2. After the Conquest of Mexico
• In 1519-1521, the Spaniards
eliminated Indian administrative
structures for the new king and
Colonial governments and were to
exploit traditional interests. Key
participants of the military
campaign were given the rights to
encomiendas, limited labor
conscription. Encomiendas did not
give property rights, but holders
received most of the earliest land
grants and had the pick of labor
during planting season.
3. Properties and Agriculture
• Agriculture and stock raising became the
largest source of income for many new Spanish
settlers. Public land was given to officials, the
military, and the Colonial elite. Agriculture work
was given to Indian labor. Property was the
main competition between the Spanish and the
Indians, ending with dispossessions of Indian
lands by the 1600’s. Documentations of land
grants provided tools to figure out regional
settlement histories and to examine the
amount of Spanish rights against Indian
properly rights. Spanish agriculture expansion
improved after the Indian population fell.
