacin,and Oaxaca, and from Malinalco,Acapulco,theTolucaValley, and otherreales suchas Sultepec,Temascaltepec, Pachuca.26 not their were enjoyedby individuals, Most such materialbenefits On mine communities. balance, the impactofthe minesand involuntary was jurisdiction negapeople ofthe Cuernavaca labor on the indigenous citizens when theydecided to remain lost tive. Communities productive at workers returned home,towns least in the reales. Even ifrepartimiento for tribute payersand workers local community temporarily potential lost without adultmales during any found themselves projects.Manyfamilies to calendar,leavingthemhard-pressed crucialperiodsofthe agricultural contracted Wivesofabsentworkers produceenoughfoodforsustenance. tribute, supplies,and forother for debts in orderto pay the monetary whenhusbandsreto expenses. Maritaldiscordis reported have resulted thesedebts. the the sumsto pay off turnedfrom mineswithout necessary and Indiantownofficers, Spanishofficials, evenpriests local Unscrupulous wereawayin Taxco. of tookadvantage womenwhosehusbands sometimes in In 1631,twelvewomenofCuernavacacomplained a Nahuatl-language petitionthat the FranciscanfriarNicolhsde Origuen"puts us [in the homesof Spaniards]whenour spouseshave goneto Taxco.... We work don as slaves;we are lockedup." Cuernavaca's indigenous governor, Juan were secularaid to the priest, de Hinojosa,as well as thefiscal,thechief in also said to have benefited thisway.27 citizensviewed the problem Municipalleaders and local indigenous but terms, in a morallightas well. Absent not onlyin legal and material weakenwere regardedas "runaways," tributaries theirdependents and its ing the fabricof the town and threatening substanceand survival, a base ceased to be a recogwithout firm fora municipality population harshpunishment pueblo. Surprisingly nized, legal, and self-governing meted out to would-be"runaways" towncouncils,at by was sometimes members.According family times,it seems, at the behest of remaining in rosterof prisoners Cuernavaca'sjail in 1607, to a Nahuatl-language she "CatalinaCenahuatlofOtlipan[wasjailed] because she left, ranaway for to Taxco. She did wrongin her calpulli [district], her motherdid
de Santa Prisca, Taxco: Defunciones, leg. 1, fols. ir-132r, 1700-1733. For typical Indian and Society,125; Mexicanmines,see Bakewell,SilverMining wagesin thenorthern miners'

de Roll Microfilm 691934,Archivo Parroquia 26. GenealogicalSocietyofUtah Library

of and component the pepena, "a bagful highqualityore suitable theyincludeda monetary were permitted collect forthemselves to once theyhad which mineworkers forsmelting the fulfilled day'stequio [quota]." and Oaxtepec relatedto the Taxco repardiscordin Tepoztldn 27. Reportsof marital of 1725 (AGN, Civil, vol. 1659, exp. 6, fol. 14r);femalepetitioners Cuernavaca timiento, of complainedabout the wrongdoing frayNicolksde Origuen, 1631 (AGN, HJ, leg. 59,
exp. 3, fols. 15r-15v, 17r-i8v, 23r).

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was notknowofit." Perhapseven moreunfortunate AngelinaCoxcahua, jailed in place of her husband,afiscal, because he "did not come back Such problems were especially acutein thepopulouscentral and eastern regionsof the Cuernavacajurisdiction, whichwould normally have been beyondthe legallyspecified limitoftwenty leagues. But the labor needs ofthe silverminesand the influence the mineownersoverrode of these legal niceties;thougharoundthirty leagues from Taxco, Oaxtepec andTepoztlanwerecompelledto sendlabordrafts the from latersixteenth to century the end of the 1720S. The negotiation long distances,bad of roads, and dangerousrivers(raging torrents thatcould sweep away unlucky travelers during rainy the season)added daysoftravel timeto either end of repartimiento workers' sojourns.As in Peru, this led to a situationin whichthe absencesofrepartimiento groupsoverlapped,meaning the effective oftwiceas manypeople from community legally loss the as specified.29 The repartimiento a burdenon the local populationin another was way, especially in the sixteenthand seventeenth-century of coneras tinuedindigenous decline. Since quotaswere set everyfive demographic years,at best, population loss or epidemicscould drastically reduce the actualnumber workers of availablefor drafts a short the in time.Yet unless it was speciallyadjusted,the4-percent quota remained unchanged, forcing people to servelongertermsthanrequiredor to workrepeatedly in theminesthroughout year.Once again,thecommunity individual the and were losers,as productive families maleswereabsentforlongperiods. That townssendingrepartimiento drafts Taxcowere notusuallyexto emptedfrom otherforms laborobligations of could increasethe tensions withina community whose humanresourceswere thus spread thin. In the 1570S Cuernavaca'ssujeto of Itzteyuca was sendingweeklylevies of workers a local sugarmill. At least some of these people were given to the additional dutyoftransporting sugarand molassesto Taxco. In 1590, thetributaries Cuernavaca's of sujetoofGuauhchichinold balkedwhenthe villa's governor triedto dispatch6 workers week to a local Spanish per estateat the same timethe guardianofthe monastery Tlaquiltenango of wantedaccess to 2 workers week,all ofthison top oftheirobligation per to send workers Taxco. A classiccase ofthissortinvolvedthe townof to its Yautepeca yearearlier.It dispatched weekly quotaofio8 tributaries to
28. "Here is made manifest the criminals all who are arrestedand jailed," Nahuatl recordfrom Cuernavaca,about 1607(AGN, HJ,leg. 210, exp. 71). See Oaxtepec and Tepoztldnv. the Taxco repartimiento, 29. 1725 (AGN, Civil, vol. 1659,exp. 6, fols.16r-17v). similar For in problems other areas,see Sherman, ForcedNative Labor, 340, and Stern,Peru'sIndianPeoples,87-88.

