Essays in Population History. Volume 1 Essays in Population History, Volume One: Mexico and the Caribbean [Reprint 2019 ed.] 9780520329782

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Essays in Population History

Essays in Population History: Mexico

and the Caribbean Sherburne F. Cook and Woodrow Borah

Volume One

University of California Press

Berkeley • Los Angeles • London

University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England Copyright © 1971, by T h e Regents of the University of California ISBN: 0-520-01764-1 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-123626 Printed in the United States of America Designed by Dave Comsiock

Preface THE SEVEN NEW ESSAYS presented in this volume at first sight may appear bewilderingly miscellaneous. T h a t appearance is deceptive. It arises because the essays are extensions of a central core of inquiry, contained in a body of publication prepared and issued over a number of years. T h e i r relation to each other can be understood only in terms of that core. Our basic interest has been the impact of European conquest and subsequent domination upon the aboriginal population of the Western Hemisphere. For purposes of study we have had originally to limit our inquiry to one relatively compact region, central Mexico. Although approximately the size of France, it is small in the expanse of the Americas and formed the northern part of a fairly homogeneous cultural region, MesoAmerica. Central Mexico further offered us the advantage that we dealt with the records of only two Spanish administrative units, the Audiencias of Nueva Galicia and of Mexico. Through focus upon the records of a single region, we could hope to assemble materials in concentrated masses and to analyze them in terms of administrative definitions and with understanding of how and why they were prepared. Only through that kind of analysis has it been possible to handle the problems inherent in all studies of historical demography, namely, bringing to uniform and regionwide or countrywide series the data that have come down to us in partial counts carried out in varying and selective categories and usually for purposes other than a census. T h e problems have been especially difficult to solve for central Mexico because the earliest system of tribute count and assessment left serious gaps: substantial exemption of certain classes and failure to cover large areas. Only in the middle decades of the sixteenth century did the Spanish adopt a new and relatively uniform system of tribute count and assessment with almost no exemptions and relatively full territorial coverage. T h e painstaking and groping inquiries necessary to find materials and to solve problems of analysis have confined most of our publications to date to studies of the sixteenth century and to

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questions of numbers despite the fact that we have assembled materials for the study of Mexican population covering a period of three and one-half centuries—from the first decades of the sixteenth century to the national census of 1960—and have been interested in analysis of many characteristics of the population. A brief listing of the materials we have assembled on central Mexico for the sixteenth century will show what our previous inquiry has meant. (We have no desire here to duplicate the long essay on materials in Chapter I.) The earliest Spanish tribute records available copied from the old matricula de tributos of the Audiencia of Mexico, covered approximately 200 towns, 10 percent of the approximately 2,000 in central Mexico, in other words a 10-percent sample. An inspection and count carried out in the years 1547-1550 and embodied in the Suma de Visitas gave us material on roughly one-half the towns in central Mexico for an average date of 1548, in effect, a 50 percent sample. For the period of the tribute reform, approximately 1558-1571 with a fair average date at 1568, we have in tribute assessments and missionary reports repeated counts of most towns and a coverage of better than 90 percent. The Relaciones Geográficas of 1577-1585 have given us close to another 10 percent sample; the combined information of the encomenderos' petition to the Crown of 1597 and the records of imposition of a new general tax on Indian tributaries in 1593, the servicio real, a sample of better than 50 percent. Finally, the records of the reassembly of shattered Indian populations into new, compact settlements, the so-called congregaciones, have given us for the years 1598-1610, say at average year 1605, another sample, admittedly small, of perhaps 4 percent. With the knowledge of these materials we have been able to return to the report of the tribute levies of the Triple Alliance (or Aztec empire) as they existed in the last days of aboriginal independence and to arrive at an estimate of Indian population on the eve of the Spanish conquest. The kinds of data in the materials varied widely. We have classified them into three groups in accordance with the need for treatment, designating each group by a Greek letter, as follows: a. an actual count of people although it might cover only certain categories and be expressed in any one of a large number of ways, such as people over three years of age, married men, or women of service; /9. a statement in terms of a fiscal

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category or payment, usually tributaries or tribute, for which the terms of classification and the quota per fiscal unit are known and hence easily convertible into a statement of population; y. statements containing potential data on population but expressed in a wide variety of ways with no direct indication of quota. The y group, in general, contained the data on the earlier decades of the sixteenth century but also presented a series of problems that took us years to solve. In the end, we were able to convert all such tribute assessments to a common denominator—the average wholesale prices of the year of assessment—and to apply an average quota per tributary to new or renewed levies made in the same year. Ironically, it was only after we had reached a solution in terms of average wholesale prices that we realized that our first, and as we thought unsuccessful, attempt at solution in traditional barter equivalents could have worked. For the tribute assessments of the Triple Alliance which did not use coin as we know it, the common denominators were found in barter equivalences that could be expressed in tribute mantles (quachtli) and grain. A number of publications embody our long, painstaking self-education and analysis. We began with an intensive examination of the Suma de Visitas, complemented by the data of the 1560s. Our findings are reported in The Population of Central Mexico in 1548 (Ibero-Americana: 43). We continued our preparation of estimates of numbers at points in time during the sixteenth century by further examination of the data of the 1560s as the necessary base and by examination of the other data were able to arrive, through use of proportion between the 1560s and other years, at estimates for ca. 1531, 1585, 1595, and 1605. The study of prices basic to analysis of the y category of data is Price Trends of Some Basic Commodities in Central Mexico, 1531-1570 (Ibero-Americana: 40); our estimates are in The Indian Population of Central Mexico, 1531-1610 (IberoAmericana: 44). Finally, we returned to the question of the aboriginal population in 1518 with vastly increased knowledge and with the possibility of analysis afforded by the publication in 1957 by France Scholes and Eleanor Adams of an inquiry made by the Spanish in 1554 into the tributes of the Triple Alliance and their values. Our analysis and estimate are published in The Aboriginal Population of Central Mexico on the Eve of the Spanish Conquest (Ibero-Americana: 45). For the convenience of the reader we list our estimates:

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Essays in Population History

1518 1532 1548 1568 1585 1595 1605

25.2 16.8 6.3 2.65 1.9 1.375 1.075

millions millions millions millions millions millions millions

Our estimates obviously have margins of error that are very substantial in the estimate for 1518 but much less so in the estimate for 1568 and, in general, for those from 1548 to 1605. Completion of these first studies led almost automatically to a number of smaller inquiries that aimed at verifying and explaining some of our results. Two of the more important of these resulted in a significant increase in our understanding of the complexities of historical changes in Mexican population. Our first inquiries had brought us to realize that significant classes were exempt from tribute before the tribute reform of the mid-sixteenth century, but we did not know whether the extent of social stratification corresponding to the exemption was characteristic of individual towns or of areas. Involved in this question was the reliability of the testimony of Alonso de Zorita, one of our major authorities for sixteenth-century Mexico, who indicated that social stratification showed a regional pattern. Our attempt at finding an answer led to an examination of the percentage of tributaries on the lists of the 1560s who would not have been there under the earlier system of classification, that is, before exemptions of nobles, serfs, and commoners assigned to community support were abolished. That examination, in turn, required further inquiry into zonal differences in destruction of population and into the extent of abandonment of towns that because of loss of members had become unviable entities. We had earlier discovered a marked difference in the extent of loss of population between the plateau and the coasts. Our new inquiry led us to a division into plateau, intermediate zone, and coasts, each with a distinct pattern of its own, and thus to the realization that the higher the altitude the less the loss of population in central Mexico through factors introduced by the Europeans. Obviously the relation is one of temperature and humidity. With the possibilities of analysis afforded by this understanding, we were able to apply a kind of variable factor analysis to our data. We found that the

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degree of exemption and hence of social stratification showed regional patterns with marked differences from region to region. Our findings agreed completely with the indications of Zorita but also pointed to areas of puzzlingly high degrees of social stratification. We had settled one question and come to the verge of many more. However, we had opened considerably further the problem of climatic effect on destruction of population and used counts for towns at various years to work out coefficients of change by climatic zone. Our study was published in the Anìiales in Paris in the spring of 1963 with the title, "Quelle fut le stratification sociale au Centre du Mexique durant la première moitié du XVI e siècle?". Our second article made use of the techniques evolved in the examination of social stratification and applied them to verification of our general estimates for population. The answers to the royal inquiries of 1577 in the Relaciones Geográficas contained statements for many towns on the population just before the Conquest. With knowledge of coefficients of change and climatic zones, we could calculate for such towns the reconstructed population that our estimates demanded. Obviously, the reconstructed populations would vary widely from the real ones in the instance of each town but for a relatively large number the differences should cancel out. In the end, we found that our estimates of reconstructed population differed from the statements in the Relaciones Geográficas by 8.6 percent, a truly remarkable and heartening agreement in estimates and statements derived by such widely different means. That study is: "On the Credibility of Contemporary Testimony on the Population of Mexico in the Sixteenth Century," published in the Festschrift dedicated to Robert J . Weitlaner. While we were preparing the studies already mentioned, we attempted also to gather materials for analysis on the history of population in central Mexico in the centuries after 1600. That meant a sustained search in Spain and Mexico, studying the nature of the system of Indian tributes after 1600 until the abolition of the tax early in the nineteenth century, ascertaining other forms of reporting that might carry information on Indians, non-Indians, and vital characteristics beyond mere numbers. We found that reporting to the Spanish Crown, that is, to the imperial administration in Madrid via the colonial governments in Mexico City and Guadalajara, afforded a wide variety of data covering substantial parts of central Mexico, the

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gaps being due in general to losses of records. We found also that the rich possibilities for study in vital statistics in essentially local reporting, such as parish registers, required a timeconsuming examination of records parish by parish that lay far beyond the resources of two academics, aided by an occasional research assistant. Our efforts could secure us data only from some of the parishes of one small area, the Mixteca Alta in the State of Oaxaca. We found further that with Independence and the end of centralized imperial control in 1821, recording of demographic information even by civil agencies became highly localized, and that the materials could be recovered only by a systematic countrywide canvass of local archives which also lay far beyond our resources. In the end we were forced to accept the possible and found that the possible meant that we could film or extract a relatively large body of material in Spain on Indian tributes, diocesan reports, and eighteenth-century attempts at countrywide censuses to the end of the colonial period; that for the decades after Independence, we were reduced to examination of published reports, themselves surprisingly rich, and concentration upon archives in the two areas that especially interested us, that is, the Mixteca Alta and west-central Mexico. Since perhaps 1963, then, we have been moving outward from our earlier studies of the central Mexican population in the sixteenth century in a number of ways inherent in our original interests or continuing our inquiry into questions we uncovered in those studies. We have tried to find in the highly miscellaneous sources available from the sixteenth century to the present data on vital characteristics which could be brought into comparable form and so permit examination over the period of four and one-half centuries. Some completed essays of these further studies are in this volume. We have also attempted relatively intensive study of data for two areas over the same span of centuries. One such study, The Population of the Mixteca Alta, 1520-1960 was published separately in 1968 as Ibero-Americana: 50. As one of the bases for analysis of changes in numbers over relatively long periods of time, it examined for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the changing size of family and the factors for conversion of data on tributaries and heads of family to total population, necessarily for all of Mexico rather than only for the Mixteca Alta. We also extended our use of coefficients of change derived from reports on

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the same towns at different dates and based the study on careful plotting of shifts in combinations of the basic territorial town and village communities into municipal units, parishes, subprefectures, and so on, from the sixteenth century to the present. Our second study of an area, west-central Mexico, is in this volume. Lastly, we have expanded our inquiries to regions outside central Mexico to begin the study of the extent to which the patterns that we have found were present in other regions. From this explanation, it will be seen that the seven essays in this volume continue our studies and build Upon a foundation created over a term of years. For this reason and because of continual reference to earlier work, these essays may be somewhat difficult to follow unless the earlier work is also known to the reader. The first essay, "Materials for the Demographic History of Mexico, 1500-1960," is an attempt to make available in systematic listing what we have learned in the course of our explorations about kinds of materials and probable occurrence. Obviously the listing is tentative and does not include all surviving reports of each category, for exploration of archives and libraries in Spain is still incomplete and that for Mexico has hardly begun. Equally, because of limitations of time and funds, our major concentration has been on the colonial period, so that our statements about the nineteenth century are based primarily upon our searches in some depth for the Mixteca Alta and west-central Mexico plus extensive but still limited searches in Mexico City and state capitals as well as examination of published materials. Our second chapter, "An Essay on Method," attempts a more general sketch of analytical method than we have attempted hitherto. The methods are those that we have applied to data for Mexico in past studies, but with particular attention to extensions of method that we have been elaborating most recently: 1) analysis through formulating coefficients of change and 2) resort to second-order analysis of change in these coefficients—what we have dubbed the method—with its possibilities of deeper insight, reconstruction, and verification of results achieved by other methods. The studies in chapters III and IV extend our inquiries into selected characteristics of population and reporting from our earlier concentration upon the sixteenth century to a broader span from the sixteenth century to the twentieth. Chap-

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ter III, "Family and Household in Mexican Enumerations since the Spanish Conquest," examines the peculiar confusion that has surrounded the definitions of the two terms, family and household, for centuries and that in large measure still continues. It points to imposition by the Spanish during the colonial period of definitions that differed by racial and fiscal category. Chapter IV, "Civil Category and Age-Group Ratios in Colonial Mexico," examines data on the civil categories of the unmarried (solteros), of married men and women (casados), and of the widowed (viudos) in their changing relations to each other and their proportions in the population across time and continues its inquiry by examining the proportions of age groups to each other. Since the data available to us do not permit the more sophisticated analysis possible in the bio-statistical techniques of current demographic reporting, we have been forced to resort to the simpler methods of category ratios. They afford, nevertheless, much information and insight. In chapter V, "The Population of West-Central Mexico (Nueva Galicia and Adjacent New Spain), 1548-1960," we present our second detailed study of an area. Aside from the fascination that Jalisco, MichoadLn, Colima, and Nayarit have held for us and our keen pleasure in field exploration, we wanted to examine the demographic experience of an area of Mexico different from the Mixteca Alta and different from the Nahuatl core around the Valley of Mexico. West-central Mexico, as we have defined it, has the additional advantage of containing both coast and upland and of having had a history of Spanish conquest and settlement substantially unlike that of other parts of central Mexico. The extensive analysis we present by sub-area underscores the zonal differences between coast and upland but also emphasizes the wide variation among subareas even within the same zone. Finally, chapters VI and VII extend our inquiries outside Mexico in order to find out whether the course of population history elsewhere in the New World resembles the pattern we have found in central Mexico. Chapter VI, "The Aboriginal Population of Hispaniola," examines the evidence on changes in Indian numbers during the initial decades of European appearance in what today are the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The island is predominantly low-lying tropical coast and sufficiently like the central Veracruz coast to serve for comparative examination. The question was really a

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double one: whether another tropical coastal region, enjoying favorable conditions of richly productive domesticated plants and relative freedom from many of the major killers among diseases, had had dense human occupation before the coming of the Europeans, and whether, upon their coming, the destructive factors let loose had as rapidly lethal an effect as the one we found in central Veracruz. Let us anticipate and say that we did find the same pattern both as to previously dense population and as to rapid disappearance. Chapter VII, " T h e Historical Demography of Interior Tribes of Colombia in the Studies of Juan Friede and Germán Colmenares," continues our inquiry into the experience of other regions, in this chapter by a reading of studies of areas in Colombia for which excellent data on population have been located and made available. Since Colombia, like central Mexico, has a variety of climatic zones, we have been able to look not merely for similar destruction of population upon the entrance of the Europeans and the lethal factors that they introduced, but also for altitudinal or climatic difference in the operation of these factors. As in central Mexico, the areas studied in Colombia show destruction of population but with the same marked altitudinal differences in impact; that is, the higher the altitude and consequently the colder the climate, the less massive the operation of the factors and the greater the proportionate survival of the aboriginal population. At the same time, the areas of Colombia show substantial differences relative to central Mexico in that, except perhaps for the humid coasts for which we do not have any sustained analysis of data at this point, the loss of population proceeded at a slower pace and continued for a much longer period than in central Mexico. We may be uncovering an Andean pattern varying in many respects from that of central Mexico, but only further inquiry can provide answers. T h e reader will notice that this volume bears the notation, "Volume I." The seven essays presented here are not the end of our inquiries. We hope to continue our examination of zonal differences in the European impact upon native population through a study of Yucatan, a region outside central Mexico, of non-Nahuatl although still Meso-American aboriginal culture, and geographically a low-lying coastal zone varying from semi-steppe to tropical jungle. Our essays on characteristics of the Mexican population from the sixteenth century to

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the twentieth should continue with studies of changing racial proportions in the population across time, at least a tentative analysis of changes in crude birth rates and in age of marriage, and finally examination of changes in causes of death in differing climatic zones for the years since 1870. But these belong to Volume II.

