Spanish Responses to Landscape in Early Colonial Yucatan, 1527-1700

• In Event: Landscapes and Peoples in Yucatán, 1500-Present

Abstract

This paper is a treatise on the mutual interaction between Spanish culture and the environment in colonial Yucatán. The Yucatán peninsula’s karst (limestone) topography and subtropical climate made it poorly disposed to produce Iberian staples such as wheat, olives, and grapes. Its environment and indigenous inhabitants also resisted repeated attempts by colonists to introduce produits moteurs such as sugar and dyes that yielded exportable wealth for other colonies. The peninsula’s tiny Spanish population was therefore in a difficult position; they could neither produce nor easily import the alimentary trappings of Spanish aristocracy or religion.

Here, I analyze Spanish commentary and responses to this dilemma. I make the argument that colonists, motivated partially by their alimentary situation, adapted the colonial institutions of encomienda and repartimiento to suit needs dictated by culture and environment. These structures shaped land use in Yucatán and parasitized the indigenous economy for meagre export commodities that were traded throughout the Caribbean in exchange for some semblance of the Iberian diet. I use a combination of sources to support this point, the most important being archival shipping records and correspondence between colonial authorities in Yucatán.
This work is a contribution to the growing body of regional environmental histories of colonial Latin America. Despite a general understanding among historians that Yucatán’s geography and climate were key forces in the region’s colonial history, the peninsula’s colonial period is uncharted territory for environmental historians. This paper presents an initial foray into this subject by tackling Spanish responses to issues of food and economic activity and showing how landscape was analyzed and engaged with by both individuals and broader colonial institutions.

Author

• Geoffrey H Wallace, McGill University