[fromTaxco."28

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severalenterprises, including workers the minesofTaxco, 15 to the 2o to minesofCuautla, 68 to the CortesingenioofTlatenango, to a labrador 6 named AntonUbias, 6 to the hospitalin Oaxtepec,6 to a wheat estate, and 6 to a millbelonging the marquesin CuautlaAmilpas.30 to Town officers responsibleforfulfilling weeklyrepartimiento quotas in often foundthemselves a doublebind. If theyfailedto provideenough workers theycould be punished thecolonialauthorities. by This led town notables,such as a quartetofofficers from Cuernavaca's Tlapalandistrict in 1607, to seek expandedsources laborfor mining of the The draft. Tlapalan notablestriedto maintain theirown exemptions (noblesdid not have to serve in the repartimiento) even while removing those of others,in thiscase churchworkers, butcher thathe does the Taxco including a "so whichhe nevercarries tribute, out."3' While thissortof self-serving swell the numbers maneuvering might in ofavailabletributaries, was almost it guaranteed result poorrelations to as willbe seen below,violent (and, confrontation) betweenIndiangoverntheir ments,the governed, and even local Spaniardsanxiousto maintain own access to Indianworkers. 1607 officers Otlipan,another of CuerBy navacan district, who had been jailed at one pointforfailureto comply withthe repartimiento quota, succeeded in gainingthe kindof permischurchworkers sion to draft thathad been sought theircolleaguesin by was its Tlapalan. The resulting situation nota happyone forthe district, discoveredthata churchcook had leaders, or its people. When a friar allowed his youngerbrother, stilla child, to be sent to Taxco, the enhe raged cleric "hit [the cook], he whippedhim repeatedly, spun him around."At the same time,otherchurchworkers, and the like cantors, were being protected the religious, the officers by prompting district to and others] be requestthatan investigation made to see if"they[cantors are able to singor read or play musicalinstruments." petitioners The referred all ofthisas "our suffering theTaxco tribute." with to Clearly,the of as and of visibility town officers enforcers repartimiento regulations, in theiroccasionalcorruption use ofcoercion, createdinternal or conflict
many communities.32
341; for the same in Guauhchichinola, 1590, see AGN, Indios, vol. 4, exp. 489, fol. 149r; existed situation and forYautepecsee Zavala, El serviciopersonal,III, 509-510. A similar

personages, y 1576,see Zavala, Tributos servicios servicein Itzteyuca, 30. For multiple

the in 1583 when the townof Izuco (in the modernstateof Guerrero), sourceforsome of for workers public the Cort6sIndian slaves,complainedthatit had to send repartimiento in buildingconstruction Iguala, morethanfiveleagues away,to the minesofTaxco, and to workon theirown public buildings.They also had to worktheircropsto feed themselves personal,III, 771). (Zavala,El servicio and pay theirtribute del 31. Four noblesofTlapalan,Cuernavaca,to the Gobernador Estado, about 1607 (a AGN, HJ,leg. 210, exp. 46, fol.1r). Nahuatlpetition, of of 32. Officers Otlipan to the chiefadministrator the Cortes estate, about 1607 (a

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In the minesthemselves repartimiento workers foundthattheywere notalways"treated well" in accordancewiththe law,a dispiriting reality in of treatalso found theminesofcolonialPeru. The precisequality their ofcourse,dependedon suchthings the pressures production as of ment, and cuadrilla and thepersonalities individual of mineowners supervisors. In general, workers whatcan onlybe however, repartimiento experienced describedas brutaland dehumanizing some of it intentional, treatment, were someofita by-product theconditions minelabor.Andworkers of of withaccess rarely giventhe housingrequiredby law,muchless provided to agricultural land.33 Testimony a curateofOaxtepecin 1725 is especially by revealing far as are as repartimiento laboringconditions concerned;mostofwhathe decomscribedhad been truefrom beginning. the After hearingnumerous plaintsfrom Indianparishioners witnessing resultsfirst his and the hand, he reported thatwhippings otherforms corporal and of punishment were not onlyin the minesthemselves on the road as well, bebut common, cause the low-levelSpanishofficials to urgeworkers sent alongthe roads to the mines were notoriously liberalin theiruse of the lash. Workers were hardlyever paid fortraveltime.At the reales theydid not receive anywages untilthe so-calleddia de raya whichmarkedthe end oftheir terms service.This forced of themto maintain themselves withtheirown moneyand provisions (called by the Indiansitcatl),a veryreal hardship, since pricesat the minestendedto be inflated. Moreover, once pay was receiveditwas generally and a half one finally realsinstead therequired of two. That is, ifit was everreceivedat all, forthe curatealleged thatfolor lowingunofficial policytheguardarninas, minelaborsupervisors, tried to scare off workers beforethe arrival the dia de raya and the disbursof ing of pay. Witnessesreportedthatworkers injuredin the mines were dismissedbeforereceiving theirmoneyor in othercases forcedto work despitetheirinjuriesas long as possiblebeforethe dia de raya and their dismissal.34
Nahuatlpetition,AGN, HJ, leg. 210, exp. 28, fol. 1r). For similar problemsin Peru, see 33. For specific descriptions thepoorconditions of facing mitalaborin Peru, see Cole, The PotosiMita, 24-25, 30-31; and Stern,Peru'sIndian Peoples,84-88. See AGN, Civil, exp. 100, fols.71r-83v,fora complaint regarding housing from Tetelilla,1725. 34. The curateof Oaxtepec to the colonialauthorities, 1725 (AGN, Civil, vol. 1659, exp. 6, fols. 16r-17v).For earlierreferences mistreatment poor laboringconditions to and in the mines, see AGN, Indios, vol. 6, 2d part,exp. 647, fol. 147r (Hueyxtaca,modern Guerrero,1592); and Indios, vol. 3, exp. 560, fol. 133v, and vol. 6, exp. 1039, fol. 281r (Nocht6pec,1591,and Cuitlapan,1591,bothmodern various forms illegalserof Guerrero): vice were required,including forcing womento workin refineries. earliercomplaints For thatworkers were notbeing paid, see AGN, Indios,vol. 5, exp. 63, fol.87r,and exp. 704, fol.260v (Teticpac,modernGuerrero, Peru'sIndianPeoples,86, speaksof 1590-91). Stern, similar withmitapay,or the lackofit. problems connected
Cole, "Abolitionism," 310-312.