Acknowledgments exploration of archives, and analysis of materials necessary for our studies, we have had much assistance which we acknowledge here with deep appreciation. We either have been fellows or have had grants from The John Simon Guggenheim, Jr. Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and various entities of the University of California, Berkeley: the Associates in Tropical Biogeography, the Center for Latin American Studies (administering funds from a Ford Foundation grant), the Institute of Social Sciences, and the Committee on Research. Friends and colleagues have been understanding and generous in advice and in making available materials in their possession. The most notable have been Dr. Carl O. Sauer, Dr. Lesley Byrd Simpson, Peter Gerhard, and Lic. Luis Castañeda Guzmán. The directors and personnel of a number of institutions have made available materials or have even collected them for us: The Bancroft Library under its now retired director, Dr. George Hammond; the Archivo General de Indias in Seville; the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City, under its directors since 1938; the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City, under its late director, Dr. Eusebio Dávalos Hurtado, and, under his successor, Dr. Ignacio Bernal, and the director of its library, Antonio Pompa y Pompa; local archives and libraries in the State of Oaxaca, Michoacán, and Jalisco; the Archbishops of Oaxaca during 1939-1956 and the Bishop of Huajuapan, their cathedral chapters, and the parish priests of the Mixteca Alta. T o the parish priests we owe not only access to their parish records but also aid in securing food, lodging, and means of travel. Lastly we thank Mrs. Inge Ernst for her conscientious and understanding editing of a complex typescript. DURING THE YEARS OF FIELD WORK,

Contents I II III IV V VI VII

Materials for the Demographic History of Mexico, 1500-1960 An Essay on Method Family and Household in Mexican Enumerations since the Spanish Conquest Civil Category and Age-Group Ratios in Colonial Mexico T h e Population of West-Central Mexico (Nueva Galicia and Adjacent New Spain), 1548-1960 T h e Aboriginal Population of Hispaniola Studies of the Historical Demography of Interior Tribes of Colombia in the Studies of Juan Friede and Germán Colmenares Works Cited Glossary Index

1 73 119 201 300 376

411 431 445 449

List of Tables 1 2 3 4 5

Population at certain dates of central Mexico, entire, and of its plateau and coastal areas 82 Depopulation ratios corresponding to the dates and areas in table 1 82 Values of m for central Mexico, entire, 1532-1615 97 Values of w for the periods given between 1530 and 1610 101 Populations used in deriving values of u> for six specific areas 105

Contents I II III IV V VI VII

Materials for the Demographic History of Mexico, 1500-1960 An Essay on Method Family and Household in Mexican Enumerations since the Spanish Conquest Civil Category and Age-Group Ratios in Colonial Mexico T h e Population of West-Central Mexico (Nueva Galicia and Adjacent New Spain), 1548-1960 T h e Aboriginal Population of Hispaniola Studies of the Historical Demography of Interior Tribes of Colombia in the Studies of Juan Friede and Germán Colmenares Works Cited Glossary Index

1 73 119 201 300 376

411 431 445 449

List of Tables 1 2 3 4 5

Population at certain dates of central Mexico, entire, and of its plateau and coastal areas 82 Depopulation ratios corresponding to the dates and areas in table 1 82 Values of m for central Mexico, entire, 1532-1615 97 Values of w for the periods given between 1530 and 1610 101 Populations used in deriving values of u> for six specific areas 105

xviii

6 7

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Values of (or the periods indicated from the populations shown in table 5 106 Casados and persons per house in the 1540s according to the Suma de Visitas 124

Distribution of types of domestic organization among parishes and ethnic groups for three bishoprics, census of 1777 146 8b Type of domestic organization seen in the 1793 military census for certain jurisdictions 148 9 Data pertaining to the Bishoprics of Oaxaca, Puebla, and Durango from the census of 1777 and to 12 jurisdictions from the military census of 1793 152 10a Comparison of population and families (military census of 1793) for certain jurisdictions 162 10b Data from Resúmenes Generales, AGN, Ramo de Padrones (P) and Ramo de Historia (H) (1793 military and general censuses) 163 8a

11 12

13 14a 14b 15 16a 16b 16c

Persons per family for certain regions according to the visita of 1760 by the Bishop of Guadalajara

168

Nine regions for each of which there are reports from two counts or censuses as indicated by date; ethnic groups, total population, total families and T P / T F ratios

174

Synopsis of data on population and families from the Mixteca Alta, 1820-1840

179

Some magnitudes relating to family size derived from the national censuses of 1930-1960

185

Some magnitudes relating to family size derived from the censuses of the period 1770-1830

192

Regional comparisons of family size derived from the censuses of 1940, 1950, 1960

198

Population by 5-year age groups for both sexes in Oaxaca, 1777

206

Population by 5-year age groups for males in Oaxaca, 1777

207

Population by 5-year age groups for females in Oaxaca, 1777

208

List of Tables

17

18 19a 19b 20a 20b 21a 21b

22 23

24 25a 25b 25c 25d 26

27

xix

Survival rates in Oaxaca, 1777, by the single-census method for 5-year age groups, expressed as number of survivors per 1,000 persons Survival rates. Oaxaca, total Bishopric, census of 1777 Ratio of viudos to casados. Various dates, 15401960; various localities Ratio of viudos to casados: socio-ethnic distinctions as seen in the censuses of 1777 and 1793 Ratio of total population to casados Ratio of total population to casados: socio-ethnic distinctions Ratio of muchachos, aged 4-14, to casados for certain towns described in the Suma de Visitas Ratio of "solteros que tributan" to casados for the town in two visitas described in the Suma de Visitas Average ratios per visita of younger age groups to casados, according to types described in the text Ratios of younger age groups to casados from the Suma de Visitas compared with those from late eighteenth-century sources Percentage composition of populations in 1777, 1793, and 1804, according to ethnic group Age groups from summaries in AGN, Historia, vols. 522-523 Percentage of population in combined age groups Age distribution of niños and solteros in the Bishopric of Puebla, 1777 Percentage of population in 7 specific age groups, 3 bishoprics, census of 1777 Proportion of children in population, according to summaries in AGN, Padrones and Historia of the 1793 census

221 226 233 234 238 239 243

244 247

249 254 257 258 259 259

265

Proportion of niños and próximos a tributar in the total tributary population, according to the Matricula of 1805 269 28a Matricula of 1805. Tributaries and other categories 283

xx

28b 28c 28d 28e 29

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40a 40b 40c 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

Essays in Population History

Matrícula of 1805. Average tributary population of partidos Matricula of 1805. Data pertaining to the social and ethnic type of tributary Tributaries and other categories according to ethnic type Matricula of 1805. Proportion of certain civil categories in the tributary population Change in relative number of tributaries and muchachos from 1714 to 1755, according to the Seville reports Motines: Population data and sources Colima: Population data and sources Avalos: Population data and sources Southwestern Jalisco: Population data and sources Zacualpan: Population data and sources Banderas: Population data and sources Purificación: Population data and sources Northern Frontier: Population data and sources Central Nueva Galicia: Population data and sources Early Colonial Nueva Galicia, 1548-1630: Population data and sources Population, West-Central Area, entire, 1548-1790 Values of u for Early Colonial Nueva Galicia, 1548-1790 Values of » for West-Central Mexico, entire, 15481960 Proportion of free negros and mulattos among tributaries Area ratios and percentages used for calculating populations of partidos in Southwestern Jalisco Population of Motines, 1789-1960 Population of Colima, 1793-1960 Population of Southwestern Zacatecas, 1797-1960 Population of Aguascalientes, 1793-1960 Population of Jalisco and Nayarit, 1793-1960

288 290 291 291

297 302 303 304 305 306 306 307 307 308 309 310 311 312 340 352 359 362 366 367 370

List of Tables

48 49 50

xxi

Population of West-Central Area, entire, 18001960 373 Values o f f o r Hispaniola, 1496-1530 404 Values of calculated from the population graphs of the Province of Tunja, the tribe of Quimbayas, and the Province of Pamplona 415

List of Figures 1

Estimated population of central Mexico, 1532— 1608 2 Population of plateau and coastal areas, 1532-1608 3 Logarithms of population data shown in figures 1 and 2 4 Logarithms of population against logarithms of elapsed time in years from 1520 5 Log of the log of population 6 Values of w for Mexico, 1532-1608, plotted directly and as the logarithms 7 Values of for Mexico, 1532-1608, as derived from the curve of the population estimates in figure 1 8 Values of &> for the plateau region of Mexico, 15321608 9 Values of

MIXTECA ALTA +1.17 1730-1740 1735-1745 +1.09 +1.10 1740-1750 1745-1755 +1.19 +1.10 1750-1760 1755-1765 +0.98 1760-1770 +0.90 1765-1775 +0.76 1770-1780 +0.59 1775-1785 +0.41 +0.25 1780-1790 1785-1795 +0.20 1790-1800 +0.16 +0.22 1800-1810 +0.43 1810-1820 1820-1830 +0.58 1830-1840 +0.67 1840-1850 +0.76 1850-1860 +0.90 +1.07 1860-1870 +1.07 1870-1880 1880-1890 +1.20 +1.27 1890-1900 1900-1910 +0.28 -0.21 1910-1920 1920-1930 +1.31 +0.84 1930-1940 1940-1950 + 1.05 1950-1960 +0.83

Essays in Population History

108

Ui (Central Nu*va Gbllclo) Dlr»ct Scol«

co (Cantral Nu«vo Gallcla) Log IP x V/C

4

-IJO

as

-2.0 ca (Direct)t

-3.0

I.O

-4.0 0

-S.O

o

o

to (Log) o

-60

o

1.3

a

2.Q

IS40

I I960

I

I 1380

I

I 1600

I

I 162O

V«or

Figure 13. Values of and corresponding logarithms for Central Nueva Galicia.

An Essay on Method

to (Avalot)

Figure 14.

109

co (Avalot)

Values of « and corresponding logarithms for Avalos.

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Essays in Population History

reasonable to label it intermediate between the two. By the standards of the sixteenth century, this province was remarkably well administered and prosperous. (See tables 5 and 6, and figure 14.) 8. The Mixteca Alta. Here is a segment of the central plateau, lying in northern Oaxaca. Its climate is generally cool and dry, its elevation from 1,000 to 2,000 or more meters. We have recently completed a detailed historical study of the population of the region (Ibero-Americana: 50) which enables us to compute the trends of both the sixteenth century decline and the subsequent increase even to the present day. (See tables 5 and 6.) The values for a> are plotted in figure 15 to 1620 the approximate date when the population reached the low point of numbers. The entire course for 440 years is shown in figure 16. T o summarize, therefore, we compare four coastal areas with three which are located at moderate to high elevation. The eighth area is intermediate, and uncertain in its ecological affiliation. CO (MIxtaco Alta) Direct Seal*

w (Mixteca Alta) L o g I O x V/C

Figure 15. Values of and corresponding logarithms for the Mixteca Alta.

An Essay on Method

111

ulMktm Alto) DWct Seal*

«(MlitKO Alia) Log IO * V/C

•SO V>(Loth

*••.•.'..•• •utDlneO

'Jxi '

1

i e k " • 'nk " !&>'

Figure 16. Values of u and corresponding logarithms for the Mixteca Alta from 1520 to 1960. The method of plotting is identical with that of the preceding figures. It should be noted, however, that values below the central horizontal line are negative, and those above are positive. No trend lines are drawn on this graph. A complete discontinuity is to be assumed between the log of — in the year 1630 and that in the year 1635, that is, at the point where a moves from a negative to a positive value.

If we examine the nine graphs of for areas in the sixteenth century (including central Mexico, entire) we perceive considerable diversity of shape in detail, but, at the same time, we note certain similarities. Probably the most salient feature is the more or less rapid decline of the population in each area, expressed here by a minus value of m at the time of the earliest estimate. Whether the calculated rate was the maximum rate ever attained by a particular population cannot be determined with certainty, not only because we have no knowledge of the exact course of the change in numbers prior to the initial figure, but also because in all our cases the second estimate shows a so much smaller number of people than the first. We must, then, connect these two points by the best fitting line which without exception manifests the

112

Essays in Population History

rate of decline (negative value of o>) as receding from a high level at the earlier date. Nevertheless, the magnitude of m at the time immediately after the first population estimate has value as an index to comparative intensity of depletion. Clearly, a community which was losing 10 percent of its numbers annually was in a worse demographic position than one which was losing only 5 percent. Dealing with extremely small samples is treacherous, but we may contrast the three plateau areas with the four definitely coastal areas. We omit Avalos as of equivocal location. Then, for a) at the earliest estimate, we have: Plateau México (portíon) Central Nueva Galicia Mixteca Alta Mean

Coast —5.73 —4.85 —6.42 -5.77

México (portion) Zacualpan Banderas Purificación Mean

—9.84 —12.40 —9.00 —10.58 —10.46

The value of t for the difference between these means is close to 5.00, a figure beyond the 1 percent level of probability and hence significant, even for such a few cases. There is also a clear implication that, at least in Mexico, the coastal strip in the first years after the Conquest was being reduced in numbers faster than the interior. A second feature common to all these regions has already been suggested. It is the recession of the rate of decline from its peak shortly after first European contact which is manifested in the steady rise in the series of values for — toward stabilization at the zero ordinate. Each graph, however, differs from every other both in the course taken by the recovery and in its velocity. Thus, for Mexico (figure 7), Banderas (figure 11), Purificación (figure 12), and the Mixteca Alta (figure 15), the logarithms of the values for were derived, the location of the points for population was determined by relatively sophisticated, full-scale censuses, conducted in 1882 by the state and in all subsequent years by the national government. If there are errors, their source is in the censuses themselves. We may say, then, for our presentation on the Mixteca Alta, that although there are many features of the graph which urgently require explanation and probably revision, nevertheless the presentation of population movement in this form brings to the surface many problems which would remain buried in the gross tabulation of successive enumerations. In conclusion we urge again the usefulness of the methods of estimate and presentation we discussed. They are well suited to historical demography with its need to analyze fragmentary and often random data that must require treatment other than that normal in standard demography for uncovering pertinent information. We urge further the efficiency and power of the graphic form of inspection and analysis for work in historical demography. In addition, we have here pointed to the value of regional analyses for uncovering the more erratic local fluctuations which are smoothed over in the totals for larger regions and countries. A relatively smooth national graph may well have within it a series of averages of fairly violent local fluctua-

118

Essays in Population History

tions. Such local variation suggests that there has not been a simple, uniform movement and indicates need for further research by region. Finally, analysis by following the change in the rate of change (" —I

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Survivorship in Oaxaca, 1777, calculated by three

by making arbitrary adjustments for possible undercounting of infants. We have now considered the first two of the methods suggested at the outset of this discussion for the treatment of the data from the 1777 census which relate to age and survival. We have seen that neither method is capable of converting these data into a reliable abridged life table. T h e use of the singlecensus method of Stolnitz, and probably those of other demographers as well, is frustrated by the extremely wide oscillation from one 5-year group to another, as the numbers are reported by the census. The graphic method partly obviates this difficulty by smoothing the record but suffers from the inability to establish firm survival rates for the first two 5-year age groups. In view of these considerations it is clear that we are committed to the third possibility, the employment of direct percentage composition by age. Despite the less sophisticated level of this operation, we can still learn a great deal concerning the nature of those populations that existed in Mexico prior to the introduction of modern census techniques. For the comparison of widely separated, partly complete counts or enumera-

228

Essays in Population History

tions a system consisting of a few simple age-group ratios provides a very useful tool. Indeed, for the entire period between the Conquest and the late nineteenth century, it represents the most satisfactory approach to the study of age distribution. While engaged in this task we have an opportunity to examine the development and maturity of the population in terms of the relative quantitative importance of its social components. Here we explore the numerical status of the married men and women, the children, and the elderly, and endeavor to ascertain the changes which have occurred in the course of four centuries. For this purpose we undertake to establish and then compare the ratios between significant components of the population. Those categories of population which were recognized in the colonial period as fundamental, and which were based upon civil status, were the casado (with the casada), the viudo (viuda), and the soltero (soltera). The first two terms require no comment. A soltero was merely an unmarried person, and the word in plural might at times refer to the entire unmarried population. On other occasions, however, it was restricted, on the basis of age, to those individuals who were qualified to marry but who were not married. In effect the group embraced those above the age of puberty, and some other word would be employed to designate those under this age, such as niños or muchachos. Because the solteros, from 1560 to about 1810, were required to pay tribute on reaching the age of 16, this older group was sometimes referred to as the solteros tributarios. In order to standardize and formalize the numerical treatment of these categories, it will be convenient to employ a series of letter symbols. Under the colonial system the entire population could be divided into casados, viudos, and solteros. Then, if P represents the total population, the component parts are as follows: C represents casados, and almost invariably only the men are considered, for each married man will have a wife. If a distinction between sexes is necessary, C0 will denote the men and C„ the women. V represents viudos, and here both sexes are included. If a distinction is necessary V0 and Va may be used. S represents solteros, or all unmarried persons. Sexes may be distinguished as S0 and S„. When there are

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

229

several subordinate civil, fiscal, or age categories, the latter may be designated by subscript letters such as: St—solteros tributarios, Sm—muchachos, more commonly, however, as M, S„—ninos, more commonly as N, and so forth. In treating and discussing the existing data concerning a population, it becomes highly desirable to establish ratios between the components and the whole, and between various parts of components. Of these ratios the most important relate to the casado, for he (as the casado, vecino, indio, and so forth) was the head of the domestic unit and the key component of the population from the religious, social, and fiscal points of view. In fact we find that customarily colonial records cite numbers for casados alone or jointly with one or more other categories, without mention of total population. The total population may be treated by several methods. The first is to establish the ratio of the component to the whole. For example, with the casado we would write C/P. Then C X 100/P gives the percentage of casados in the total. Similarly we would recognize V/P and S/P. The three ratios together would of course yield the percentage composition of the population. The reciprocal ratios are P/C, and so on. T h e ratio P/C is frequently more useful than its counterpart C/P. In the first place, it furnishes a clue to the size of the average living group, even though it does not represent strictly either the biological family or the household. In the second place, it provides a convenient multiplier for the calculation of total population when the number of casados is known. In the third place, if the ratios of the other components to casados are known, then their sum will equal P/C, for, segregating the married men and women: Co/Co + CJC0 + V/C0 + S/C0 = P/Co,

or

P/C.

It should be emphasized that if absolute values are available, then actual numbers may be computed. Otherwise we establish the relative weight of each component in the population. Although we usually want to ascertain the numerical magnitude of populations, nevertheless the relative values are very useful for depicting secular trends and significant changes in social or demographic conditions. T h e application of these principles may be illustrated by data from the sixteenth century. First we consider the figures

230

Essays in Population History

obtained from our study of the Suma de Visitas de Pueblos.13 Without recapitulating the method used in deriving the values of the ratios, for which reference may be made to the work mentioned, we may cite the following results: We got for population per casado (P/C), 3.29. Because all reports from the sixteenth century omitted nursing infants (specifically children under four years of age), the value embodies a correction which had to be made to cover the omission. For viudos per casado we obtained 0.23, and for solteros tributarios per casado (S t /C) we obtained 0.11. Naturally C0/C0 and C 0 /C„ both equal 1. T h e n the children under the tribute-paying age (S./C), including those 0 - 3 years of age, are given by the difference, or 3.29 - 1.00 - 1.00 - 0.23 - 0.11 = 0.95 This ratio is quite comparable with that of the unmarried children of casados in the eighteenth-century censuses and thus constitutes a possible clue to procreation. A further example from the mid-sixteenth century is provided by the tables published by Pedro Carrasco. 14 These show results of a census taken between 1534 and 1544 in two groups of towns belonging to the Marquesado of Cortés in northern Morelos.

P/C

v/c s,/c Sn/C

Carrasco's table 1. Tepoztl&n, total Total pop. 12,062

Carrasco's table 2. Cuauchichinola, et al. Total pop. 5,504

3.77 not given 0.44 1.33

3.90 0.32 0.48 1.10

T h e ratios of population to casados are higher than the average for the Suma, as pointed out by Carrasco. T h e reason for this is not readily apparent. Perhaps it is due to the relatively favorable situation of these villages in the Marquesado. In any event the disparity is not serious in principle. Another point brought out by Carrasco's data is the effect of varying the style of the census. Thus for Tepoztlán no viudos were given although there certainly must have been some, whereas in the 13. Pp. 73-103. For the full reference, see note 1. 14. Pedro Carrasco, "Tres libros de tributos del Museo Nacional de México y su importancia para los estudios demográficos," International Congress of Americanists, XXXIV meeting, Mexico City, 1962, Actas y memorias, III, p p . 377-378.

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

231

Cuauchichinola village group they were numerous. T h e result is to increase relatively the proportion of solteros and niños in Tepoztlán. If a correction could be made for the omission of viudos, the ratio S„/C at Tepoztlán would be reduced, and this ratio for both village groups would come very close to that obtained by us for the Suma. As the sixteenth-century figures have been outlined hitherto, the ratios have employed the casado as the denominator. As previously suggested, an alternative approach is to relate the components to the total population as the denominator. This permits the expression of the relative weight of each component in terms of percentage. Starting with the proportions shown above for the Suma, we could convert the above formulation to the following: Out of 3.29 persons, 1 is a casado, 1 a casada, 0.23 a viudo, 0.11 a soltero tributario, and 0.95 a muchacho or niño. T h e n if the total population equals 100 percent, the corresponding percentage values for the five categories are: 30.4, 30.4, 7.0. 3.3, and 28.9. For Cuauchichinola, et al., according to Carrasco, the corresponding percentages are: 25.6, 25.6, 8.2, 12.3, and 28.3. Ill We may now attempt to trace the values and the changes in value of certain category ratios throughout the history of colonial and republican Mexico. In so doing we note immediately that the availability of data varies widely from one epoch to another. T h e relatively prolific lists of the sixteenth century, taken mainly for taxation purposes, cease by the year 1620. From 1620 to 1700 there was little attempt to secure a comprehensive evaluation of all inhabitants, tributary or otherwise. Partial and local counts were made especially after 1670, some of which have survived. In the first half of the eighteenth century a series of careful enumerations of the tributary population was made (1715-1755), but only certain categories of the entire population were recorded. In the second half of the century three complete censuses were taken, administered respectively by the viceroys Fuenclara, Bucareli, and Revillagigedo in 1742-1746, 1777, and 1791-1794. These, in conjunction with various local censuses, which were taken as late as 1840, provide a basis of solid information. T h e next 60 years constitute another

232

Essays in Population History

gap which was not closed until the late years of the Porfiriato at approximately 1900. From then till now we have the full national censuses. What this means is simply that we have reasonably adequate figures at only three points throughout Mexican history: the sixteenth century, the late eighteenth century, and the present. We may thus compare the catastrophic decline after the Conquest, the recovery in full force two hundred years later, and the present-day population explosion. We miss, however, the transitional phases; the reversal of decline with incipient recovery in the seventeenth century, and the shift from a high birth rate-high death rate regime to the post-1900 and present-day condition of high birth rate-low death rate. We may begin with consideration of the ratio of viudos to casados ( V / C ) . This ratio has no profound demographic significance, because its value is conditioned by numerous unrelated factors such as the birth and death rates, the sex-age composition, and social pressures which influence remarriage. However, it happens to be a ratio for which we have a moderately complete series of data, one which can be employed empirically to demonstrate the existence of systematic trends through four centuries. T h e data are summarized in tables 19a and 19b, and are plotted graphically in figure 20 on a logarithmic scale for convenience in presentation. Certain general features are evident. 1. Despite considerable scattering of the individual values, or points on the graph, a clear upward trend emerges in the numerical value of the ratio throughout the colonial period. Thus our best approximation for the sixteenth century is 0.23 for V/C. This number is the mean of the first six values in table 19a, from the years 1537 to 1609; it is placed on the graph at 1570. From the census of 1793 we have a sample of over 2,200,000 persons out of the Mexican population which has been estimated at roughly 5,000,000. T h e V/C ratio is 0.319. T h e census of 1960 indicates a reversal since the beginning of the republic, for the value is now 0.23, in effect identical with that which we calculated for the mid-sixteenth century. As suggested above, numerous factors working in different directions must have been instrumental in producing an identical V/C ratio under such diverse social conditions as those in the sixteenth and the twentieth centuries.

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios TABLE

233 19a

Ratio of oiudos to casados. Various dates, 1540-1960; various localities. *

Date

Total Casados

Region

Mexico, Suma, 32 towns" Colima, 32 townsb Marquesado, 10 towns0 Central Mexico, 5 towns'1 Cuauchichinola, et al Miscellaneous, 9 towns' Oaxaca, 18 towns« Nayarit, 8 towns'1 Villa Alta, et al., 5 towns' 1704 Oaxaca, 10 parishes1 1747--1753 Jalisco, 6 townsk Bishopric Oaxaca 1 1777 61 rural parishes Antequera, residents Bishopric Puebla1 105 rural parishes Bishopric Durango 1 47 parishes

1540 1552 1550-1568 1552--1571 1537 1578--1609 1661 1695 1704

Total for 1777 census 1793

m

Total Viudos

Ratio Mean Total V Ratio TotalC v/c

31,956 2,641 687 10,786 1,412 2,662 3,208 280

5,552 665 182 2,498 450 702 1,276 97

0.174 0.252 0.265 0.232 0.319 0.264 0.398 0.346

0.180 0.239 0.309 0.330 0.319 0.232 0.337 0.334

7,103 2,913 290

1,768 847 107

0.249 0.291 0.369

0.256 0.301 0.363

38,940 3,174

11,820 1,417

0.304 0.464

0.307

64,996

17,817

0.274

—

12,046

6,618

0.300

—

119,156

34,672

0.291

—

Jurisdiction Antequera City Oaxaca® Jurisdiction Puebla 0 Province Tlaxcala" Province Yucatán' Jurisdiction Mérida r Province Nuevo México' Province Sonora 1 Province México, excluding city" Mexico Cityv Jurisdiction Guanajuato* Province Durango* Province Antigua Calif.7 Province Sinaloa'

10,299 3,078 14,031 12,854 73,339 4,806 4,866 8,300

4,695 1,657 6,089 2,781 17,821 2,372 1,690 1,890

0.456 0.540 0.434 0.217 0.243 0.494 0.347 0.228

198,276 17,739 69,762 21,857 958 10,082

51,819 13,432 29,250 8,282 361 2,868

0.261 0.757 0.419 0.379 0.377 0.284

Total Mexican sample:

442,363

140,978

0.319

—

— — — — — — — —

— — —

— — — —

(The City of Oaxaca and the Jurisdiction of Mérida have been omitted from the totals.) 1803 1826

Mixteca Alta, 2 parishes" Mixteca Alta, 90 villages in Teposcolula bb 1823-•1832 Mixteca Alta, Tejupan, 4 town reports00 1827 Mixteca Alta, 3 partidos dd

1,404

423

0.302

0.351

8,478

2,842

0.335

0.334

832 14,584

239 4,314

0.287 0.296

0.305 0.294

234

Essays in Population History TABLE

19a (cont'd.)

Ratio of viudos to casados. Various dates, 1540-1960; various localities. *

Date 1960

Ratio Mean Total V Ratio Total C V/C

Total Casados

Total Viudos

Mexico," Federal District 14 Southern States 7 Central States 10 Northern States

770,829 2,628,613 998,546 1,349,305

211,488 623,673 211,550 276,268

0.274 0.238 0.212 0.204

— 0.224 0.214 0.200

Mexico, all entities

5,747,293

1,322,979

0.230

0.216

Region

• Notes follow Table 20b, pp. 240-242. 2. T h e last decades of the eighteenth century display a very sharp segregation of the V/C ratios f o u n d in r u r a l regions from those seen in urban areas. T h u s in the 1777 census the city of A n t e q u e r a is set apart widely f r o m the rest of the Bishopric of Oaxaca. In the 1793 census the two cities (MexTABLE

19b

Ratio of viudos to casados: socio-ethnic distinctions as seen in the censuses of 1777 and 1793*

Date Mil

1793

Region Bishopric Oaxaca 1 61 rural parishes: Españoles Pardos Indios Bishopric Puebla1 105 rural parishes: Españoles Pardos Indios Bishopric Durango1 47 parishes Mixed race Indios Jurisdiction Puebla: 0 Españoles Mestizos Negros y Mulatos Indios Otras castas

• Notes follow Table 20b, pp. 240-242.

Total Casados

Total Viudos

Ratio Total V Total C

1,004 2,207 35,279

329 769 10,722

0.328 0.348 0.303

9,578 1,034 54,384

3,644 328 13,845

0.381 0.317 0.255

9,075 2,971

2,753 865

0.303 0.291

3,148 2,424 586 5,501 2,372

1,503 1,347 280 1,564 1,395

0.477 0.555 0.477 0.284 0.588

235

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios Loa Ox v/c

LOr

e hdlrldua/ vahtt O Artragt M/im

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•

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f

moo

aooo

I • i i ^J. i • • I . i i Ytar

Figure 20. Ratio of viudos to casados (V/C), plotted as the logarithm of 10 V/C on the ordinate against calendar year on the abscissa. Small circles represent individual values. Large circles represent approximate averages for three periods, centering around 1570, 1795 and 1960.

ico City and Antequera) and four jurisdictions containing cities (Antequera, Mérida, Puebla, and Guanajuato) all yield V/C ratios above 0.4, whereas 8 entirely rural provinces all show values below this level. Some persistence of this effect is still seen in the unusually high 1960 value for the Federal District (higher than all states but one, Hidalgo). Indication is also seen of possible regional differences. If we compare the ratios of the 3 southern provinces given for the 1793 census (Yucatán, Tlaxcala, and México) with those of the 5 northern provinces (Durango, Sinaloa, Sonora, Nuevo México, and Antigua California), the latter appear higher, although the data are too scanty for an adequate test of significance 3. In the later years of the viceroyalty an attempt was made on a rather extensive scale and for purposes of the record to subdivide the population according to ethnic origin. T h e three principal class designations employed were 1) españoles, who, together with mestizos constituted the gente de razón, 2) negros and mulatos, also called pardos, many of whom frequently were included in the gente de razón, and 3) indios. Despite the admitted and proven impossibility of drawing really refined distinctions, a certain broad segregation was accomplished. In table 19b are shown the V/C ratios according to these ethnic groups for four substantial areas: the rural parishes of the Bishoprics of Oaxaca, Puebla and Durango in 1777, and the Jurisdiction of Puebla in 1793. It is very clear that the Indians were characterized by low ratios, and all other races

236

Essays in Population History

and race mixtures by much higher ratios. This tendency toward a high V/C ratio on the part of the gente de raz6n may also account, at least in part, for the high urban values previously mentioned. In concluding this discussion it may be emphasized that, regardless of the dubious social significance of the V/C ratio, a test by means of this parameter brings to light the existence of underlying secular trends associated with urban-rural habitat, ethnic origin, and perhaps regional location. Of much greater importance is the relationship between casados and total population. However, in order to elucidate this relationship and to show its bearing upon the demographic structure of colonial Mexico, it is inevitable that we examine also two other aspects of the broad problem. The first consists of the interrelationships among all the civil categories which comprised the community at large. T h e second is the age composition as it is reflected by these categories. Indeed age and civil category, revolving around the casado as the central component, can scarcely be dissociated. Furthermore, although for testing the applicability of the life-table technique we employed a single census taken from the year 1777, when we consider the development and interaction of civil categories and age composition, it is preferable to utilize a chronological approach. If we attempt to study the age characteristics of the native population in the sixteenth century we find ourselves severely restricted. Two factors are responsible. In the first place, despite copious records showing numbers of tributaries, casados, and other categories, almost no documents give explicit ages. In the second place, the verbal categories which in the eighteenth century are of assistance in determining the limits of age groups are extremely ill-defined and apparently were taken by public officials as referring to no universally accepted range of ages. Some of the ecclesiastical reports, particularly those submitted by members of the Augustinian Order, give precise numbers for tributaries, casados, and confesantes. T h e latter were communicants and included the entire adult population over the age of 12 to 14 years. However, since we are in complete ignorance of numbers below this age, we have merely two or more categories of adults. Ratios within the adult population are of interest in other contexts but are useless for the

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

237

estimation of the relative strength of the younger age groups, and it is these groups in which we are immediately interested. We are left, indeed, with only one potential source of information, the Suma de Visitas. It is worthwhile to examine this document carefully in order to ascertain to what extent it provides a basis for any evaluation whatever of the age status of the younger generations soon after the Conquest. As an introductory remark, we may point out that from this and a few other sources we arrived at the round figure of 3.3 as the ratio of total population to casados (P/C). Some of the contributing data have been recast and are presented in table 20a. The figures from Carrasco's calculations for Tepoztldn are also included. They run a little higher than our values from the Suma, but are still within the range obtained for single towns. We see no particular advantage in altering our former estimate of 3.3. We may begin detailed consideration with the only town found in the Suma out of over 900 for which an exact statement of age groups is given. This is Tehuantepec in Oaxaca. We show below the full report for the population of this town and its subject territory.

Cabecera Sujetos Cabecera plus Sujetos

Married men and their wives

Unmarried men and women

Children 4-14

Children 0-3

3,009 1,400

1,391 308

3,103 1,763

1,333

4,409

1,699

6,199

{Total of preceding) 8,836 3,471 12,307

In the above tabulation the headings and figures are as given by the Suma. The totals are obtained by adding the items given. The sums check both vertically and horizontally. It will also be noted that whereas the children under 15 (because "de quatro hasta quinze años" carries only to the fifteenth birthday) are aggregated into two groups (0-3 and 4-14) for the town, it is not immediately clear whether they are combined for the sujetos. They are not mentioned specifically, and the number 1,763 is designated "hijos e hijas." On the other hand, in the following paragraph in the Suma text, where the totals are given for the entire "provincia," the children are described as "seis mill y ciento y nobenta y nuebe hijos y hijas, chicos y grandes, de todos los vezinos sus dichos" (6,199 girls and boys, small and

238

Essays in Population History TABLE

20a

Ratio of total population to casados *

Date

Region

1540- Suma—see Note" 1550 Table 12A Table 12B Table 12C Table 12D Table 12E:1 Table 12E:2 Table 12G Tepoztlán" Cuauchichinola" 1777 Bishopric Oaxaca hh 61 rural parishes Antequera, Resident Bishopric Puebla 105 rural parishes Bishopric Durango 47 parishes Total of 1777 census 1793

Total Casados

26,596 21,241 62,775 26,705

Total Population

86,118 71,094 206,761 85,038

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

Ratio P/C Ratio P/C based on based on total mean of numbers values

3.24 3.35 3.29 3.19 3.09 3.24 —

3.70 3.80

3.10 3.28 3.54 3.29 — —

3.48 — —

38,940

186,222

4.78

4.78

3,174

18,558

5.85

—

64,996

310,193

4.78

—

12,046

71,858

5.97

—

119,156

586,831

4.93

—

10,299 3,078 14,031 12,854 73,339 4,806

55,934 18,236 71,366 59,148 364,022 27,829

5.43 5.94 5.09 4.61 4.96 5.79

4,866 8,300

30,953 38,305

6.36 4.61

198,276 17,739

938,463 104,760

4.73 5.91

69,862 21,857

398,029 122,386

5.70 5.60

958 10,082

4,075 55,062

4.26 5.46

442,363

2,242,503

5.07

See Note"

Jurisdiction Antequera City Oaxaca Jurisdiction Puebla Province Tlaxcala Province Yucatán Jurisdiction Mérida Province Nuevo México Province Sonora Province México, excluding city Mexico City Jurisdiction Guanajuato Province Durango Province Andgua California Province Sinaloa Total Mexican sample:

—

(The City of Oaxaca and the Jurisdiction of M6rida have been omitted from the totals.)

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios TABLE

239

20a (cont'd.)

Ratio of total population to casados*

Date 1804

Ratio P/C Ratio P/C based on based on mean of total values numbers

Total Casados

Total Population

207,140 93,175 28,630 75,841 38,087 51,598 25,292 37,469 18,820 3,169 69,858

1,019,865 469,607 141,038 416,383 171,160 278,541 138,547 181,648 100,148 18,432 330,351

4.92 5.04 4.93 5.50 4.49 5.40 5.48 4.85 5.32 5.82 4.73

649,079

3,265,720

5.03

6,439

4.59

38,470

4.54

3,849

4.63

64,510

4.43

4,870,876 15,632,653 6,149,368 8,270,231

6.32 5.95 6.16 6.13

5.89 6.15 6.20

Mexico, all entities 5,747,293 34,923,129

6.07

6.06

Region See Note» Province: México Puebla Veracruz Oaxaca Valladolid Guanajuato San Luis Potosi Guadalajara Zacatecas Ariz pe Mérida Mexico, entire

See Notekk Mixteca Alta, 1,404 2 parishes Mixteca Alta, 1826 90 villages in Teposcolula 8,478 1823- Mixteca Alta, Tejupan, 4 town 1832 reports 832 1827 Mixteca Alta, 14,584 3 partidos 1960 See Note11 Mexico Federal District 770,829 14 Southern States 2,638,613 7 Central States 998,546 10 Northern States 1,349,305

5.13

1803

* Notes follow Table 20b, pp. 240-242.

240

Essays in Population History TABLE

20b

Ratio of total population to casados: socio-ethnic distinctions

Date

Region

See Notehh Bishopric Oaxaca 61 rural parishes Españoles Pardos Indios Bishopric Puebla 105 rural parishes Españoles Pardos Indios Bishopric Durango 47 parishes Mixed race Indios 1793 See Note11 Jurisdiction Puebla Españoles Mestizos Negros y mulatos Indios Otras castas 1804 See Note" Matrícula of 1805 Indios of all types Negros y mulatos libres

Ratio P/C based on total numbers

Total Casados

Total Population

1,004 2,207 35,279

6,205 12,854 167,163

6.08 5.83 4.72

9,578 1,034 54,384

55,025 5,764 249,404

5.75 5.58 4.59

9,075 2,971

58,645 13,213

6.46 4.45

3,184 2,424 586 5,501 2,372

18,369 13,558 2,930 24,039 12,670

5.84 5.51 5.00 4.37 5.32

580,818 68,261

2,883,779 381,941

4.97 5.60

Mil

Notes to Tables 19a, 19b, 20a, and 20b a. The values given here are revised from The Population of Central Mexico in 1548 (IA: 43), table 10B, p. 79. b. Revised from IA: 43, table 10A, p. 78. The data are from the reports of the visita by Lebrón de Quinones in Mexico, Archivo General de la Nacion, El libro de las tasaciones de pueblos de la Nueva Espaha. c. Revised from IA: 43, table IOC, p. 80. Four towns are dated 1550; 6 are dated 1568. They are plotted in figure 20 as if the common date were 1560. d. Revised from IA: 43, table 10D, p. 80. The dates vary from 1552 to 1571. They are plotted as if the common date were 1560. e. Pedro Carrasco, "Tres libros de tributos," International Congress of Americanists, X X X V meeting, Mexico City, 1962, Adas y memorias, I, 377 (table 2). f. The towns are: 1578. Chalcatongo, Oaxaca. AGN, manuscrito suelto, on film at the Bancroft Library. 1600. San Pedro, San Juan, and San Francisco were newly formed barrios in the Chinantla. See Howard F. Cline, "Civil Congregation of the Western Chinantec, New Spain, 1599-1603," The Americas, X I I , pp. 115-137 (1955). The source of Cline's data is AGN, Tierras, vol. 64, exp. 4.

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

241

1609. Villa de Pánuco, Real de TIaulilpa, Miahuatlán, Ocelotepec, and Coatlán. Colección de documentos de Indias, IX, pp. 120-247. g. Testimonio de autos y padrones del Oidor Montemayor y Córdova de Cuenca, 1661-1662, MS, AGI, Patronato, leg. 230A, ramo 8. h. Manuscrito relativo a la cuenta de los indios de Sentispac, 1697, Biblioteca Pública, Guadalajara, Manuscript Collection, caja 12-6, Serial No. 161 (N.S.), 22 ff. i. Affidavit of the Contador Mayor of the Cathedral of Oaxaca, 1704, MS, AGI, Audiencia de Méjico, leg. 879. j. Testimonio de autos . . . sobre diez doctrinas . . . de Oaxaca, 1708, MS, AGI, Audiencia de Méjico, leg. 879. k. Autos formados sobre la nueva cuenta y retasa de los tributarios del pueblo de Analco y barrio de Mexicalcingo, 1753, MS, Biblioteca Pública, Guadalajara, Manuscript Collection, caja 57-9, Serial No. 720 (N.S.). 1. Tabulated from the census sheets for the bishoprics, m. Estado general de la población de la jurisdicción de Antequera, Oaxaca, provincia del mismo (1790), MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 522, f. 259. n. Estado general de la población de la capital de Oaxaca, MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 522, f. 260. o. Resumen del numero de personas que se compone esta jurisdicción de Puebla de los Angeles, AGN, Historia, vol. 73, f. 122. p. Estado general de la población de la provincia de Tlaxcala (1793), MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 523, f. 113. q. Estado general de la provincia de Yucatán (1789), MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 523, f. 9. r. Estado general de la jurisdicción de Mérida, capital de la provincia de Yucatán (1790), MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 522, f. 257. s. Estado general de la población de la provincia de Nuevo México (1790), MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 522, f. 246. t. Sonora: Fuerza total de esta provincia con distinción de estados, MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 522, f. 272. u. Estado general de la población de la provincia de México (1794), MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 523, f. 145. v. Estado general de la población de México, capital de Nueva España, MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 523, f. 145. w. Estado general de la población de la provincia de Guanajuato (1793), MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 523, f. 76. x. Fuerza total de cada jurisdicción de la provincia con distinción de estados: Durango, MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 522, f. 269. y. Estado general de la provincia de la Antigua California (1790), MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 522, f. 267. z. Sinaloa: Fuerza total de esta provincia con distinción de estados, MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 522, f. 275. aa. Reports for the episcopal visita of Oaxaca, 1802-1804, submitted to Bishop Bergosa y Jordán, MS in library of Luis Castañeda Guzmán; film copy in Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City, bb. A series of reports submitted by the parish priests of the District of Teposcolula for the census of the State of Oaxaca in 1826. MSS, Archivo Municipal, Teposcolula. cc. Four counts of Tejupan, Soyaltepec, and Tonaltepec, taken at different dates between 1823 and 1832, MSS, Archivo Parroquial, T e j u p a n . dd. José María Murguía y Galardi, "Estadística antigua y moderna de la provincia, hoy estado libre soberano e independiente de G u a j a c a , " Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, Boletín, la ep., V I I , pp. 159-275 (1859). T h e data are probably from the census of 1826 taken in the State of Oaxaca. ee. Mexico, Secretaría de Industria y Comercio, Dirección General de Estadística, VIII Censo general de población, 1960. Resumen general (Mexico City, 1962). See tables No. 1 (pp. 1 ff) and No. 9 (pp. 112 ff). ff. The first 7 items are recalculated from Borah and Cook, The Population of Mexico in 1548 (IA: 43), table 12, pp. 91-101: The first item, from table 12A, has 12 towns. The second item, from table 12B, has 23 towns. The third item, from table 12C, has 92 towns. The fourth item, from table 12D, has 90 towns. The fifth and sixth items are derived respectively from the data contained in Table 12E, part 1, covering Mexico-Hidalgo, and part 2, covering Oaxaca exclusive of the Zapotecas. For each v of the two areas, these figures show houses and casados for one group of towns and houses and

242

Essays in Population History

large, children of the said vecinos). The implication is unavoidable that the "niños de teta" are included throughout. We can therefore establish the following ratios. Town: Town: Sujetos: Town:

ratio ratio ratio ratio

ages 4-14 to casados: 1.032 ages 0-14 to casados: 1.475 ages 0-14 to casados: 1.260 ages 0-3 to casados: 0.443

In the Suma accounts occur of several other towns which include a statement of the age of at least one of the younger age groups. These may be divided roughly according to the type of description. For 11 towns and villages the numbers are listed of casados and of muchachos "de quinze años para abajo" (below the age of 15). These localities comprise Visitas Nos. VI, XXV, and LXXII. The first has 3 towns in Mexico and Hidalgo, the second 1 town in Mexico, the third 3 towns in Oaxaca plus 3 sujetos and a group of estancias. Since the muchachos are "sin los de teta," (without the nursing infants) the age limits are 4 and 14 years inclusive. The range of ratios of muchachos to casados is 0.219 to 0.828, and the mean is 0.607, with S.D. equal to ±0.185, a value considerably below that found for Tehuantepec. For illustrative purposes, the data for these towns are shown in detail in table 21a. In the data for only a few other towns is there an explicit upper age limit set on the category of muchachos or niños. Texcatepec (No. 546) and Tlacachique (No. 547) cite muchachos "de doze años abajo" (below the age of 12). The mean ratio of muchachos to casados is 0.804. The town of Apaxco (No. 2) gives 532 casados and 59 "niños de cinco años para abajo" (below the age of 5). This ratio is 0.111. Otherwise there are numerous cases of a lower limit, for example "de 12 Notes to Tables 19a through 20b, cont'd. total persons for another group of towns. For each area, we have taken the mean ratio of the values for persons per house and for casados per house. T h e number of houses, being unity, cancels out, leaving the ratio persons per casado. In all cases the number of persons has been adjusted by adding 1/9 of the stated value, in order to include the niños de teta, or children under 4 years of age. gg. Data from table 3 of the article of Pedro Carrasco cited in note e above, p. 377. hh. Census of 1777, our tabulation. ii. General census of 1793 (actually 1789-1794). For specific references, see notes m-z. jj. Estado general (Matricula de Tributarios), Mexico City, 5 December 1805, 10 ff., MS, AGN, Tributos, vol. 43, last exp. kk. For these four items, refer to notes a a - d d . 11. Census of 1960. See note ee.

243

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios TABLE

21a

Ratio of mvchachos, aged 4-14, to casados for certain towns described in the Suma de Visitas Suma No. 106 538 781 560 486A B C D 760A B 761

Town Soyanaquilpan Tepexi del Rio Utlaspa Tepetitlán Quio tepee Coyula Tequix tepee Tecaxco Tecomavaca Teco mavaca-estancias Teotitlán del Cam.

Visita VI VI VI XXV LXXII LXXII LXXII LXXII LXXII LXXII LXXII

Casados Muchachos Ratio M/T 487 2,000 850 352 91 35 40 29 28 28 560

318 437 323 189 50 20 30 20 26 19 459

0.653 0.219 0.380 0.536 0.550 0.572 0.750 0.690 0.828 0.679 0.820

años arriba," (12 years of age and above) or "sin los muchachos de 12 años abajo" (without the boys under the age of 12). In these instances the upper limit, if any, must be inferred by indirect methods. Here the solteros become of importance. We have pointed out previously that the soltero was an unmarried person of such an age that he or she was capable of entering into matrimony. In the sixteenth century any of these who held land, or who lived independently of their parents, were subject to tribute as half-tributaries. Thus occasionally we find them segregated and designated as "solteros tributarios." Two sources are available concerning their relative number. One is the visita of Lebrón de Quiñones in the province of Colima, the figures for which will be found in a previous paper.18 In this visita 31 towns give a mean ratio of solteros tributarios to casados of 0.12. The other source is the Suma, in which several visitas are of interest. The first, No. XX, includes two large cabeceras, Huaquechula and Tepapayeca, both in Puebla. For the latter, only casados are cited. With the former and with each of its 9 sujetos the number of casados are given and that of solteros. In the accounts of 3 sujetos is specifically written "solteros que tributan," and it is evident that the same qualification applies throughout. The range for the 10 towns is 0.043 to 0.166, and the mean is 0.106. (See table 21b). The second visita is No. LXXXI, which covers 6 15. Our analysis of the Suma de Visitas (IA: 43), p. 83.

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Essays in Population History

cabeceras in Hidalgo and northern Mexico State. For each is given the number of casados, that of muchachos or niños, and that of solteros. T h e latter are described respectively in the six summaries as "solteros," "solteras," "solteros que tributan," "solteros y solteras," "hombres é mugeres solteras," "hombres solteros." Clearly the unmarried population of both sexes subject to tribute is indicated. The ratio of solteros que tributan to casados for the 6 towns mentioned shows a range from 0.080 to 0.144, and a mean of 0.102. (See table 21b). TABLE

21b

Ratio of "Solteros çue tributan" to casados for the towns in two visitas describid in the Suma de Visitas Suma No. 260A B C D E F G H I

J 235 397 417 498 771 838

Town Huaquechula Cuyluco Guayuca Tezozocolco Azizintlan Coatepeque Tochteupa Guaupechuca Aguacatepec Calmecatitlán Sayula Michimaloya Nextlalpan Xochitlán Tula Xipacoya

Visita

Casados

Solteros

Ratio S/C

XX

1,746 232 120 208 150 148 184 60 85 406

150 10 20 20 20 20 20 6 10 30

0.086 0.043 0.166 0.096 0.133 0.135 0.109 0.100 0.117 0.074

LXXXI

400 1,390 400 1,300 7,800 1,793

40 200 32 135 800 165

0.100 0.144 0.080 0.104 0.103 0.082

The third is Visita No. LVIII, which covers the region of Tlapa in eastern Guerrero, and which includes the town of Petlacala (No. 471). For this town one reads, ". . . son todos dozientos y ocho tributarios, los ciento y noventa casados y los demás solteros y muchachos." (. . . there are in all 208 tributaries, of whom 190 are casados and the others solteros and muchachos.) The ratio here is 0.095. T h e fourth is Visita No. X, which gives the town of Chietla, Puebla (No. 108) and 4 sujetos. For Chietla it is stated: "tiene . . . novecientos y ochenta y seis casados, con su familia, y ciento y ocho solteros" (the town . . . has 986 casados, with their families, and 108 solteros). The same formula is followed with the 4 sujetos. Clearly all the unmarried children except

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

245

those liable for tribute are encompassed by the expression "con su familia." The mean ratio of solteros to casados is 0.138. The fifth is Visita No. XVI which includes the town of Axacuba (No. 8). This town contained 2,985 casados, 172 viudos, 2,087 muchachos, and 201 "solteros viejos" (old, unmarried people). All these groups include "toda la gente, grandes y pequeños (all people, adult and children). The "solteros viejos" must be tributaries. The ratio of solteros to casados is 0.067. If we look at these six statements, we see four mean values of 0.120, 0.166, 0.102 and 0.138 plus the two single values 0.095 and 0.067. The ranges and deviations are such that we are justified in rounding off the figures to a common estimate, for which 0.110 is reasonable. Now, certainly, the solteros que tributan (unmarried people who pay tribute) were not the only solteros. The remainder were unmarried persons who owned no land and were still living with their parents. It is unlikely, however, that many such persons of mature age were included, for these would be pursuing an independent existence and would be liable for tribute. Thus we are dealing predominantly with the group too old to be called muchachos or niños, but still not fully adult. It is probable that the lower age limit was at about 15 years. In favor of this thesis, in addition to the statements from Tehuantepec and from Visitas No. VI, XXV, and LXXII, is the lack of specific mention of any more advanced age in the Suma as constituting a point for reckoning "arriba" or "abajo." Nevertheless, two ages, 12 and 8, were rather extensively employed as a lower limit for the younger groups. For instance we have 9 towns for which it is stated that the solteros were "de 12 años arriba." The mean ratio S/C is 0.160 rb 0.063. This figure could represent solteros tributarios plus those from 15 down to 12 years. Also 9 towns report muchachos "de 8 años arriba" (age 8 and above). The mean ratio M/C is 0.728 ± 0.184. If we are unhappy with these rather sketchy indications of relative number, we have no recourse but to fall back upon purely verbal categories, casados, solteros, muchachos, and niños. In many of the reports in the Suma, the number of casados is given (perhaps as tributarios or vecinos) together with one or two younger categories upon which no age limits are set. If there are two categories they will be recognizable as an

246

Essays in Population History

older group, called variously solteros, mancebos, mozos, or muchachos, and a younger group called muchachos or niños. Two broad variants of this scheme can be distinguished: Type A, where the combined number of the two groups is given, and Type B, where the number of each group is given separately. With Type B the total for Type A may be found easily by addition. A third type, which we may denote Type C, includes those towns for which only a single youthful component is mentioned, but no qualification or indication as to its composition is offered. T h e usual designation is muchachos or niños. With Type A we may introduce an adjustment. T h e older of the two groups, particularly if called solteros, will undoubtedly contain the solteros tributarios, whose ratio to casados was found to approximate 0.110. Hence the ratio of any other similar group to casados, minus 0.110, automatically deletes the solteros tributarios, and reduces the upper age limit to somewhere between 15 and 18 years. This adjustment, it should be emphasized, cannot be applied to the younger of two pre-adult categories, or to a single group which provides no indication of its relative age. One further source of uncertainty and probable error in the Suma is brought out clearly if we examine the verbal categories just mentioned with reference to the organization of the visitas in the document. It will be remembered that each visita consisted of a tour of inspection of some territorial unit carried out by an appointed official. He then submitted his report, town by town, to the central authority. Our previous analysis demonstrates clearly that each inspector developed his own personal methods of counting and classifying. Hence, in the matter of category descriptions, we can find as many variations as there are visitas. A primary object of the inspection was to determine the number of tributaries, and this task was usually accomplished with reasonable fidelity. Other components of the population were of secondary importance, and with them the inspectors were likely to follow their own ideas. T h e effect of this exercise of personal judgment was to introduce wide differences in the relative number of the children, specifically muchachos and niños, differences which show up vividly when we take the ratios of these groups to the much more stable casados. Table 22 shows the mean ratios, with the three types of

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

»47

TABLE

22

Average ratios per visita of younger age groups to casados, according to types described in the text

Visita No.

Number of Towns

Standard Deviation

Mean Ratio

Rentarks

Type A

IV XVII XXI XXII XXVI XXVIII XXXII LIV LVI LXII LXIV

11 6 6 3 9 3 3 12 44 19 3

1.594 1.838 0.785 0.797 0.497 1.087 1.340 1.348 1.113 1.821 1.148

0.413 0.257 0.203

"toda edad"

—

0.083

"sin los de teta"

— —

0.560 0.501 0.409

muchachos plus niños

—

Type B

IV XVII XXI XXII XXVI XXVIII XXXIII LIV LXII LXIV

11 6 6 3 9 3 3 12 19 3

0.933 1.378 0.605 0.583 0.377 0.833 0.896 0.930 1.450 0.833

0.413 0.130 0.213 —

0.084 — —

0.387 0.347 —

Type C

I XVI LIV LVI 11 LXII LXVIII LXXIII LXXIX

5 6 4 13 36 10 9 3

1.457 0.773 0.854 0.418 1.345 0.518 0.390 0.758

0.368 0.155 0.187 0.192 0.395 0.115 0.180

"sin los de teta"

"sin los niños"

—

presentation (A, B and C) for several visitas, deleting those for which we have reports of fewer than three towns. The wide fluctuations in ratio are conspicuous and demonstrate clearly the lack of any uniformity whatever in assigning age limits to the children in the pre-tributary population. The average values of the ratios of these groups to casados (i.e., the mean of the visita means) for types A, B, and C are 1.45, 0.882, and 0.822.

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Essays in Population History

If we adjust Type A for solteros tributarios the value is 1.105. One more purely empirical approximation is possible. We may examine the Suma town by town, differentiate types A, B, and C, disregard completely variations in the reporting of age, and take ratios merely according to the names of the categories. By pursuing this method we find the following mean ratios for the younger group to the casados. Type A (adjusted for "solteros tributarios") Type B TypeC

103 towns 83 towns 66 towns

1.2618 ± 0.635 0.963 ± 0 . 5 2 0 1.000 ± 0 . 5 1 3

These values exceed somewhat, but do not differ profoundly from, those obtained by using as a basis the averages of visitas. If we may judge by the magnitude of the standard deviations, there is no difference of statistical significance. A final adjustment of these figures may be attempted. It has been pointed out repeatedly that, with the exception of the Tehuantepec visita, the numbers of niños and muchachos given in the Suma exclude the niños de teta. As a consequence we have had to take all age groups with a minimum limit of 4 years. However, our previous studies of the sixteenth century population 16 indicate strongly that the nursing infants (age 0-3) comprised close to 10 percent of the total population. At the same time the ratio of total population to casados equalled about 3.3. If 10 percent of that total was contributed by the niños de teta, then the ratio of the latter to casados was onetenth of 3.3, or 0.33. It follows, therefore, that if, to the various values for the younger age groups previously derived, we add 0.33, we thereby include an estimate for the niños de teta. For a compilation of ratios of younger age groups to casados which are derived from reports of towns or visitas, reference may be made to table 23. In this table, for all ratios, except those relating to Tehuantepec, age groups based upon the Suma with a lower limit of 0 years have been obtained by adding 0.330 to the value stated for 4 years. This adjustment has been made also for all ratios not described in terms of exact years. For comparison of the data from the Suma de Visitas with parallel values derived from the late eighteenth century 16. IA:43, pp. 90 and 102.

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios TABLE

249 23

Ratios of younger age groups to casados from the S u m a de Visitas compared with those from laie eighteenth-century sources Suma de Visitas

Eighteenth Century

Age

Age

group

0-3 0-4 4-11 0-11 4-14 4-14 0-14 0-14 0-14

Source

Ratio

group

Source*

AGES STATED OR DERIVED Oaxaca Tehuantepec 0.443 0-3 Oaxaca Apaxco 0.505 0-4 AGN, Historia 0-6 (See text.) Nos. 546, 547 0.804 4-11 Oaxaca Nos. 546, 547 1.134 0-11 Oaxaca Tehuantepec, cabecera 1.032 4-14 Oaxaca 11 towns 0.607 Tehuantepec, cabecera 1.475 0-14 Oaxaca Tehuantepec, sujetos 1.260 11 towns 0.937 0-15 AGN, Historia (See text.) 0-17 Oaxaca

Ratio

0.613 0.786 1.225 1.133 1.772 1.415 2.030

2.449 2.267

VERBAL CATEGORIES Type A

11 visitas

Type A Type B

103 towns 10 visitas

Type B Type C Type C

83 towns 8 visitas 66 towns

1.435 N + S AGN, Historia, Juris. Puebla 1.598 N + P Matr., all Mexico 1.212 N AGN, Historia, Juris. Puebla Matr., all Mexico 1.293 N 1.152 1.330

2.450 2.000 1.498 1.828

Abbreviations: S = solteros; N »= niños; P = proximo«. * Oaxaca data are from the census of 1777; AGN, Historia, vols. 522-3 has the summaries of the 1793 general census; Matrícula de Tributarios of 1805. When more than one entity is involved, the average value is given, otherwise the ratio is based upon total numbers.

documents, it is necessary to express the latter so as to show the ratios of the younger components to the casados rather than to the total population. In order to do this, we anticipate briefly the subsequent extended consideration of these enumerations. From the year-by-year totals for the 61 rural parishes in Oaxaca, as shown in the general census of 1777, we get the seven ratios which appear in the right hand column of table 23. The summaries in AGN, Historia from the general census of 1793 yield for our purposes only the age groups 0-6 and 0-15. For the 4 provinces of Guanajuato, Tlaxcala, México, and

250

Essays in Population History

Nuevo México and the 2 jurisdictions of Querétaro and Antequera, the average ratios of these age groups to casados are respectively 1.225 and 2.449. With regard to the ratios based upon verbal categories which are shown in table 23, those from the Suma are repeated from the foregoing discussion. Those from AGN, Historia are given in the summary for the Jurisdiction of Puebla, where age groups are expressed only as solteros (or doncellas) and niños (or niñas). T h e Matricula of 1805 lists only niños y niñas, a group which probably runs from 0 to 14 or 15 years. Although the correspondence with respect to age limits is far from precise between the Suma and the three eighteenthcentury sources, the former clearly gives much smaller values for the ratios employed than do the later documents. Even if a wide margin of error is admitted, the consistency is such as to justify the conclusion that the fraction of the population under 18 years of age underwent a significant increase relative to casados, i.e. married heads of families, during the two and one-half centuries under consideration. We now return to the position of casados in the total population and in so doing jump across the seventeenth to the eighteenth century when several important counts were made. These have been discussed in previous essays, but it is wise to stress that they may be regarded as of two broad types, depending upon the segments of the population which they include. For whatever area or entity concerned one either embraces all the inhabitants or includes only that portion which may be designated as non-Indian. These are the censuses of 1777 and 1793. T h e other covers only the tributary class who were predominantly Indian. Here we find the series of enumerations preserved in the Archive of the Indies for the years 1715 to 1755 and the Matricula de Tributarios of 1805. It is necessary to examine separately each of these two sets of documents and to determine the ratios by civil category and the grouping by age for each. However, it will be preferable to treat first the simpler problem, that of the relative proportion of casados, as it is found in all of the eighteenth-century sources. At the same time it will be possible to fill out tb» comparison based upon the temporal sequence by citing a few values from the 1960 census of Mexico. T h e numbers in table 20a for entire population and for casados include the totals reported by 3 bishoprics in 1777

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

251

and by 14 civil jurisdictions in 1793. Among the latter there is some duplication: T h e city of Oaxaca is within the Jurisdiction of Antequera, and the Jurisdiction of Mérida is within the Province of Yucatán. Hence the general totals are diminished by the populations of Oaxaca and Mérida. T h e table also contains the values for 11 provinces from the Matricula of 1805, as well as a few scattered local items from the Mixteca Alta. Finally, we have appended some parallel ratios derived from the 1960 census. T h e data, scanty though they may be, make it abundantly evident that the ratio P/C has increased steadily and significantly in 400 years. With only three consolidated points (See figure 21), the exact course of the change cannot be deterp/e •

• IMIvldual Valu» 0 AtnroQ* VOlvm

•

h

• 1 • .•

•

• •

»!

-

o*

•m

0 *• .

••

• • •

• •

•

• •

*

1 1 •11 1 1 1 t 1 t 1 . 1 11 •11 11 1i 1« 1 i1• 11 1 1 1 •1 11 1I 1 11 1• 1 1 1 1 1 isoo leoo rroo moo woo 2000 Yw

Figure 21. Ratio of population to casados (P/C), plotted as the direct values on the ordinate against calendar year on the abscissa. Dots represent individual values. Circles represent approximate averages for five dates centering at the years indicated on the graph.

mined, but it is probable that the rate of increase in the numerical value of the ratio P/C was at a maximum in the early stages of recovery from the debacle of the sixteenth century and has been slowly diminishing ever since. Thus between approximately 1540 and 1790 it rose from 3.3 to 5.1 and since

Essays in Population History

252

1790 has gone up to about 6.1. If we regard the change as linear we might place the average rate of increase at 0.6-0.7 per century. The values in table 20a indicate that the P/C ratio was higher in urban than in rural areas during the last 50 years of the colonial era. Naturally we cannot differentiate between country and city in the sixteenth century, and for the present decade the distinction is not very impressive. A comparison of ethnic groups is similarly possible for the late eighteenth century, whereas it is not possible for the very early or the very recent periods. From table 20b it is clear that in the years 1770— 1810 the population-to-casado ratio was highest among the gente de razón and lowest among the Indians. In this connection it should be emphasized that in the sixteenth century all the recorded populations were Indian, and also that the Matricula of 1805 included only tributaries, almost all of whom were Indians. It has been suggested that category ratios based upon civil status are useful for establishing trends and for achieving a preliminary idea of the condition of a population. Particularly is this true when the numbers of persons in a few categories are available, but when the exact magnitude of the entire population is unknown. On the other hand, when the total number of persons is stated, together with the values for at least casados and viudos, then it becomes preferable to express the components in terms of percentage of the population. Indeed, when presented in this form the picture as a whole becomes not only simpler but much clearer than when looked at through a series of discrete ratios. In conformity with this principle we may recast the data previously adduced in table 20a so as to formulate an approximate, but comprehensive, table of percentage composition for the three key epochs discussed. We consider the total population to equal 100. Then we obtain for the components in three periods of time:

Period

1540-1550 1777 (3 bishoprics) 1793 (12 entities) 1960

Married men & women

Widowers &

60.6

40.6 37.8 32.9

widows

Ail unmarried persons

Total population

7.0 5.9 6.3 3.8

32.4 53.5 55.9 63.3

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

253

From this tabulation emerge more clearly than by means of single ratios certain basic trends in the Mexican population since the Conquest: the progressive reduction in proportion of married persons and of widowed persons, with a corresponding increase in the proportion of unmarried persons. Since the latter are predominantly infants and children, with relatively few adult solteros, it would appear that the younger age groups have substantially doubled in relative number since the sixteenth century. It is further evident that they had come to constitute fully half the population by the later eighteenth century. In table 24 are given analogous percentages corresponding to ethnic and regional divisions for the later colonial period and 1960. For the late colonial period the greater relative number of unmarried persons and smaller proportion of married couples among the Spaniards and mestizos, as opposed to the Indians, shows up clearly. The Negroes appear to hold an intermediate position. In the late eighteenth century some difference emerges between the heavily urbanized and predominantly rural areas, although this condition in turn may reflect merely the drift of the socially favored whites and mestizos to the towns and cities. At the present time a possibly significant but numerically small differential exists between the northern and southern states. However, it would not be justifiable to draw important conclusions for 1960 from the relatively crude formulation shown in table 24. The enumerations of the late eighteenth century have been mentioned repeatedly, the census of 1777, the censuses of 1793, and the Matricula of 1805. We must examine them again with particular reference to the information they convey concerning age distribution. The reports from the 1777 census which are still extant provide abundant samples from the Bishoprics of Oaxaca, Puebla, and Durango. Of these the most complete are for the Bishopric of Oaxaca; they permit a tabulation according to single year throughout the entire range of ages. Expressed as 5-year totals the data have been shown in tables 16a, b, and c, and figures 17a, b, and c, and have been discussed in the preceding section of this essay. We have more than 100 reports from parishes in the Bishopric of Puebla. Of these, 12 record ages for all inhabitants, and 69 others give the ages for children but not for adults.

254

Essays in Population History TABLE

24

Percentage composition oj populations in 1777, 1793, and 1804, according to ethnic group. (Numerical values for casados and viudos are in tables 19b and 20b. Data for solteros came from sources listed in those tables.)

Date

Region

1777 Bishopric Oaxaca 61 rural parishes Españoles Pardos Indios Bishopric Puebla 105 rural parishes Españoles Pardos Indios Bishopric Durango 47 parishes Mixed race Indios 1793 Jurisdiction Puebla Españoles Mestizos Negros y mulatos Indios Otras castas 1793 5 urban jurisdictions (including Mexico City) 8 rural provinces 1804 Matricula Indios of all types Negros y mulatos libres 1960 Mexico Federal District 14 Southern States 7 Central States 10 Northern States

Percent Casados plus Casadas

Percent Viudos

32.4 34.3 42.2

5.3 6.0 6.4

62.3 59.7 51.4

100.0 100.0 100.0

34.8 35.9 43.6

6.6 5.7 5.5

58.6 58.4 50.9

100.0 100.0 100.0

30.9 45.0

4.7 6.5

64.4 48.5

100.0 100.0

34.1 36.3 40.0 45.8 37.5

8.2 10.1 9.6 6.5 11.0

57.7 53.6 50.4 47.7 51.5

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

35.5 41.1

8.5 5.4

56.0 53.5

100.0 100.0

40.3 35.7 31.7 33.6 32.2 33.0

Percent All Total Unmarried Persons Population {Solteros) in Percent

—

—

—

—

4.3 4.0 3.4 3.3

64.0 62.4 64.4 63.7

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

In the latter, the completeness of coverage appears entirely satisfactory through the age of 16 but becomes obviously defective by that of 20. Hence we can obtain reliable data through the age of 16 for comparison with other areas. The parish priests and missionaries in the Bishopric of Durango recorded the ages of all persons in 41 parishes and missions. In 13 others they cited the ages for adults but not for the children. However, with those of age 10 or younger they used the word párvulo in place of an age in years. Therefore, we can calculate

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

255

the total of the young children merely by using the sum of the párvulos to which we can add, year by year, the number of individuals aged 10 or above. As the final result of these peculiarities in census-taking we can establish the relative proportion represented by the younger age groups at approximately 0-10 to 0-16 years for all 3 bishoprics. These values will be found, expressed as percentage of population, in tables 25a, b, and c. T h e total population thus available for age computation is approximately 200,000 in Oaxaca, 215,000 in Puebla, and 92,000 in Durango, or a little more than one-half million in all. T h e surviving record sheets written during the censustakings of 1791-1794 comprise the hundred-odd volumes of the ramo of Padrones in the Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico City. This compilation shows certain very striking peculiarities. T h e inhabitants of every town are listed by name and local residence. Civil and blood relationships are stated. However, very characteristically and subject to few exceptions, ages are given only for male adults, the women and children being ignored completely. Another feature of this census is the inclusion of almost no Indians, although the other ethnic stocks are clearly differentiated: españoles, mestizos, castizos, and Negroes or Mulattoes. We must conclude that what we have here is a military census, wherein the able-bodied males subject to military duty are set apart from the rest of the population. If this be true, then we must ask if this is the entire census or whether there may not have been other enumerations which supplied further facts. Evidence that this may have been true lies in the existence of the Matricula which, although it is dated 1805, summarizes counts taken in earlier years, and covers only Indians. Even more convincing are the sets of summaries found throughout the ramo of Padrones and in certain volumes of the ramo of Historia. These not only contain information absent from the report sheets in Padrones but are so complete and well organized as to have required for a basic source some really comprehensive count or census. In the summaries in Padrones, age distinctions are drawn only by the use of verbal categories, whereas in those in Historia we find ages indicated by exact years. T h e latter must be examined in considerable detail. In the summaries from Historia three types of tabulation show features of the population. The first is a segregation according to marital status; viudos, casados, and solteros, where

256

Essays in Population History

solteros include all unmarried persons, young or old. T h e second separates out, according to sex, the children (niños) from the adults (hombres y mujeres). T h e third establishes age groups. T h e latter are unusual, according to present-day convention. T h e inclusive years are: 0-6, 7-15, 16-24, 25-39, 40-19, 50 and above. T h e second method is discussed subsequently. T h e third is considered immediately. Arranged according to the age groups stated, the usable data from Historia are presented in table 25a. T h e contributing entities are the Provinces of Guanajuato, Tlaxcala, Nuevo México, and México, plus the Jurisdictions of Durango and Antequera. Furthermore, for purposes of computation, the data for Mexico City have been set apart as a separate item, from the figures for the province of México. In total numbers and percentages, therefore, table 25a, unless otherwise stipulated, represents the aggregate values for the 4 provinces, 2 jurisdictions, and Mexico City, a total of 7 entities. If we combine europeos with españoles, the Historia summaries recognize four primary ethnic groups: españoles, mulatos (pardos), indios, and otras castas, a category which embraces mestizos, castizos, and minor mixtures. T h e españoles and otras castas are also shown in table 25a as taken together to form the entire range of the white and mixed stock which did not include Indans or Negroes. Owing to the fact that the summary for Nuevo México gives only the value for white and mixed as such, and omits all Negroes, it was necessary to base the total figures for españoles, otras castas, and mulatos on six entities. This modification, however, does not materially affect the validity of the data. T h e age groups are those given in the Historia summaries and mentioned above. T h e table is in three parts. T h e first (I) gives the total numbers for each of the six age groups and four ethnic groups. T h e second (II) gives the percentage of the total population of the six or seven entities which is to be found in each age group and in each ethnic group. T h e third (III) gives the value for each age and ethnic group and is obtained by averaging the corresponding values for the various single entities. Differences are encountered for individual values between parts II and III because of a wide variation among the total populations of the seven territorial units (e.g., 10,891 in the Jurisdiction of Durango to 1,043,215 in the Province of México exclusive of Mexico City). Consequently the weighting shifts

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

257

TABLE

25a

Age groups from summaries in AGN, Historia, Vols. 522-523.

