Abstract

CRUZ-LEON, Artemio; MARTINEZ-SALDANA, Tomás  and  DAMIAN-HUATO, Miguel Ángel. Mules forgotten by colonial agricultural history: restitution. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2010, vol.7, n.3, pp.221-228. ISSN 1870-5472.

Until the arrival of the Spaniards during the 16^th Century, mesoamerican agriculture did not use the force of domestic animals to carry out agricultural practices or to transport loads and people. It was the colonizers who, motivated by the need to produce food and merchandise characteristic of the Old World culture, and for transportation in the new conquered lands, introduced animals, harnesses and their utilization technology. We know that the Spanish tradition prefers bovines as draft animals for instruments and vehicles, while horses are appreciated as mount animals and mules are useful for load transport. However, in the document entitled Haciendas y Ranchos de Tlaxcala en 1712, the result of a census in Spanish farms commissioned by the King, there is information about mules present in estates at the time, which were used fundamentally as draft animals for plowing, contradicting the idea that this species was preferred as a pack animal.

Keywords : Draft and pack animals; animal force; ranches and haciendas; Colonial technology; Tlaxcala.

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