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Most sinister and damaging were the effectsof the oftenonerous, unfamiliar,and physically dangerous work expected of repartimientolabor. Death records from Taxco, though not particularlyforthcoming,sometimes relate that it was not possible to administer the last rites to Indian mine workerswhen theyhad died in an accident or cave-in. Despite regulations to the contrary,workersfromareas of the Cuernavaca jurisdiction that had a radically different climate fromTaxco labored in the mines, which could reportedly result in sickness. In addition, ore from Taxco's mines contained sulfurand other toxic substances. These noxious ingredients were encountered by tributariesforced to carryore out of the shafts, as well as while laboring around ore crusherson the surface. Anyone working in the shafts and refinerieswould have risked inhaling dust, which ailments.35 could lead to silicosis, pneumonia, and other respiratory Mercury poisoning, of course, represented the worst hazard in refineries. Although refineryowners and governmentofficialscontinually downplayed its adverse effects,they were painfullyclear to the workers themselves and to their supporters(although they oftenincorrectlyattribin uted illness to differences climate). According to the curate ofOaxtepec, tributaries who waded through what he called "aguas metdlicas," which may refer to the mercury-laced slurryof the patios, sufferedeverything frompain to complete loss of movement and feeling in their legs. Others experienced lung damage, developed terribleheadaches, or sufferedfrom sudden nosebleeds. All of these are classic symptomsof mercurypoisoning, which could end in death or at least cripplingforlife.36 workersreturned The upshot was that a large number of repartimiento home with littleor no pay, some having spent more in the mines than they earned, others ejected on a pretext before the dia de raya had arrived. These were the lucky ones. Others came home injured frommining accireceived at the hands dents, frommishaps on the road, frommistreatment the effectsof mercury poisoning. The of labor supervisors, or suffering latter were too ill to work their own fields for some time and lingered in a nether world of failinghealth, unable to feed their own families or earn enough to pay their tribute. Some returned home only to succumb to the and die before their grief-stricken relatives. poisoning, to suffer
Roll of Microfilm 691934, see Society UtahLibrary 35. For deathrecords, Genealogical leg. 1, fols.11-1321, 1700-1733. de Archivo Parroquiade SantaPrisca,Taxco: Defunciones, see For reportsof "aguas metdlicas" AGN, Civil, vol. 1659, exp. 6 (Oaxtepec, 1725). See Las also AlvaroL6pez Miramontes, minasde Nueva Espaha en 1753 (Mexico City,1975), 149-150. 30; and Bakewell,MinersoftheRed Mountain, 36. Curate of Oaxtepec to the colonialauthorities (AGN, Civil, vol. 1659, exp. 6, fol. 16r-17v).Stern,Peru's Indian Peoples, 85, speaks of similarhealthhazards in the mines ofPeru.

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Repartimiento Resistance The poor conditions laborand the tensions of placed on family and community offresistance set almostas soon as the Taxco repartimiento was instituted. Some townssimplyrefused send the requiredworkers.A to largernumber brought to gainmorecontrol suit overthe drafts, claiming thattheircommunities were beyondthe legal geographic limitofservice to the minesor thatrepartimiento officials wereforcing reserved people, townofficers, join thedrafts. 1587 thetownofAlahuiztlan, to In including populatedby"indiossalineros" for important thesupply thiscritical of elementin the refining process,won exemption the from Taxco labor draft. Butthemajority suchsuits,mostofthem of preserved abbreviated in form in the Indios collectionof the ArchivoGeneralde la Nacion in Mexico City,centeredaroundarguments a giventownin the Cuernavacaor that Taxco regionwas being compelledto send workers excess ofthe legal in 4-percent limit.37 Thereapparently enough was truth most thesepetitions prompt in of to directives thatthejuez repartidor Taxco (official chargeof repartiof in miento collection assignment) to cease demanding and was excessivenumbers ofworkers refrain and in from reserved forcing people to participate the repartimniento. the widespread But instances "resistive of adaptation" the through manipulation thecolonialcourtsystem bymeansofvariof or ous forms extralegal of evasionactually the townsonly brought affected limitedrelief(thatis, if the legal strictures were enforcedat all). They were able to reduce theirobligations notend them.Nonetheless, but the resistancein centralMexico by the end of the spread of repartimiento sixteenth alarmedNew Spain'smineowners. century They respondedwitha massivelawsuitintended amongotherthings to preserveor even to strengthen mine repartimiento, case that the a made it to the Council of the Indies and kingin Spain. In i6oo finally don Alonsode Ofiate,the chiefprocurador actingforthe mine owners, claimedthatthe principal the was problem affecting minesand refineries a lack of workers.Contrasting situation Potosi,whichhe alleged the in was amplysuppliedwiththousands workers thanks rigorous of to crown
37. Officers Taxcoel viejowereaccusedofkeeping of workers back, 1591 (AGN, Indios, vol. 5, exp. 739, fol. 267r). For suitsnot citingthe 4-percent rule, see Zavala, El seravicio from modern personal,III, 366, 373. Also,petitioners Acarnixtla, Guerrero, claimedthatit was morethan20 leagues from the mines,1590 (AGN, Indios, vol. 4, exp. 270, fol. 92r); towncouncilsofTenango,1591,and Iguala, 1590,modern Guerrero, assertedthatreserved people were being compelledto give repartimiento serviceat Taxco (AGN, Indios, vol. 3, exp. 327, fol. 75, and vol. 4, exp. 768, fol. 221v). For good examplesof the suits citing the 4-percent rule from townofTecpantzingo, the Cuernavaca,in 1590, see AGN, Indios, vol. 4, exp. 809, fol.221; from Pilcayo,modern in Guerrero, 1591,see AGN, Indios,vol. 3, exps. 559 and 561, fols.133v-134r.