I Ethnic group

Españoles Otras castas White and mixed Mulatos Indios All groups Ethnic group

Españoles Otras castas White and mixed Mulatos Indios All groups

Age 0-6

Age 7-15

Age 16-24

Age 25-49

74,330 48,640 127,970 33,364 236,549 397,883

55,222 40,919 100,275 33,200 191,364 324,839

56,246 31,222 91,586 22,157 183,301 297,044

71,622 37,451 111,980 30,193 250,164 392,337

Age 40-49

Age 50 and plus

All ages

Number of entities*

31,639 17,042 50,747 12,411 95,813 158,971

24,343 11,962 38,212 11,006 82,363 131,581

313,382 187,236 520,770 142,331 1,039,554 1,702,655

6 6 7 6 7 7

II Percentages based on total numbers Ethnic group

Españoles Otras castas White and mixed Mulatos Indios All groups

0-6

7-15

Age group 16-24 25-39

23.7 26.0 24.6 23.4 22.8 23.4

17.6 21.9 19.2 23.3 18.4 19.1

17.9 16.7 17.9 15.6 17.7 17.4

Number of entities* 40-49

50 plus

10.1 9.1 9.7 8.7 9.2 9.3

7.9 6.3 7.1 7.8 7.8 7.8

6 6 7 6 7 7

10.4 9.3 10.1 8.5 8.8 9.3

8.5 6.4 8.4 8.4 7.8 8.2

6 4 7 6 7 7

22.8 20.0 21.5 21.2 24.1 23.0

III Average of percentages by entity

Españoles Otras castas White and mixed Mulatos Indios All groups

20.7 25.1 22.2 22.6 24.1 22.1

18.2 20.6 19.5 21.2 19.0 19.9

18.6 17.8 18.9 17.0 17.7 18.1

23.6 20.8 20.9 22.3 22.6 22.4

IV Percentages for same age groups for Oaxaca, from census of 1777

White and mixed Pardos Indios Total rural Antequera (clergy included) Total bishopric

21.4 22.1 23.9 23.7

22.0 25.4 22.2 22.4

17.2 16.6 15.6 15.7

21.7 20.5 20.8 20.8

9.3 7.9 8.4 8.4

8.5 7.5 9.2 9.1

17.2 23.1

17.1 21.9

18.6 16.0

23.7 21.1

10.9 8.6

12.5 9.4

* Data are not additive, as indicated by varying number of entities included in entries.

258

Essays in Population Histor TABUE 2 5 b

Percentage of population in combined age groups (various sources)

Ethnic Group, or Political Entity

0-15

Age Group 16-49

50 plu

I

Mexico, 7 entities, based on total numbers—1793

White and mixed Mulatos Indios All groups

43.8 46.7 41.2 42.4

49.1 45.5 51.0 49.8

7.1 7.8 7.8 7.8

II Mexico, 7 entities, average of percentage by entity—-1793

White and mixed Mulatos Indios All groups

41.7 43.8 43.1 42.0

49.9 47.8 49.1 49.8

8.4 8.4 7.8 8.2

48.1 44.9 44.8 53.2 45.7

8.5 7.5 9.2 12.0 9.4

III Bishoprics, calculated from census of 1777 Oaxaca

White and mixed (rural) Pardos (rural) Indios (rural) Antequera (clergy included) All groups

43.4 47.6 46.0 54.3 44.9

Puebla

White and mixed Pardos Indios All groups

42.2 42.0 45.7 45.1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

Durango

All ethnic groups

45.3 IV Values for Mexico City and Oaxaca City

Mexico City, 1793, clergy omitted Oaxaca City, 1793, clergy omitted Oaxaca City, 1777, clergy included

33.9 38.6 34.3

58.2 54.0 53.2

7.9 7.4 12.5

42.6 45.6b 48.8b 51.7b 50.4b 50.l b

10.9 23.3 9.4 27.7 12.1 26.5

V Modern censuses for comparison

Mexico, 1960 census United States, 1960 census Brazil, 1950 census Belgium, 1947 census India, 1951 census Sweden, 1950 census a = ages 0-14 b = ages 15—49

46.5 31.1« 41.8« 20.6» 37.5« 23.4«

Civil Category and Age Croup Ratios

259

TABLE 2 5 c

Age distribution of ninos and solteros in the Bishopric of Puebla, 1777 First Group of 13 Parishes Solteros Ninos

Age 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1 persons

30 183 654 462 883 906 693

1,185 501 415 125 40 6 3

3,811

2,275

Second Group of 13 Parishes Solteros Ninos 1,317 696 527 188 99 49 22

— — — — — — —

—

'

2,898

between large and small regions in the two methods. It is surprising that the correspondence is as close as it appears to be. In table 25a, part IV, are given the percentage values for the same age groups as derived from the 1777 census of the Bishopric of Oaxaca. As explained above, the reports from the dioceses of Puebla and Durango cannot be formulated in this manner. In order to simplify the relative proportions of different age, the six groups have been combined to three, in table 25b. There we find the three major divisions of the life span, childTABLE 2 5 d

Percentage of population in seven specific age groups, three bishoprics, census of 1777 Bishopric 0-10

0-11

Inclusive Age Group 0-12 0-13 0-14

0-15

0-16

Oaxaca White and mixed Pardos Indios Antequera All groups

32.2 35.2 35.3 24.0 34.1

34.7 38.1 38.0 25.7 36.6

37.3 40.3 40.2 28.1 38.8

39.4 43.1 42.4 29.9 41.1

41.1 45.1 44.1 32.3 43.7

43.4 47.6 46.0 34.3 44.9

45.2 49.7 47.8 36.1 46.6

Puebla White and mixed Pardos Indios All groups

31.7 31.9 37.7 36.7

33.2 33.3 39.1 38.1

35.8 36.2 41.3 40.3

37.7 37.5 42.5 41.7

40.1 40.0 43.9 43.2

42.2 42.0 45.7 45.1

44.6 44.2 46.7 46.3

Durango All ethnic groups

34.8

36.2

38.9

40.7

42.9

45.3

47.5

260

Essays in Population History

hood, adulthood, and old age (in years 0-15, 16-49, and 50 and above). In this table are given the percentages according to the two methods outlined previously, together with certain other data: 1. We include the results of the 1777 census of Oaxaca, the single-year totals for which can be recombined to form the age grouping of the 1793 census. 2. Here are also the percentages yielded by the age group 0-15 years for the Bishoprics of Puebla and Durango, for these are valid although the higher ages have to be disregarded. 3. We show the figures given by the two urban areas for which Historia contains specific summaries, Mexico City and Oaxaca City (Antequera). It should be remembered that the latter is only a part of the jurisdiction of Antequera which contained a great deal of rural territory in addition to the city itself. 4. There are appended a few samples of modern censuses, formulated as closely as possible in a manner simulating that employed here with those from colonial Mexico. It is probable that the total numbers as well as the percentages shown in the tables are not as accurate as might be desired. Several sources of difficulty may be mentioned. In the first place the tabulations appearing in Historia are filled with minor arithmetical mistakes. These, however, would not accumulate an error of as much as 1 percent. 17 In the second place, 17. T h e construction of tables and ultimately ratios based upon the figures to be found in the "Estado Generál del Número de Individuos . . . ," or Matricula de Tributarios of 1805, brings out clearly an inherent difficulty in dealing with most of the documentary sources of vital statistics in colonial Mexico. This difficulty concerns the treatment and possible correction of innumerable errors in either the calculation or the transcription of numerical data. It must be remembered that, prior to present times, all arithmetical operations, such as addition and multiplication had to be performed mentally, without any mechanical aid, and by persons whose training in such skills was likely to be very limited. Moreover, the transcription of numbers from worksheets or scratch paper into a formal tabulation, and from one copy to another, had to be done in handwriting and by eye. It was therefore inevitable that slips and mistakes should occur or that outright carelessness should be manifested. With fiscal reports, naturally, accuracy was highly desirable, and it is reasonable to assume that gross, or serious errors were caught and rectified. At the same time many trivial or minor mistakes went undetected. Purely as illustrative the following two cases may be described, taken from the Matricula of 1805: 1. From the table entitled "Unión de Clases por Provincias," the tributaries in the group of "Indios de Pueblo" of the Province of Veracruz may be calculated as the sum of the separate components feted: 25,754, plus 45, plus (475)/2, plus (79)/2, plus (5,lS3)/2, the total

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

261

however, some of the totals for ethnic groups or age groups appear to offer substantial discrepancy. As an example, particularly flagrant because of the large numbers of persons involved, we may cite the españoles reported for the Province of Guanajuato. In the age group 0-6 there are 32.7 percent of the total number, in the age group 7-15 there are 14.1 percent (respectively 33,775 and 14,622 individuals). The other 5 entities give for españoles the following percentages. being 28,6421/4. T h e number given in the same table, but in the column headed "Total de Tributarios" is 29,142^. a difference of 500, or 1.7 percent of the total. 2. T h e viudos y solteros may be derived by adding the values for the individual partidos given in the table for the Province of Oaxaca. T h e result is 24,190. It is also possible to subtract the values for all the other provinces from the grand total shown at the foot of the table entitled "Unión de Clases por Provincias." Here we get 201,476 minus 176,286, leaving 25,190 viudos y solteros for Oaxaca. T h e difference is exactly 1,000, or about 4 percent of the total in the province. As a rule the mistakes are insignificant, for they amount to less than 1 percent of the totals involved. Nevertheless, something must be done with them. If one finds two figures for the same entity which are close together in magnitude, and there is no clue as to which is really correct, then it is best to make an arbitrary choice, according to convenience, for a perfect reconciliation is impossible. If the error is moderate to great, then the figures concerned must be corrected if any evidence exists to support a correction. Otherwise they must be discarded completely. As a result of these conditions, it is unavoidable that discrepancies be carried over into many tables here presented which contain data from the eighteenth century. They will be found particularly in those tables based upon the Matricula of 1805, the summaries of the 1793 censuses in Historia and Padrones, the parish totals of the 1777 census, and the tributary lists of 1715-1755. Tney are annoying but not critical. However, there is one principle which should govern the study of the numerical data from colonial sources. T h e totals stated in the documents, be they of money, of crops, or of people, are invariably carried out to the last significant digit—currency to fractions of a peso; tributaries even to a single half-tributary. If is obvious that such hyperprecision has little meaning. Furthermore the mechanical errors discussed above are responsible for but a portion of the problem. T h e actual enumeration of people, or listing of commodities, was subject to many types of inaccuracy. Consequently, all integral values with which we deal—counts, sums, or multiples—must not be taken literally. They must be regarded as indicating a range of probability, a range which will be broad or narrow depending upon the nature of the totals, we must allow greater latitude. Thus, when the Matrícula of 1805 which tabulates the best fiscal efforts of the time, the range will certainly be encompassed within less than ± 1 percent. With the censuses of 1777 and 1793, for the summaries, as also for the town or parish totals, we must allow greater latitude. Thus, when the Matricula of 1805 states that the total number of individuals in the tributary class was 3,265,720, we convert this number mentally into 3,265,000 plus or minus several thousand. This principle must never be lost to sight. At the same time, from the practical standpoint of handling, manipulating and calculating the vital statistics which we possess, it is much simpler and more economical to use the actual figures as they occur, to permit a few unimportant discrepancies to appear, and to leave to the individual student the task of making a final evaluation in terms of round numbers.

Essays in Population History

262 Age 0-6

Age 7-15

15.6 18.8 20.9 15.3 20.8

19.2 18.2 20.8 15.9 20.7

It is not reasonable to expect such a wide divergence in the case of the sixth entity. Either the counting was done differently or someone, somewhere, altered a major digit. In the third place the percentages are influenced, to a degree difficult to assess, by the presence of Mexico City, and in smaller measures that of the cities of Antequera, Durango, and Guanajuato. Yet, to delete these urban units would create a bias in the opposite direction. Finally, in association with the problem of urban population, we note another anomaly. T h e clergy and all other persons attached to religious institutions are omitted from the tabulations of the secular population by age but are listed separately and additionally. Hence they cannot be included in the age analysis at all. That the exclusion of these people may have a substantial effect is demonstrated by the fact that in Mexico City those included in the religious category reached 13.8 percent of the entire population. Furthermore we know that the age distribution of this segment itself is abnormal since there are no children and the median age of the adults is very high. The influence which they exerted upon the age structure of the whole community is again demonstrated in the city of Oaxaca (see table 25b, part IV) where we may compare the combined age groups in the census of 1777 with the same groups in the census of 1793. In the latter the clergy are omitted, in the former they are included. Yet in 1793 the clergy amounted to only 4.4 percent of the population of the city. Because of the presence of the disturbing factors just discussed we must be careful in ascribing great precision to the values shown in tables 25a and 25b. Nevertheless they do establish within reasonable limits the order of relative size of the age groups designated. Moreover the calculations based upon the 1777 census for Oaxaca indicate that the two sets of censuses were not far apart in their estimates of age. It would be conservative to say that the percentages in tables 25a and 25b represent ranges of probable value, the extremes of which

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

263

in each instance might lie at plus or minus several percent of the figure indicated. Apart from ascertaining the approximate percentage values for the six age groups given in the Historia summaries, we can gain little internal information. Distinctions among the ethnic groups are masked by numerical uncertainties such that the minor differences which appear in tables 25a and 25b have little if any significance. One point does seem to emerge with some clarity. The relative number of children up to 15 years of age is smaller in Mexico City and Antequera than elsewhere. This effect is probably associated with the migration of young adults of all races to the cities which has been going on for centuries in Mexico. On the whole we may regard the formulation in tables 25a and 25b of the relative proportions of persons in the age group 0-15 years as solidly grounded and closely approaching the truth. The range is from 42 to 46 percent of total population, and the differences brought out in the tables can be ascribed to variation in ethnic composition as well as in urbanrural residence. Therefore, we shall use this range or its approximate mean 44 percent, as the proportion of the population aged 0-15 years in the period 1770-1800. Since the two sources of numerical age distributions already discussed are the only ones from the eighteenth century which are known to us, we are constrained to fall back upon verbal categories. Of these, the three which have been of chief concern previously—casados, viudos, and solteros—are not primarily indicators of age. It is necessary, therefore, to examine with care the principal remaining category, that of the niños. The niño was a child, whose age, for purposes of enumeration, extended from birth to a rather indeterminate point between 10 and 16 years. The exact age of termination depended upon the objective of the count and apparently upon the personal ideas of the official in charge. Nevertheless the category of niños is useful, and some attempt will be made to determine its approximate upper limit. T h e census of 1777 was taken by the parish priests. Throughout the Bishopric of Oaxaca neither the word niños, nor any equivalent, was used. Rather, the younger persons were designated according to family relationship: hijo, soltero, huérfano, nieto, and so on. In the Bishopric of Puebla there was

264

Essays in Population History

great variation. Some parishes followed the Oaxaca system. Others referred to niños, párvulos, doncellas, and solteros. In some of the latter the expression niño or párvulo was employed with reference to young children and older individuals became doncellas and solteros. As a result there was no sharp segregation by age between children and adults, and a somewhat elaborate treatment of the data is required. Consequently we consider briefly the censuses of 1793 in order to discuss ethnic distinctions in conjunction with age categories. Thereafter we shall return to the study of the age structure of the niño as we reconstruct it from the census of 1777. Although, as pointed out previously, the actual record sheets in Padrones do not classify most individuals according to anything but family and social status, the summaries are differently organized. These summaries, which cover nearly 60 towns and jurisdictions, are distributed through the first 50 volumes of the ramo of Padrones. Each one consists in part of a table which divides the population into four broad groups, respectively niños, niñas, hombres, and mujeres. When the four are reduced to two by combining sexes, they yield essentially a separation between adults and children. As indicated, the summaries were apparently all compiled according to a uniform system, for in addition to the age distinctions there is a further breakdown which follows ethnic lines. The customary categories employed are españoles, mestizos, castizos, and mulatos or pardos. For convenience we combine the mestizos and castizos as otras castas, and all three classes as white and mixed. As we have mentioned previously, the Indian population is not included. Moreover, there is disparity among the other ethnic groups, such that the exact number of usable entities varies according to the group. In addition to the series in Padrones, a few summaries are to be found in the ramo of Historia, other than those already discussed, in which the number of niños is given for one or more ethnic groups. The entities concerned vary widely in size, for example from the Jurisdiction of Puebla to the Partido of Amula, in Jalisco, and the consistency of the figures appears to be poorer than in the summaries from Padrones. Nevertheless for completeness the data should be included. Special treatment must be accorded the Indians. Although those detailed reports by person and family which are preserved in Padrones do not characteristically list indios, this

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

265

race appears in the summaries in Historia. (See tables 25a and 25b.) In four of these niños are distinguished from hombres and mujeres: the Jurisdictions of Puebla, Jiquilpan (Mich.), and Jalapa (Ver.) plus the "province" of Jicayán (Oax.). In addition, three exceptional summaries in Padrones show the category of indios in the same way, namely, the Jurisdiction of Querétaro, that of Xochimilco, and the city of Oaxaca. This group of seven localities may be employed to represent the Indian component of the population with, of course, the recognition that it is heavily overweighted by urban communities, Puebla, Querétaro, and Oaxaca, where the relative number of children is likely to be low. TABLE

26

Proportion of children (niños) in population, according to summaries in AGN, Padrones and Historia of the 1793 censuses

Ethnic Group

Number of Adults

Number of Children

Percent of Percent of Children as Number Total Children Mean of of Number by Totals Entities Entities

Data from Padrones and Historia combined Españoles Otras Castas Mulatos Indios Total

121,597 99,081 58,322 92,143

61,250 61,916 41,774 56,734

182,847 160,997 100,096 148,877

33.5 38.5 41.7 38.1

371,143

221,674

592,817

37.4

35.2 40.9 41.9 38.5

57 59 52 7

34.7 41.0 41.9

51 52 46

II Data from Padrones only, Historia omitted Españoles Otras Castas Mulatos Total Indios added from above Total

