Hacienda Labor de Rivera

Hello dear friends, I am Veronica Valdovinos From Loving Mexico.
Today we are visiting the first of several haciendas in Jalisco, The Hacienda Labor de Rivera. It is in Teuchitlán on the Tequila Route. It is a beautiful hacienda from before the XVII Century.

Hacienda Labor de Rivera

With the mining expansión, the economic consumption grew, so towns, haciendas and, agricultural ranches expanded. But this caused a geographical mutation and the native depopulation.
The first form of organization was the commandership; the commander had a direct relationship with the Indians. The former would receive tributes as vassals of the Crown and services, while the latter would receive protection, education and, evangelization. Their main goal was the procurement of goods; unfortunately, there was a lot of abuse from the commanders because they would some times sell or rent their natives as slaves. The original native population diminished, and more land was available, so this system came in disuse.

Spain started bringing African slaves as the main force of work, but the agricultural activities would not have been able to develop without the temporary workers, and these were the natives.
To end the work monopoly, the Crown implanted in 1550 a substitute system, named distribution. With which the Indians had to work by day labor in the Spanish haciendas. To reinforce the Indians would pay tribute, the authority determined they should pay it with either money or grain.
All this created that the Indians became dependant on the goods produced by the Spanish economy, which brought an increase of production for them.
Starting the XVII Century, the new agricultural entrepreneurs opposed the “distribution” system and changed it to a free market. The new design made the Crown loose power and left the laborers unprotected and in the hands of the landowners and becoming judges, masters, legislators and, police power.

Know the tours that Aventurate por Jalisco has in Hacienda Labor de Rivera

1 Comment

  1. I really enjoy these visits to different locations.

    Thank you for taking us on these very interesting excursions.

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