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decrees and labor enforcement,the miners of central Mexico could rely on only i6oo tributariesper week. This situation existed because of the distance limit imposed on the New Spain repartimientoand could also be laid at the door of the Indians themselves, who had an unfortunatepropensity to move away fromthe mining region to avoid the repartimiento. More sinister,perhaps, was the tendency of town officers "hide" potento tial workers from Spanish officialsduring census periods. According to the procurador, if left to themselves the Indians would do no constructive work at all because they were naturally"vice-ridden" and drunkards, and they hated all formsof labor. To counter these difficulties, the mine owners requested that the crown make all Indian communities liable to the mine repartimiento no matter how far they were from the mining areas, that the weekly quota of workersbe increased, and that Indians be congregated in the reales ratherthan in traditionalindigenous communities. Since everyone knew that mine labor was not physically harmfulin any way, the repartimientolaborers, theirfamilies,and theircommunities could only benefit fromthe extra money earned at the mines. Moreover, they would come into sustained contact with the Catholic faithby being compelled to attend mass regularly.38 The ethnocentricand self-serving argumentsofthe mine owners failed to win the requested concessions. But the importance of silver mining to the imperial economy and the influence of the miners did sway the crown to elaborate on the regulationsconcerning repartimiento mine labor; many of the pertinent regulatorystatutes seem to have assumed their finalform just afterthe turn of the seventeenth century. On the local scene, if the existing documentary record is any reflection, mine owners and local were apparently encouraged to enforce and oftenexceed Spanish officers existing regulations with more vigor than before. From the Indian standpoint nothinghad improved. If the miners had failed to expand the repartimientoobligation, they had prompted government officialsto give existing regulations more teeth. Repartimiento workers and their communities continued to be exposed to the rigors of mine labor, which bore no resemblance to the rosy misrepresentations contained in the mine owners' suit. In the face of this situation,the efforts of the Cuernavaca jurisdiction's Indians to evade the repartimiento, admittedly better preserved in documentary form than before, increased. The formsrepartimientoresistance assumed say as much about the inter-

nal tensionscreatedby the obligation theydo about the antipathy as of citizens the Cuernavaca'sindigenous toward Taxcotribute.

38. Don Alonsode Ofiateon behalfof the mineownersof New Spain to the crown, June14, 16oo, followedby witnesstestimony (AGI, Audienciade M6xico,leg. 258, fols.
176v-178r, 231r-235v).

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werecreative. Individual responses wereas variedas they Somepeople withparticipation the draft, in who had been livingforyears threatened claimedto be mestizos and therefore as Indians,suddenly exempt.This was truein 1607 of Cristobalde la Cruz, who traveled from Cuernavaca to Taxco sellingflowers who had suddenly but been forcedintothe mine repartimiento. a spiritedNahuatlpetition(whichperhaps puts his In ethnic claimsin doubt)theself-professed ofa Spaniardalleged thathe son had been illegally and that,since forcedto go to Taxcoforthreemonths makefun me whenI meet "know whomyfather they of other Spaniards is, was able to end his "shameful" them."Whetheror not Cristobal obligaThe status-conscious tionis unknown. indigenous nobility were especially threatened a not dissimilar by strategy employed otherrepartimiento by evaders. A Nahuatlpetitiondated 1607 fromnotablesof Cuernavaca's Analco district claimed thatmanyyoungcommoners not make the "do ... Theyjust live in idlenessand pretendto be Taxco repartimiento. us nobles. They have multiplied on the census record."Some of these of people were apparently dependents perhapsillegitimate (or offspring) two authentic members the elite,who were protecting of themfrom the labordrafts.39 If such ploys succeeded, theywould not only upset the social and ethnicbalance of the Indiancommunities diminish pool of availbut the able tributaries well, making even moredifficult townofficers as it for to supplytheirSpanishoverlords withthe requiredleviesofworkers. Many councils already riskedcensureforthis reason,because tributaries (or and families continued embracethetraditional to allegedtributaries) their affected Nahuatlpetitions from expedientof fleeingfrom municipalities. thosenotnecessarily addresseddirectly the issue of officers, including to the mine labor drafts, asked, "Andwho will pay the Taxco tribute when the commoners Such complaints have run away?"40 continuedinto the
1607 (a Nahuatlpetition, AGN, HJ,leg. 210, exp. 31, fol.ir). Cole, The PotosiMita, 34-35,

administrator the Marquesadodel Valle, about of 39. Crist6balde la Cruz to the chief