95,207 70,866 48,787

48,973 49,533 34,575

144,180 120,399 83,362

34.0 41.1 41.4

214,860

133,081

347,941

38.8

92,143

56,734

148,877

307,003

189,815

496,818

38.2

The results are presented in table 26. The formulation is in conformity with ethnic groups, and the data for all these except indios are shown with and without the inclusion of the summaries from Historia. The figures for indios were compiled in the manner just described. In each instance there are given

26tf

Essays in Population History

the total numbers, the niños as a percentage of the totals, and the percentage as the mean of the value for the component entities. It will be noted that for the Padrones data alone, the values for percentage of niños obtained from total numbers and those from the means of the entities are in close agreement. When the six or seven localities from Historia are added, the figures for españoles and for otras castas deviate more widely according to the two methods of calculation. This divergence is referable partly to the presence of the City of Puebla, with more than 44,000 gente de razón, and partly to the general unreliability of the Historia summaries mentioned previously. Aside from the discrepancy inherent in the reports from Historia, the percentages indicate that for the entire aggregate of approximately half a million, the niños constituted close to 38 percent of the total. Between the ethnic groups, if we admit the value of 38.0 to 38.5 percent for the indios, derived partly from the data in Historia, there is only one difference of significance. This is the low percentage for the españoles, as contrasted with all the others. That result has already been suggested by the figures in table 25a, parts II and III, where the values in the younger age brackets for españoles run slightly lower than those for otras castas. In table 26 we find that the percent of niños as the mean of the entities, with more than 50 cases, is 34.7 for españoles and 41.0 for otras castas when Padrones alone is used, and 35.2 and 40.9 when the Historia cases are added. The respective values of t for these means are 8.42 and 5.53, both indicating a very high probability that the difference is significant. Quite aside from ethnic distinctions, however, it is clear that we must revert to the still unresolved discrepancy between the proportion of niños and that of the age group 0-15 years as reported by both the census of 1777 and that of 1793. If we recapitulate the totals, we find these percentage values for children: 1777 0-15 Mexico seven entities from Historia summaries from Padrones and Historia Three Bishoprics Oaxaca Puebla Durango

1793 0-15

1793 niños

42.4 37.4 44.9 45.1 45.3

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We may accept the range of 37.4 to 38.2 percent, or let us say for simplicity, 38 percent as representing the general average for niños, as this component was understood by those who constructed the summaries of the 1793 census. If we consider the exact age groups set fourth in Historia (table 25a, part I) we note that the total population was 1,702,655. Of these, 397,883 were at ages 0-6, inclusive, and 324,839 were aged 7-15 years. The sum of the two groups, 722,722, represents 42.4 percent of the total. The 0-6 years age group constituted 23.4 percent. Meanwhile the summaries of the 1793 censuses from Historia and Padrones, which are based upon the term niños, are lower by approximately five percentage points than those in which the age groups are stated by exact year. If we accept the quite dubious assumption that the single-year groups from 7 to 15 were identical in size, then the line of 38 percent falls at 648,000 persons, a value which would correspond to about 13 years of age. Further light is shed upon the problem if we examine in greater detail the data from the census of 1777 which, as noted above, comes very close to 45 percent for the 0-15 year age group. The enumeration sheets for the Bishopric of Oaxaca state the numerical age of all persons but make no reference to verbal category. In the Bishopric of Puebla, however, despite the wide variation in style upon which we have previously commented, some of the parish priests listed ages up to approximately 16 or above and at the same time indicated whether the individual was a niño or a soltero. We have found a sample of 13 such parishes which are satisfactory for analysis. In 13 other parishes the priest distinguished verbally between niño and soltero but did not list ages for all the solteros. If we now tabulate both sexes and all ethnic fractions jointly against age from 10 to 16 years inclusive, we obtain the distribution shown in table 25c. Several conclusions emerge from this tabulation: 1. It is absolutely clear that the term niño applied to a number of persons which diminished rapidly above age 10 and which had substantially disappeared by age 15, at which stage it was replaced by soltero or doncella. Therefore, there can have been no rigid age limit below which a child was a niño and above which he was a soltero. We deal with a spectrum of ages. The difficulty is to find the central point. 2. These distributions can be plotted graphically. The

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peak, or the mode for the curve of solteros-doncellas lies close to 14.75 years. The point of equal representation, i.e., where the niños and the solteros are equal in number when all categories are expressed in relative values, is at 12.25 years, or, let us say, in the thirteenth year. The data from the census of 1777 can be organized in another manner. We have already mentioned that, whereas the Bishopric of Oaxaca provides a complete year-by-year age distribution, that of Puebla furnishes the record of 81 parishes which show age up to and substantially including 16 years, with or without reference to verbal category. Durango has 54 parishes and missions which specify ages from 10 to 16 years and designate all persons from 0 to 9 years as párvulos, the total of which can be counted. Thus we can obtain a series of specific age groups from all three bishoprics which range from 0-10 to 0-16 years inclusive. These have been calculated and are presented as percentages of total population in table 25d. We know that the proportion of the population in age group 0-15 came very close to 45 percent in all three bishoprics. (See tables 25a and 25b as well as 25d.) We observe in table 25d that for the group 0-11 the proportion was 36.2-38.1; for group 0-12 it was 38.8-40.3. Hence the 38 percent found in the Historia summaries would fall somewhere between the twelfth and the thirteenth birthday. This finding would tend to confirm the estimate from the summaries that the line of demarcation ran at 13 years. The evidence from the 1777 census is therefore convincing. A niño became a soltero or soltera somewhere near the age of 13 years, with a tolerance of plus or minus one year depending upon the sex, ethnic group, predilection of the priest, and many other factors. It is unnecessary to split hairs. We put the age of the category niño from birth through the thirteenth year, i.e., to the end of age 12. The Matricula of 1805, which summarizes counts of the tributary population may be regarded as contemporary with the two censuses. The document merits and will receive extended treatment in a discussion of the evolution of the tributary class as a whole. Meanwhile, we shall point out briefly what it has to say concerning the age limits of the younger components. The categories mentioned in it which are pertinent here are niños y niñas, próximos a tributar, and total population. The percentages of niños y niñas in the total population

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269

TABLE

27

Proportion of ninos and proximos a tributar in the total tributary population, according to the Matricula of 1805*

Province, or Ethnic Group

Total Niños

Mexico Puebla Veracruz Oaxaca Valladolid Guanajuato San Luis Potosí Guadalajara Zacatecas Ariz pe Total

Percent^ Niños Total plus Próximos a Total Percent Percent Tributar Population Niños Próximos Próximos

356,421 167,032 53,705 157,236 55,451 109,204 51,885 63,167 38,587 6,975

30,256 13,769 3,418 16,224 4,485 8,483 4,654 6,287 3,619 580

1,019,865 469,607 141,038 416,683 171,160 278,541 138,547 181,648 100,148 18,432

34.98 35.58 38.10 37.74 32.40 39.20 37.43 34.72 38.55 37.85

2.97 2.93 2.42 3.89 2.62 3.04 3.36 3.46 3.62 3.15

40.92 41.44 42.94 45.52 37.64 45.28 44.15 41.64 45.79 44.15

1,059,663

91,775

2,935,669

36.10

3.13

42.34

36.66

3.15

42.95

Mean of means of 10 provinces Indios de Pueblo

948,274

80,081

2,624,871

36.12

3.05

42.22

96,475

7,266

258,908

37.27

2.81

42.89

Total Indios 1,044,749

87,347

2,883,779

36.20

3.03

42.26

13,684

381,941

36.93

3.58

44.09

Indios vagos y laboríos Negros y mulatos

141,028

* Data for Mérida are included in the lower portion of this table but not in the upper part. t This column is calculated by doubling the percent of próximos a tributar and adding to that the niños. The doubling is in order to include the females who were not liable for tribute and hence were not counted.

are given in table 27, both as derived from total numbers, and as the means of the values for 10 provinces. (The conflict in totals in table 27 is due to the omission of Mérida from the list of provinces, but the inclusion of its tributaries in the count according to classes.) There is no significant distinction in percentage values among the three sub-types of tributaries: indios de pueblo, indios vagos y laboríos, and negros y mulatos libres. The interprovincial results are also uniform, with the possible exception of a low figure for Valladolid. The final percentages for niños, 36.10 by totals, 36.66 by mean of 10 provinces, are slightly below, but within the same range as those obtained with the 1777

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Essays in Population History

and 1793 censuses. Indeed, the correspondence is surprisingly close if we bear in mind that these counts were made at different times by different people, and embraced different samples of the population. In dealing with the próximos a tributar as an age group we encounter a series of uncertainties. The first problem pertains to sex. We know from the document itself that the young, unmarried females were exempt from tribute. Hence they could not be included among those who were próximos a tributar. But if we are working with bi-sexual groups, we need to correct for these women, who, in the Matrícula, were undoubtedly listed under "viudas y solteras." The sex ratio in the other enumerations of the late eighteenth century was subject to considerable variation, depending upon age, ethnic group, and marital status. For present purposes this problem must be disregarded. We simply use a ratio of 1, but with the reservation that the error in so doing may be appreciable. With this qualification we may reasonably double the stated number of próximos a tributar. The second problem relates to age limits. It is possible that, if the new ordinances were being enforced, the oldest próximos a tributar would be in their seventeenth year. The youngest would be at the upper limit of niños, at or above the thirteenth birthday. But we have no positive assurance that in practice the range of próximos a tributar extended over 5 full years. Actually, the term itself suggests a much narrower range. At this juncture it is interesting to introduce the results of the only full-scale enumeration of Indians which is reported in Padrones. The count is dated 1810 (although it must have been taken earlier) and is contained in Vol. 44 of Padrones. It is entitled "Padrón de Yndios radicados en el Pueblo cavezera de Yxmiquilpan y sus barrios. . . ." and shows the total population to have reached 12,859 persons. We note the following facts: 1. This was a census of Indians only and they all were members of the tributary class. 2. The children were designated not niños, but hijos and hijas. As such, their ages are given. 3. The unmarried males are designated solteros, but their ages are not given. 4. The unmarried females are still called hijas, not sol-

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271

teras or doncellas, and their ages are given past the age of 20 years. 5. T h e age distribution of hijos and hijas reads thus: (The extraordinary heaping of the females at age 20 may be disregarded.) Age

Hijos

Hijas

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

180 180 95 210 113 55 11 2 0 0 3 0

145 170 175 99 132 194 25 14 18 10 279 13

It may therefore be concluded that: 1. No women were held for tribute. 2. All solteros were liable for tribute, and, like all other tributaries, were listed without specification of age. 3. T h e category hijos included all male children u p to the age of tribute liability, that is, both niños and próximos a tributar in the sense of the Matricula. 4. T h e line of distinction between hijos and solteros fell prior to the sixteenth birthday, or, allowing for considerable numerical discrepancy, at the age of 15. 5. T h e census gives for the age group 0-15 years, inclusive, 2,788 males and 2,688 females, or a total of 5,476 persons. This is 42.6 percent of the entire population. According to the totals from the Matricula shown in table 27, the mean of the means of próximos a tributar for 10 provinces is 3.15 percent, or, when doubled for sex, 6.30 percent. T h a t for indios is 6.06 percent, and for mulatos 7.16 percent. T h e sum of the próximos a tributar (doubled) and the niños should equal that portion of the entire population below the tribute-paying age. T h e extent of this segment, according to table 27, is between 42 and 43 percent for all Mexico, and 45.5 percent for Oaxaca alone. However, if we now examine the figures in tables 25a and 25b, we find that with the summaries of the 1793 censuses

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the fraction of the total Indian population represented by the age group 0-15 years was 41 to 43 percent for Mexico as a whole. T h e corresponding value for the Indians in the Bishopric of Oaxaca, derived from single-year figures in the 1777 census, was 46 percent. These are close to the analogous figures for niños plus próximos a tributar as determined from the Matricula of 1805. From these various sources, we may regard certain generalizations as established. 1. In the tributary class the category próximos a tributar extended little beyond the sixteenth birthday, regardless of legislation proposed or adopted. 2. T h e proportion of the population at large, as well as that of the tributary class, who were 0-15 years of age, was close to 43 percent. T h e percentage value was slightly higher according to the 1777 census, particularly in the southern bishoprics. 3. It seems reasonably certain that in the censuses of 1777 and 1793, the term niños was applied to the combined sexes of age group 0-13 years, and that this group constituted about 37 to 38 percent of the population. In the Matricula of 1805 the niños y niñas, who were chiefly Indians, comprised 36 to 37 percent of the "Total de Individuos de Clase Tributaria," and probably had the same age limits.

IV

It is desirable to consider in further detail the fiscal categories based upon the taxpayer, or the tributario. Although this class has been mentioned repeatedly and has been described at length in the first essay of this volume, even greater attention must be devoted to it. Probably the basic reason for this effort is the simple fact that the tribute system constitutes the core of any study relating to Mexican population prior to the eighteenth century. Thus, in previous work, we have relied upon fiscal data almost exclusively to examine the demographic characteristics of New Spain immediately after the Conquest. T h e central problem here involved pertains to the quantitative relationship between the tributario and other civil categories as well as between him and the total population of his class. T h e initial step in an assessment of his category as an index to population is to restate certain background facts. First, the formulation according to fiscal status is of

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273

importance to the study of Mexican population only from the time of the Conquest to the War of Independence, for as a result of this struggle the entire tribute system was abolished. Second, the relative numerical significance of the tributary class as a whole steadily diminished from nearly 100 percent in the mid-sixteenth century to no more than half by the year 1810. The nontributaries were European immigrants and their descendants, mestizos, and many of the free Negroes and mulattoes. Third, in order to make full use of the existing data, it is necessary to assume a correspondence between certain verbal categories and approximate age groups. Although the problem of age distribution as such has been discussed in the preceding sections of this essay, we find that we must employ age limits for the definition of population components who were liable for the actual payment of tribute. Finally, although the concept of the tributary underwent progressive change throughout its three centuries of existence under the Spanish Crown, the exigencies of available statistics require us to present a rather rigid, perhaps oversimplified description at a few key points in time. The earliest extends from 1520 to 1550 or, in general, is that covered by the Suma de Visitas. The next may be allocated to the interval 1560-1590, or the period of universal application of the system as reconstituted under Spanish authority. The third runs from 1715 to 1755, for which years we have the complete series of reports now to be found in the Archivo General de Indias at Seville. At the end comes the comprehensive enumeration of the tributary class, the Matricula de Tributarios completed in 1805. In order to utilize the documentary sources pertaining to these periods we have to secure as clear an idea as possible just what groups of individuals constituted the tributarios. Probably under Aztec domination, and certainly from 1520 until the time when the Suma de Visitas was compiled, the tributary was equivalent to the casado, that is the head of the household or family. In addition, unmarried adults were, at least in some cases, called upon, for in several accounts of towns in the Suma there are mentioned solteros que tributan. At the same time other fractions of the community were recognized, such as viudos, solteros (unqualified), mozos, muchachos, niños, and so forth, who were considered gente menuda. As far as able, they assisted in producing and delivering tribute but were not counted as tributaries.

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Essays in Population History

A thoroughgoing administrative reorganization was carried out in the years between 1557 and 1570, whereby the composition of the tributary population was extensively revised. It was then held to consist of certain classes. 1. Married men (householders), plus their wives. T h e joint couple constituted one full tributary (tributario entero). 2. Widows and widowers. Each of these paid one-half the standard amount and hence rated as a half-tributary. Any two, collectively, were the equivalent of one full tributary. 3. Unmarried males and females. These, the solteros and solteras, were taken above an age somewhere between 15 and 18 years. T o these persons more than one formula was applied, but all were in essential agreement. If the soltero or soltera owned or controlled land, or if he or she lived independently of the parents in a separate dwelling, one-half the standard tribute was levied. If the person lived in the house of, and was economically dependent upon the parents, then no tribute was levied. It is probable that at this period in New Spain most or all of the Indian males, if they were not married, were assessed a half-tribute by the time they had passed the age of puberty. T h e motivation would be the simple pressure on the part of the Spaniards to extract the maximum possible tribute from a population which at the time was undergoing severe depletion. T h e females, as a rule, married younger than the males, and almost all of them did marry. Of those who did not, very few owned land or pursued an independent domestic existence. Consequently, as a purely empirical device, we may ignore the solteras as a separate component of the group liable for the payment of tribute. Those who were liable would be included in the composite expression solteros y solteras, or would be covered by the generic term solteros. 4. T h e tributary population as a whole also included a number of groups who did not make tribute payments. a. Exempt adults. These, the reservados, included caciques and their wives, the highest town officials, the infirm, aged, and the physically handicapped. b. Children. These, from 4 years to the beginning of adulthood, were variously designated as niños, or muchachos. Those under 4 years were niños de teta, or párvulos. From the 1570s until approximately 1700 little formal modification was made in the regulations. Thus the Oidor Montemayor y Córdova de Cuenca on his tour of inspection in

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

275

Oaxaca in 1661, counted solteras, as well as solteros, as tributaries. For a total of 28 towns, he listed 1,128 solteros and 722 solteras.18 When the Fiscal of the Audiencia of Guadalajara wrote the King on 1 March 169819 concerning tribute reassessment in Nueva Galicia, he stated that Indians began to pay tribute at 15, if unmarried, at half-rate. The women paid also since it was an old custom. Nevertheless, a gradual shift was in progress toward the exemption of young women and the relief of young men under the age of 18. A real cédula of Philip III of 10 October 1618 incorporated in the code for the Indies of 1680 exempted women of whatever age from payment of tribute. 20 Since the provision was plainly to be read in the prevailing code, objection was raised thereafter to the assessment of women, especially unmarried women. The Fiscal of the Audiencia of Guadalajara, in his letter, mentioned that there was dispute whether or not doncellas should pay tribute even though they were held to pay under old custom. According to a real cédula of Philip V, El Pardo, 12 March 1728, a series of suits was then being carried on before the Audiencia of Mexico, demanding that the cédula of 1618 be put into effect as it related to unmarried Indian women. T h e Audiencia of Mexico had ruled for exemption, but its judgment had been suspended pending appeal. The real cédula of 1728 ordered speedy hearing of the appeal with full opportunity for defenders of the Indians to be heard. 21 It was not until the middle of the century that the Crown finally decided to implement the cédula of 1618. On 21 March 1757 the Audiencia of Guadalajara wrote to the King, acknowledging receipt of a real cédula dated at Buen Retiro, 29 July 1756, ordering that Indian women of whatever age pay no tribute. 22 Apparently this cédula applied specifically to Nueva Galicia, for a subsequent real cédula dated at Villaviciosa, 4 November 1758, exempted Indian solteras and widows from tribute throughout the Audiencia of Mexico.28 Doubt still remained whether the exemption applied to non-Indian women who paid tribute and 18. Testimonio de Autos y Padrones del Oidor Montemayor, 1661— 1662, MSS in AGI, Patronato, leg. 230A, ramos 6 and 8; and leg. 230B, ramo II. 19. MS, AGI, Audiencia de Guadalajara, leg. 26. 20. Recopilación, Lib. VI, tit. V, ley xix. 21. Richard Konetzke, comp., Colección de documentos para la historia de la formación social de Hispanoamérica, 1493-1810, III, pp. 196-197. 22. MS, AGI, Audiencia de Guadalajara, leg. 108. 23. Fabián de Fonseca and Carlos de Urrutia, Historia general de real hacienda, I, p. 434.

