Agriculture and society in Central Mexico : the Valley of Tulancingo in the late colonial period (1700-1825)
This study provides a first approach to the economic and social history of the 
Valley of Tulancingo in the late colonial period. In examining the development of 
this agricultural area of central Mexico, the author discusses the broader 
transformations that affected the country as a whole during the eighteenth and 
early nineteenth centuries: population growth, migration, urbanization, and the 
commercialization of agriculture. On this score, the study participates in the 
current debate on the best way to characterize the Mexican agricultural sector at 
the end of the colonial rule. Most modern historiography tends to emphasize that 
demographic growth transformed the traditional balance between population 
and resources and was a major cause of economic and social disruption in the 
countryside. The author combines new evidence with recent findings from the 
specialist literature, to argue that Tulancingo fully participated in the roster of 
economic and social changes of the period. The work begins with a description of 
Tulancingo's population trends and an analysis of the spatial distribution of the 
population. It goes on with an analysis of the Valley's agricultural economy, 
describing the complementary rural elements of Indian communities and 
haciendas, and examining a series of related transformations in landholding, 
marketing, and social relations. This study will be of interest to anyone 
concerned with Mexican economic and social history, or the history of 
agriculture.