from Analco,Cuernavaca, uncoveredthe use ofthissame kindofployin Peru. Petitioners AGN, HJ,leg. 210, exp. 47, fol. to the Gobernador Estado, 1607(a Nahuatldocument, del ir). Similaranxiety thatcommoners would become sociallymobilebecause of the colonial in from profits the system, thiscase because theycould buy theirway intothe nobility in the of cochinealtrade,is evidencedin an extract from cabildo minutes Tlaxcala, March3, 1553, in The TlaxcalanActas: A Compendium the Recordsof the Cabildo of Tlaxcala of Frances Berdan,and Arthur 0. Anderson J. (1545-1627), trans.and ed. JamesLockhart, (Salt Lake City,1986),79-84. and sevfrom Nexpa, Tetecala, Tlaquiltenango, 40. Petitioners Jojutla, Teocaltzingo, del to eral othercommunities the Gobernador Estado, 1619(AGN, HJ,leg. 266, exp. 6, fol. in can from womenofCuernavaca, ten 41r). Similar sentiments be found a Nahuatlpetition thatbecause oftheTaxcorepartimiento an objectionable and priest who in 1630complained will of "many yourvassalswillrunawayand yourtribute be lost"(AGN, HJ,leg. 59, exp. 3, fol. 15).

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1720S. Officers Oaxtepec,Tepoztlin,and theirsujetosspoke of many of families who had leftthe jurisdiction avoid the Taxco repartimiento. to Even though flight uprooted migrants the from their known world,leaving thosewho remainedbehindto takeup the slack,it was probably one of the mosteffective methods avoiding Taxcoduty.4' of the Some unscrupulous officers exploited theirown gain the desire of for commoners escape thelabordraft, to souring internal community relations in the process. In early eighteenth-century Cuernavaca,a juez named don Hip6litoMendez and don Melchorde Hinojosa,the villa'sgovernor, chargedall thosewishing be exempted a to from labor draft twentythe real fee.42 Though apparently a following tradition datingfromat least the earlyseventeenth this the century, pair so overstepped boundsofexpected behaviorthat the matter was takento courtby politicalrivals. collectedat the timeallegedthatthe officers Testimony used some ofthe moneyto hire substitutes pocketedthe rest.The fee system and clearly favoredindividuals who could afford assessment. the Less well-off tributarieswho managedto pay suchfeeshad to scrapetogether moneyat the a cost to theirown and their families' to ability meetotherobligations. The litigation exposedtheCuernavaca scampointsonce again that fee to social divisiveness created by the mine repartimiento efforts and to evade thishatedlabordraft. ifschism But and socialconflict marked some ofthe efforts evade the Taxco labortribute, to others were modelsofcoa and operation.Town councilsthatmanagedto preserve unitedfront to the appear to act in the commongood were in the best position fight to repartimiento. Theyhad the resources hirelawyers, to and manycouncil memberswere well versedin the manipulation the law and the court of As when census systemto theirown benefit.43 in the sixteenth century, takersor repartidores townofficers anxiousto prearrived, sympathetic serve theirmunicipalities' with to demographic integrity, avoid conflicts ownaccess to tribute theirsubjects,and undoubtedly retain their to labor, hid repartimiento evaders. The people of Tlaydcac,supportedby their local towncouncil,attempted reducetheir to quotato nothing appointby ing nearlyall male tributaries theexempt to postofcantor.It is notclear how long theyhad carriedon withthisploybeforeit was discoveredin 41. Petitioners from Tepoztlanand itssujetos,including Xocotitlan, 1725 (AGN, Civil, vol. i6o8, exp. io); petitioners from Oaxtepecand TepoztlAn the authorities, to 1725 (AGN, Civil, vol. 1659, exp. 6, fols. 1r-5v, 16r-L7v). Flightwas a common form resistancein of Peru as well; see Cole, The PotosiMita,26. 42. The Marquesado v. don Hip6lito Mendez and don Melchor de Hinojosa, 1716 (AGN, Criminal, vol. 39, exp. 26, fols.523v-5281, 5351-540r).Similarabuses at the hands ofAndeankurakas have been identified Cole, "Abolitionism," by 311. 43. Indians fighting mita in Peru used similartactics.See Stern,Pei-uI's the Indian Peoples, 1 i7ff

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1725, but it may have been a factorin their abilityto win exemption from the repartimientoin the midseventeenthcentury.44 Some of the traditionalargumentsused in the sixteenthcentury continued to be employed by councils as they turned to the court system forredress, especially those alleging harmfulclimatic differencesand distances between the town in question and the mines that exceeded the twenty-leaguelimit. Certain communitiesthat really were farbeyond the limit, such as Yecapixtla, Huautla, and Tlayacac, won complete exemption fromthe Taxco repartimientoin the midseventeenth century.45 The invocation of the 4-percent rule also continued to serve some towns well into the early eighteenth century; many municipalities won a reduction of their obligation, a growing number even total exemption, when their populations were found to be smaller than theywere represented as being in the currentcensus.46 Officiallitigantsstill argued that the Taxco repartimientowas harmful to subsistence and livelihood because their tributarieswere already involved in other formsoftributeservice. Two town elders fromCuernavaca in or around 1607 asserted in a Nahuatl-language petition to the gobernador del estado (chief administrativeofficerof the Cort6s estate) that their communitywas involved in unspecified "services to Spaniards, . . . the Taxco labor tribute, the church service tribute [teopantequitl], and [other] repartimientoservice." Such claims were oftenquite true. By the early seventeenth century, many towns of the Cuernavaca jurisdiction were sending levies of workers to the desagiie project in the basin of Mexico. Communities along the highway to the port of Acapulco were obliged to give food, shelter, and bearers to convoys of settlers, convicts, and groups of militaryon their way to the Philippines. Still other towns were obligated to send some workersto the mines of Taxco and others to the mines of the Reales de Cuautla in the royal jurisdiction of Amilpas
of 44. Investigation Tlaydcac,1725 (AGN, Civil,vol. i6o8, exp. 1o). 45. On Yecapixtla, Huautla,and Tlaydcac, AGN, Civil,vol. i6o8, exp. 10, fol.431. see For comparison, Linda Newson,"SilverMiningin ColonialHonduras," see Revistade Historiade Amnerica, (Jan.-June 97 1984),6o-6i, who reports thatin Honduras, wherethelegal quota was 25 percentoftheadultmale tributary population, menfrom repartimiento towns beyondthe twenty-league limitalso resisted flight through by or whatSpaniardsidentified as "insubordination laziness."This problem was said to be increasing the eighteenth and in century, someminers and beganpaying Indianworkers cash advancesto keep themcoming. 46. For recordsofrepartimiento reductions, AGN, Indios,vol. ii, exp. 25, fol. 191 see (Mazatepec, 1638),and exp. 311, fol.253v (Coatlan,1639). For totalexemption, AGN, see Indios,vol. ii, fol. 146r(Guauxintlan, 1639),vol. 29, exp. 59, fols.65r-66v(Chalcatzingo, 1685), exp. 283, fols. 233r-234r(Alpuyeca,Santa Ana Mazeala, SantiagoGuchuso,all exand Huichilac,1687),exp. emptedbetween1656and 1663),exp. 285, fol.235 (Quaxomulco 288, fols.236v-237r(Amacuzac,1687);AGN, Civil, vol. i6o8, exp. 10, fol. 105 (Tlaydcac, in 1725). All ofthe ploysdiscussedin thisparagraph were used by litigants Peru; see Stern, Peru'sIndian Peoples, 117.

