Abstract

VALDEZ BUBNOVA, Tatiana. Lawsuits between Subjects and Headtowns and the Creation of the Mapa de Coatlichan. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2020, vol.41, n.162, pp.231-266.  Epub Mar 02, 2021. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v41i162.714.

It appears that near the last quarter of the 16th century the elaboration of the Mapa de Coatlichan was determined by multiple factors; first, growing pressure on land due to the presence of numerous Spanish settlers who requested grants within the confines of the town of Coatlichan, and, second, the grim increase of mortality among indigenous peoples due to epidemics and the impact of tax reforms on the dynamics of local labor systems. These and other factors combined to destabilize the political-territorial structure of the Coatlichan seigneury and provoke conflicts among indigenous people over the issue of becoming towns with their own community chests independent of the headtowns to which they had long been subjects (cabeceras). It was in the context of such disputes that maps like the Mapa de Coatlichan were produced.

Keywords : Acolhua codices; altepetl indigenous seigneury; New Spain; land paintings; 16^th-century trials in New Spain.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )