Land and labor in the haciendas of Yucatan indigenous brotherhoods, XVIII century

Abstract

The study of haciendas related to cofradías, which were created and promoted in Mayan villages, presents us with an image of the complexity of the society that produced them. These haciendas were corporate projects promoted by the indigenous ruling class. The information on these enterprises allows us to affirm that the native elite kept one of its main functions, that is: to direct and organize the collective effor t and at the same time it shows their capacity to adapt to the conditions imposed. Two variables are analyzed: land tenure and organization of labor. The case of tenure is complex as communal land coexisted with corporate and private land and with a strateg y which reinforced corporate property. Regarding the labor issue, one can observe that different forms of access to work were used by those who administered these productive units, either by continuing their own mechanisms or by adapting those imposed for it covered collective work, paid work and that commissioned by the town council, by Church officers or by luneros.