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that split the Cuernavaca Marquesado holdings almost in two. Cuernavaca itselfled the effort be relieved of at least some of these obligations and to succeeded in receiving a modest reduction fromthe authorities.47 The most effectiveand thereforemost popular argument was something of an innovation. It invoked regulations excusing towns frommine repartimientoduty iftheir churches were in need of attention.Town after town alleged that its church had been ruined in an earthquake or was otherwise in need of extensive repair. This vital work, of course, would require the services of all available tributaries,and towns asked foran exemption fromthe mine repartimientoforthe period of time required for the church repair or rebuilding. In fact, exemptions of fromone to four years' duration were granted, and in some cases town councils successfullywon nearly indefiniteextensions by claiming that the work had not yet been completed when the initial exemption expired. Indian litigants in such cases were oftensupported by local curates, Marquesado officials, and even local estate owners, none of whom were overly anxious to see large numbers of potential workers removed from the area. Moreover, many churches were indeed in need of repair.48 Crisis in the 1720S A major slump in silver production at Taxco beginning in the second half of the seventeenth century must have reduced the reales' labor needs and undoubtedly helped Indian communities win exemption or at least a reduction of their repartimiento obligations.49Even so, the mines of Taxco needed some draftlabor during this period, and towns with large populations or those within the twenty-leaguelimitcontinued to be comto pelled to send workers despite their efforts evade the obligation. Yet the successes of towns that had won exemption spurred on others, and
47. The elders JuanHuitznahuatl and FranciscoTlayollotlatl the Gobernadordel to Estado, about 1607 (AGN, HJ,leg. 210, exp. 50, fol. ir). See information about the obligationsof Cuernavacaand itssujetos,1641(AGN, Indios,vol. 13, exp. 179, fols. 163v-L65r). For similarcases see a Nahuatlpetition a from Cuernavaca,1607, requesting reduction of tributeduties because the villa's tributaries mustgive such a large variety such service of (AGN, HJ,leg. 210, exp. 50); and a i6i8 complaint from Tlaltizapan, Ticuman,and Iztoluca thattheymustsend workers the minesof Taxco and Cuautla at the same time (AGN, to Indios, vol. 7, exp. 298, fol. 144r). 48. The AGN collectionsIndios and Hospitalde Jesushave manyexamplesof such cases. Tlaltizapan,Ticuman,and Iztolucawon a reduction their of Taxcoobligations one for i6i8 (AGN, Indios,vol. 7, exp. 298, fol. 144r); Coatlhn yearto workon theirchurches, won a four-year exemption, 1684 (AGN, Indios,vol. 29, exp. 15, fols.i8, 20); and a late example from Ticuman,1732 (AGN, HJ,leg. 208, exp. 220). Stern,Peru'sIndian Peoples, 120, finds a similar willingness local Spaniardsto protect of theiraccess to laborby aidingIndiansin theirstruggle exemption the for from mita. 49. Brading,Minersand Merchants, 9.

