Historia y sociedad: ensayos del seminario de historia colonial de Michoacan (review)
offices and traded with Castile, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Caracas, and the Philippines. José Cuello traces the single “whitening” elite in Saltillo from 1577 to 1821. Peninsulares controlled the ayuntamiento in the eighteenth century. Carmen Castañeda finds 55 Basques in Guadalajara in 1791, with San Miguel Allende as their stronghold. They were hacendados, stockmen, merchants, and clergy. Frédérique Langue writes that elites in Zacatecas were miners or stockmen, with the richest being elevated to the nobility. Their many sources of wealth made it possible to bribe officials successfully. While in Guanajuato, Basques fought with montañeses, although these two groups collaborated in Zacatecas. Lange asserts that the Tribunal de Minería, with its monopoly of mercury and credit, freed mining interests from the Audiencia. What aspects of colonial Mexico interest these young scholars? The multiple economic interests of the elites; the contributions of Indian elites; local government; Spanish ethnic groups; and escapes from status via the gracias a sacar. Regionalism is emphasized. The royal bureaucracy and the military in the late colonial period are only briefly mentioned. Missionaries and parish priests were targeted for future studies. The authors joined together at sessions on elites in the 47th Congress of Americanists in New Orleans.