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litigation reached had century antirepartimiento by the earlyeighteenth by a crescendo. This climaxcoincidedwith renewed efforts the mine to a ownersofTaxco,who seem to havebeen experiencing mildrecovery, As of workers. faras themineowners securelarger numbers repartimiento and of were concerned,thismeantthe revocation exemptions morerigbetween of orousenforcement the labordraft. the 1720S, the conflict By Cuernavaca'sIndian municipalities the mine ownershad reached a and crisispoint. from powerful Taxco was to the The catalyst a 1724 petition theviceroy mine owner don Franciscode la Borda. He claimed that the townsof in and itssiJetos, were the Cuernavacajurisdiction, particular Tepoztlhn whichhad been renewed obligations, actively evadingtheirrepartimiento in all late in 1723 when a viceregalorderrevoked exemptions the face of from increasing labor demandsin the mines. Despite bittercomplaints to the councilsofthe affected towns, someofwhichhad refused comply, in resulted an orderfor new censusfrom a finally de la Borda'spetitioning calculations could be derived.In so doing, whichthe correct4-percent de la Borda and the authorities unwittingly had opened a Pandora'sbox The ofdiscontent litigation.50 processbegan innocently and enoughin the foundthatthe townsof Guaxomulco springof 1725, when investigators and Huichilacwere too farawayfrom Taxcoand recommended thatthey be exempted from repartimiento. the The councilsofothertownsnow realizedthatthey, too, could use the in to came forward spreadinginvestigation theiradvantage.Petitioners the numbers claimthattheywere too farfrom mines,were to increasing in different Taxco's,wereforced neglect from to radically situated climates theirchurchesbecause of the repartimiento, were spread thintrying or of and serviceobligations, whichthe of to complywitha variety tribute and was Taxcorepartimiento themostdemanding unjust.Spanishofficials worked the of basis, through morass claimson a case-by-case methodically of thatofothers, and completely the sustaining obligation some,reducing still for theydeexempting others.Unfortunately thepeace ofthe region, the werenotvalid,even though villawas cided thatTepoztlin'sassertions come draft. for Theyhad probably just beyondthe legal limit the mining to thisdecisionbecause, unlikesome ofthe exemptedtowns,Tepoztlin and its sujetos stillrepresented ofthe morepopulousmunicipalities one one of the regionand therefore of the best sourcesformine labor. But eliteand the the Spaniardshad overlooked fact the that Tepoztldn's ruling
50. Viceroy'srevocation, December 1723 (AGN, Civil, 1505, exp. 3, fols. 27v-31v). from1602 through de The massiveand informative la Bordacase, withdata running 1729, information thisstudy(AGN, Civil, vol. i6o8, for has alreadyprovidedmuch important exp. io).

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body of its commoners had been rivenin two since 1691 by a virulent betweenfactions struggle within ruling the eliteopposingand supporting the repartimiento obligation. The prorepartimiento faction had traditionally been headed by the a powerful suppliedTepoztlinwithsome Rojas family, clan thatregularly ofitsmostinfluential controversial and The indigenous governors. Rojases and theirallies had a history compelling of workers go to Taxco by reto sorting variousforms coercion,the mostobjectionable whichwas to of of to jail tributaries the eve of theirscheduleddeparture the mines on for to ensure theirparticipation. They were knownto chargetributaries a fee twenty-real forexemption, muchas their colleaguesin Cuernavaca had done. A Rojas ally, the governor don NicoldsCortes,had been accused in 1711ofreceivingcash kickbacks Taxco'smineowners supplyfrom for ing repartimiento The opposingfaction fighting workers. was the against demandsofoutsideforces, moreaccess to poweron thelocal level,and for foran end to the abuses of the Rojas clan. It was an explosivesituation thatmay have led to the murder the governor of don NicoldsCort6s(he was thrown intoa ravine)and finally eruptedin a seriesofriotsin the fall As of late 1720 the crisismomentarily seemed to have been defused when a Rojas governor, perhapstiredofthe endlesspoliticalstrife the in villa, won an exemption Tepoztlin on the basis of the dire need of for repairofone ofitsprincipal churches. This interlude peace ended with of the viceroy's revocation the exemption 1723 and the renewedpresof in sure to supplyworkersthatfollowed.Tepoztlin was unable to supply the requiredworkers incitedtribubecause the rivalfaction successfully taries to refuseto go to the mines. Litigation mountedon both sides untilAugust1725,when thengovernor Nicolhsde Rojas reverted don to emboldenedby the presenceof an armed recaudador type. Apparently de indios de Taxco, a Spanishofficial sent to escortthe workers the to reales, on the night August15 he had all the liable tributaries of arrested and lodged in the villa'sjail pendingtheir for departure the mines. It was not to be, forafter day ofunrestin towna crowdofperhaps a Indianmenand womenattacked jail and freedtheprisoners. the fifty The nextday,several hundred womenand menarmedwith rocks, cudgels,machetes,and knivesblockedthe road betweenTepoztlinand Cuernavaca. Othersmassed aroundthe monastery, whereterrified Spanishresidents, mostofthe towncouncil,and the recaudadorde indioshad takenrefuge.
in 51. The evolutionof the struggle Tepoztldncan be traced through the following sources, as well as AGN, Civil, vol. i6o8, exp. 10: AGN, Indios, vol. 30, exp. 416, fols. 389v-39or(1691), exp. 439, fols.40gr-41or (1691),exp. 450, fols.421r-422r (1691), AGN, HJ,leg. 312, fols. lv-17r (1699), and AGN, HJ,vol. 85, exp. 21, fols.4r-5r, 14r-1L5r (1711). of 1725.51

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The Indians,"howling," playing trumpets, beatingdrumsto a backand groundofconstantly ringing church bells, shoutedinsults thecaptives, at deathto thegovernor to all Spaniards. and threatening Whenseveral friars came out oftheirsanctuary quiet thecrowd,theywere metwithjeers to and and insults hastily beat a retreat. Wordofthetumulto been taken had to the teniente (local assistant the alcalde mayorof Cuernavaca),who of led a relief columnof ill-equippedSpaniardsto the rescue. Justoutside towntheywere repulsedby a shower rocks of hurledbya crowdofIndian women.A reinforced rescueforce found thatthe rioters meltedaway had and thatan uneasycalm prevailed.No arrests were made. The calm was not to last. Apparently underthe mistaken notionthat the crisishad passed, the recaudadorreturned Tepoztldn earlySepin to to tember lead a groupofworkers Taxco. Once againrioting to brokeout, a like disturbance. following pattern almost exactly thatoftheAugust This time the authorities to measures.Acceptingthe attempted take sterner (probably true)Rojas claimthatthe rioters had been led by membersof therival, the arrested four male antirepartimiento faction, Spanishofficials ringleaders and one female"instigator." Thinking that theyhad finally solved the problem,theydispatchedthe hapless recaudador to Tepoztlan one more time on September24, wherehis presenceagain ignited a tumult led by the wives of the men arrestedearlierin the month. This time two wooden buildingsnextto the villa's municipal hall were burned and some ornaments were stolenfrom the sacristy the monof astery, allegedlyto be sold to pay formoreantirepartimiento litigation. Once againthe rioters meltedawaybythetimerescueforces had arrived. were made.52 A fewarrests ended in As was often case withtumnultos, Tepoztecanrioting the the As anticlimax. a last resort, violencedid not succeed wherecivildisobeall dience and litigation failed.Although ofthe so-calledringleaders had was were releasedafter yearinjail, thevilla'sobligation sendworkers a to neitherended nor reduced. Some of the former continuedto prisoners until1729, at whichpoint the fight repartimiento through legal channels resistancedry up. the Cuernavacajurisdiction recordsof repartimiento won or of had finally exemption Whether notthevarioustowns theregion was the awaitsfurther research, though middleofthe eighteenth century another period of declineforthe Taxco mines.When theyenteredtheir of biggestboom period in history following 1770, townsin the vicinity seem to have been liable Taxco, and not in the Cuernavacajurisdiction, forthe minerepartimiento.
For a masterful discussionof turnultos violencein Mexico's Indian commluni52. and in ties,see WilliamB. Taylor, Drinking, Homicide, and Rebellion ColonialMexicanVillages (Stanford, 1979).

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The Impact ofInvoluntary Labor It is perhapsunjustto viewevery inHispanicinnovation an unwelcome as life.IndiansofCuernavacaand elsewhereeagerly trusion intoindigenous adoptedan array Spanishmaterial of goods,and some,suchas thosewho in solda variety products therealesde Taxco,wholeheartedly of embraced the expanding colonialmoney economy. Otherssaw the opportunities for moving intothe Spanishworld,including wage laborin places likeTaxco, as a way to escape the obligations tributary in theirhome commuof life nities.Otheraspectsofthe Hispanicregime were indeed viewed as danand was gerousintrusions, theminerepartimiento one ofthem.The need with to supplyfar-flung alienenterprises involuntary and laborthreatened in Nahua communities the alreadytenuousautonomy micro-patriotic of and the Cuernavacajurisdiction elsewhere.By the latercolonialperiod, in resistanceto the draft had become so ingrained the local psychethat in Nahuatl-language primordial titles written thisera (landtenure descriptionsand local histories) often includedreferences mythical to grantsof the as for exemption from Taxcorepartimiento rewards earlyaid to Cortes the and help in establishing Catholicchurch.53 Much remainsto be discoveredabout mineworkand labor recruitmentin Taxco. For instance, to be established theextent which are yet to minersbribed or cajoled Indian townofficers cooperationand the into extentof conflicts interest of among Spanish officials chargedwith the regulation suchthings therepartimiento. of as the Establishing exactproof laborin relation other will to forms requiredeeper portion involuntary inquiry intothe internal records the realesthemselves. of But whether not involuntary or laborwas ever the dominant formin in the of theminesthemselves, obligation work thecomplexes Taxcoand to of othercentralMexicanreales touchedthe heartland indigenous society farmoredirectly and muchmoreprofoundly did the laborneeds of than and minesin the North.Indianslavery, encomienda otherearlyforms the oftribute the males away took labor,and finally repartimiento indigenous their for from families, homes,and fields extended periodsoftime.All too the ill often onlyreturns from dangerous the laborwere impoverishment, health,and even death. Familieslost productive membersand suffered townelites froma diminished capacityto sustainthemselves. Predatory at were sometimes to encouraged profiteer theexpenseofthepeople they
mexicain codex of 291, municipal 53. See BibliothequeNationalede Paris,Manuscrit to on Cuernavaca,whichincludesthiskindof information fol. 1. Thoughit purports date pointsto an origin the late seventeenth in century, orthographic analysis from sixteenth the in in to references a labor obligation century; any event,conquest-era or earlyeighteenth Taxco are anachronistic.

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were supposedto protect. Townofficers, turn,riskedlosingtheirown in and confiscation material wealththrough fines whentheywere unable to fulfill other municipal tribute obligations because ofthedebilitating effects of the tlachcotequitl. Thoughclaimsthata large numberof commoners were trying pass themselves as nobles may well be exaggerated, to off elitepetitioners' alarmist languageon thissubjectembodiedthefearthat the minerepartimiento controversy would giveplebeiansan incentive to upset the fragile social statusquo. All of the tensions thatarose in connectionwiththe repartimiento within families, between tributaries and their rulers, betweenIndianofficers Spanishinterests, within and and the ruling elitesofIndiansociety couldresult conflicts in withthepotential to rendthefabric community of life. mine It is no wonderthatas in colonialPeru resistance involuntary to laborwas endemic.In their desperation evade theonerous to Taxcorepartimiento, individuals and towncouncilslearnedto manipulate twists the and turnsof labor law. If theircause was obviously just and if theyreceived the supportof enoughlocal Spaniards,theirlegal maneuverings could succeed. But in thefinal successwas dependent external on analysis as the powerof individual mineowners,the self-interest of forces,such colonialofficials, aboveall thetiming boomand bustcyclesin Taxco and of and elsewhere.When the demandforlaborwas highin thisstrategic industry, nothingthe Indians could do was of muchavail. Many decided thatall thatwas leftto themwere the barrenpathsof violenceor flight from theirplace of birth.It is testimony the resilienceof the human to thatso manyofthe Cuernavaca Indian citizenschose spirit jurisdiction's in to fight againstthe repartimiento theface ofrepeatedfailure reon or treat.The silver was the of industry assuredly motor thecolonialeconomy, but forthe Indians of the Taxco hinterland often it provedan engine of destruction.