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Essays in Population History

a further cédula of 1 October 1786 was necessary to extend the exemption to all women. Nevertheless, as late as 1790 a very few solteras with land were still on the tribute rolls.24 On this evidence we base numerical estimates for the period 1715-1755 on the premise that the stated number of full tributaries included casados as full tributaries and solteros over the age of 15-16, plus widowers and widows, as half-tributaries. For this period, as we have indicated, we possess a long series of reports giving the numbers of tributaries by jurisdiction and year, as an increasingly regular system of periodic counts determined the numbers. In these reports, two categories are always given. First are the tributarios enteros, with no distinction between full and half-tributaries but with a reduction of halftributaries by one-half to equate them with casados or full tributaries. Second are the younger people, who are usually labelled muchachos, but who are sometimes divided into niños and próximos a tributar, the sum of these two components being equal to muchachos. The próximos a tributar thus had become a recognized category between children and the adults. It is highly probable that, in at least the great majority of the reports, the young women (solteras) were excluded. In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Spanish Crown proposed a major revision of liability to tribute. The Real Ordenanza de Intendentes for New Spain of 4 December 1786, decreed that no women were to pay tribute, but that all men were to pay at the full rate whether married or not. 26 The category of half-tributary, previously assigned inter alia to unmarried men and widowers, was to disappear. As it turned out, implementation of the revision raised so many problems that these clauses were never put into effect. The discussions over implementation give a comprehensive review of tribute classification in New Spain at the end of the eighteenth century.26 The overhaul of Spanish colonial administration in Mexico in the last decades of the eighteenth century, of which the reform of intendants was part, did lead to greatly improved and more centralized reporting and examination of tribute counts. One result was the Matrícula de Tributarios of 1805, 24. Ibid.; AGN, Tributos, III, exp. 1-2, 1790-1792. The second item is a long review of regulations and the problems of enforcing the new classifications set forth in the Ordinance of Intendants. 25. Articles 133 and 137. 26. See, especially, the long discussion in AGN, Tributos, III, exp. 1-2, 1790-1792, MSS.

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

277

which contains some of the finest statistical reporting of the Spanish colonial regime in Mexico. T h e Matricula is an expediente (docket) of instructions within which is a table headed "Estado General del Numero de Individuos de Clase Contribuyente. . . ." T h e table summarizes the results of provincial counts of earlier date. It lists the tributary population by intendancy and within each intendancy by total of partido and province. For each area it makes a segregation according to ethnic and social status, showing the count for indios de pueblo, indios laborios y vagos, and negros y mulatos libres. T h e individual liability for tribute had by then become quite complicated owing to a subdivision of casados according to the social origin of the wives. T h e actual figures are organized in 16 columns, each with descriptive heading. T h e first six columns show the exempt groups. They are 1) Caciques, 2) Gobernadores, 3) Reservados, 4) Ausentes, 5) Viudas y Solteras, 6) Niños y Niñas. It is to be emphasized that all women were legally exempt, with one minor exception which is noted below. T h e next five columns show tributaries. Column 7 is headed "Casados con sus Iguales," and these are full tributaries. T h e term is explained in the advertencias at the end of the table, as meaning the marriage of Indian with Indian, mulatto with mulatto woman, Indian with mulatto, and so forth, in short the marriage of potential tributary with potential tributary. Column 8 gives "Casados sin Edad." These were males who married under the age of 18, and who were also full tributaries. Their significance was minimal, for there were only 738 of them in all New Spain, or about 0.1 percent of all the tributaries. Column 9 shows "Casados con Otra Casta, Ausentes, Reservadas y Exentas." These were rated as half-tributaries, since the wives, with the exception of those of "otra casta" could not be held for the payment of tribute. Column 10 gives the "Viudos y Solteros," who also were half-tributaries. Column 11 is headed "Mugeres de los Casados con Otra Casta." Although it is not so stated explicitly, the arithmetic of computation of total tributaries makes it clear that these women were counted as half-tributaries. In other words if a tributary male married a non-tributary female, each was assessed one-half tribute separately, or in effect a full tribute for the couple. Column 12 gives the "Próximos a Tributar," and col-

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umn 13 the "Total de Tributarios," or total number of tributaries actually counted under the system then in force. Column 14, on the other hand, is headed "El que habría por la Ordenanza de Intendentes," that is the number of tributaries there would be if the Ordenanza were put into effect. Columns 15 and 16 show the "Total de Individuos de Clase Tributaria." T h e final sum for Mexico entire is 3,265,720. T h e refinements pertaining to the status of wives of casados may, if desired, be included in calculations relating to internal features of the Matricula itself, such as regional or ethnic differences. However, for comparison with other periods and other systems of assessment, it is probably justifiable to disregard the minor distinctions which in the aggregate do not involve more than approximately one-half of 1 percent of the total tributaries. In order to summarize the preceding discussion and to formulate a working approximation for comparative purposes, we may establish the following schedule for the tributary population.

Period

Tributaries

Not counted as tributaries

1520-1550

casados (full) solteros in part

niños, etc. solteras viudos viudas reservados, etc.

1570 and thereafter

casados (full) solteros (half) solteras (half) viudos (half) viudas (half)

niños, etc. reservados, etc.

1715-1755

casados (full) solteros (half) viudos (half) viudas (half)

niños, etc. solteras reservados, etc.

1805

casados (full) solteros (half) viudos (half)

niños, etc. solteras viudas reservados, etc.

A further consideration which bears upon the use of ratios between fiscal categories and the total population, as well as upon the validity of any enumeration data from colonial Mexico, is the status of infants, the niños de teta, of 0 to 3

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

279

years of age. There is no real doubt that this group was omitted from the counts of tributaries in the sixteenth century. In the latter portion of the eighteenth century it is equally certain that the group was included. The principal problem concerns the time at which the change was accomplished. In the Estado General of the Matricula of 1805, the final column on each page is designated "Total de Individuos de Clase Tributaria," an expression which appears sufficiently comprehensive, and which in all cases denotes the arithmetical sum of the subordinate categories, one of which is niños y niñas. In the viceregal censuses of 1777 and 1793 infants are clearly distinguished not only by age but often by name, and the same is true of the local censuses thereafter. Since the Fuenclara census of the 1740s was the prototype of the later ones, it, too, must have covered the entire population. Further evidence lies in the words "almas," or "total de almas" which are frequently employed. Moreover the segregation of population units under the term "familia," as seen in the work of Villaseñor y Sánchez in 1746, or the visita of the Bishop of Guadalajara in 1760, implies the inclusion of all members within each domestic unit. Of slightly earlier date is a significant passage in the Historia de la Conquista del Reino de la Nueva Galicia, written by Matías de la Mota Padilla about 1743. Referring to a group of towns in the valley of Cuitzeo, Jalisco, he says: . . . y en todos hay mil doscientos tributarios enteros, que son marido y mujer o dos solteros, con lo que es visto cuánto se ha disminuido el número de indios; y hecha regulación del número de almas entrando niños hasta dieciocho anos, viejos, alcaldes caciques, cantores y otros que no pagan tributo, llegará el número a cinco mil.27 . . . and in all of the towns there are 1,200 full tributaries, that is a husband and his wife or two solteros. That number shows how much the Indians have decreased. If one counts children up to age 18, old people, cacique magistrates, singers, and others who pay no tribute, the number of souls will come to 5,000. From the above evidence it appears reasonably certain that at least from 1740 onward the age group 0 to 3 years was not omitted from statements of total population. A difficulty 27. P. 50.

280

Essays in Population History

remains, however, concerning the position of this component in the long series of reports on tributaries from 1715 to 1755 in the Archivo General de Indias at Seville which is one of our major sources. Here no population totals are given. However, the numbers of tributaries are listed by province and by partido as are those of muchachos or niños. The specific question concerns whether the two last-named categories include children under 4 years of age. T h e r e is no direct evidence beyond the citation from Mota Padilla. On the other hand, indirect evidence can be construed from two considerations: First, the file of reports extends, with repetition of the same partidos at intervals of about 5 years in an unbroken series from 1715 to 1755. There is no indication of any change in the system of enumeration. But by 1740 the custom of including infants in the general totals was already fully established in both the church and viceregal administration. Second, a revival of interest on the part of the civil government in the vital statistics of the tributary class occurred during the later seventeenth century. After the year 1600 there was little attempt to evaluate the size of the tributary population or reassess tributes to correspond to population until well into the middle decades of the century. Then followed apparently a reorganization of the system of assessment and collection which becomes manifest in the comprehensive counts taken in the early 1700s and throughout the eighteenth century. 28 In the course of this reorganization it is highly probable that the tribute-paying population as a whole came to be taken as embracing all persons of whatever age. No other hypothesis makes sense in the light of the transition from the slipshod neglect of the seventeenth to the relatively careful formulations of the eighteenth century. We now direct attention to the basic relationship which may be inferred from the fiscal documents, that between the tributaries and the total population (T/P), or its reciprocal, the population per tributary ( P / T ) . From previous discussion it is clear that a direct determination of these ratios can be secured only from two epochs in colonial Mexico: the mid and late sixteenth and the very late eighteenth centuries. At the time of the Suma de Visitas the tributaries closely approximated 28. See Chapter I in this volume. See also the discussion in Cook and Borah, The Population of the Mixteca Alta (IA: 50), pp. 33-35.

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

281

in number the casados, and hence need not be separately evaluated. For the early eighteenth century, although there are copious reports of numbers of tributaries and of children, we have no figures for total population. With respect to the late sixteenth century the description of the groups liable for tribute shows that from 1560 onward the number of tributaries exceeded that of casados, and, therefore, that the ratio of population to the former ( P / T ) was less than that to the latter (P/C). A careful investigation of the fiscal and other contemporary data, published by us in a previous monograph,29 led to the conclusion that the best approximation to the ratio of population to tributaries for the late sixteenth century was 2.8, and we shall adhere to this value. Since the ratio of population to casados was 3.3, the factor of conversion from tributaries to casados was 1.18, and the reciprocal was 0.85. The second epoch for which we have adequate data is the end of the eighteenth century, and the primary source of information is the Matricula of 1805. The grand totals written at the end of the "Estado General del Numero de Individuos . . . etc." show 746,319 tributarios enteros and 649,079 casados (disregarding the status of their wives). The ratio, or conversion factor, is 1.15, almost identical with that found for the sixteenth century. If we then derive the ratio of population to tributaries, the value of which was placed at 2.8 for the sixteenth century, and if we use again the totals in the Matricula of 1805, where population is given as 3,265,720 and tributaries as 746,319, we find this ratio to be 4.38. The increase of P/T is thus parallel with that observed for the ratio P/C. However, before we accept this figure as final, several modifications and adjustments are necessary. According to the first item in the advertencias which follow the numerical summaries of tributaries and tributes, the age limits in the province of Mérida (i.e., Yucatán) ran from 14 to 60, instead of 18 to 50. Since, furthermore, Yucatán is outside of our general area of interest, it seems preferable to delete this province entirely from consideration and subtract all figures relating to it. We then have left 664,350 tributaries for the other 10 provinces listed. The corresponding casados 29. Borah and Cook, The Population of Central Mexico in 1548 (IA: 43), pp. 75-102.

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Essays in Population History

amount to 579,221, and die ratio is still 1.15. In a similar manner, the total population becomes 2,935,369 and the P/T ratio is 4.42. A much more important adjustment concerns the manner in which the number of tributaries was computed. It will be remembered that in the course of two centuries the proportion of persons liable for payment of tribute diminished, chiefly by the removal of women from the rolls. Consequently, for comparison with the sixteenth century, the tributaries in the population of 1805 must be recalculated so as to conform to the number which would have been assessed under the rules of 1570. For convenience we refer to these two modes of estimate as the old (1570) and the new (1805) systems. In table 28a the figures given in the "Estado General del Numero de Individuos . . ." have been recast according to province. T h e principal categories in the population are shown, copied directly from the estado, with ratios computed in conformity with the new system. T h e n are appended the categories which would be employed in the reconstitution of tributaries under the old system, together with the appropriate ratios. A great deal of detail is involved, but the effort seems required since the Matricula constitutes one of the most important documents in the demographic history of Mexico. In table 28a the figures for the various categories under the new system are taken directly from the Matricula. T h e only item which departs from the precise values stated in the document is that which shows the casados as the full numerical total of the three types which are segregated in the estado according to status of the wife (line no. V in table 28a). It may further be noted that the odd half-tributaries given in column 13 of the estado are deleted. Thus, for the Province of Mexico, 238,0001^-tributaries is written in table 28a as 238,000. T h e estimate of tributaries which would have existed under the old system has been reached according to the following procedure: 1. T h e casados are full tributaries. T h e number is that of the total shown in the Matricula, regardless of wife, because in the sixteenth century there was no problem with respect to the wife's fiscal status. 2. T h e viudos and solteros are half-tributaries. Hence the value shown in line XIV, table 28a, is one-half the number given by the Matricula (line VIII, table 28a).

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

283

TABLE 2 8 a

Matrícula of 1805 Tributaries and other categories as given in the Matrícula of 1805for the new system and as calculated for the old system, according to province and as consolidated according to groups of provinces. Category

Line No.

Puebla

Veracruz

469,607 89,658 131 3,386 93,175 91,482 353 24,685 104,000 38,283 13,769 167,062

140,038 21,m 45 716 28,630 28,272 164 6,171 31,439 10,760 3,418 53,705

4.29 23.3

4.51 22.2

4.45 22.5

207,140 33,500 16,590 257,230

93,175 12,342 7,657 113,174

28,630 3,085 2,152 33,867

3.96 25.3

4.15 24.1

4.14 24.2

Guanajuato

San Luis Potosí

Zacatecas

Mexico New System

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

Total population 1,019,865 Casados con sus iguales 200,426 Casados sin edad 264 Casados con otra casta, etc. 6,450 Casados as numerical total 207,140 Casados converted to tributaries* 203,915 Mujeres de los casados—etc. 1,171 Viudos plus solteros 67,000 Total tributaries1» 238,000 Viudas plus solteras 82,948 Próximos a tributar 30,256 Niños and niñas 356,421 Ratio P/T T as percent of P Old System

XIII XIV XV XVI

Casados, numerical total 1/2 viudos plus solteros 1 [2 of 40% of viudas plus solteras Total tributaries Ratio P/T T as percent of P

ne No.

0 axoca

Valladolid

Guadaligara New System

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

416,383 73,553 146 2,142 75,841 74,770 749 24,190 87,239 40,080 16,244 157,236

171,160 36,888 2 1,197 38,087 37,489 463 15,030 45,235 11,012 4,485 55,451

181,648 37,053 5 411 37,469 37,263 53 13,126 43,853 13,249 6,287 63,167

278,541 47,342 102 4,154 51,598 49,521 2,468 16,283 58,896 15,677 8,483 109,204

138,547 24,070 18 1,204 25,292 24,690 752 9,271 29,701 10,387 4,654 51,884

100,148 18,675 25 120 18,820 18,760 1 6,344 21,932 7,333 3,619 38,587

4.77 21.0

3.78 26.4

4.15 24.1

4.73 21.1

4.67 21.4

4.56 21.9

Essays in Population History

284 28a (cont'd.)

TABLE

ne No.

Oaxaca

Guadalajara

Valladolid

Guanajuato

San Luis Potosí Zacatecas

Old System XIII XIV XV XVI

ATU No.

75,841 12,095 8,016 95,952

37,087 7,515 2,202 46,804

37,469 6,563 2,650 46,682

51,598 8,141 3,135 62,874

25,292 4,635 2,077 32,004

18,820 3,172 1,467 23,459

4.34 23.0

3.66 27.3

3.89 25.7

4.43 22.6

4.33 23.1

4.26 23.5

Arizpe

4 Old Central Provinces"

2 Old Western Provincesd

4 New Northern Provinces'

Total for Mexico

New System I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

18,482 3,110 —

59 3,169 3,139 3 1,828 4,055 1,312 580 6,975 4.55 22.0

2,046,893 391,506 586 12,694 404,786 398,439 2,437 122,046 460,678 172,071 63,687 734,424

352,808 73,941 7 1,608 75,556 74,752 516 28,156 89,088 24,261 10,772 118,618

535,668 93,197 145 5,537 98,849 96,110 3,224 33,726 114,584 34,709 17,336 206,650

2,935,369 558,644 738 19,839 579,221 569,301 6,177 183,928 664,350 231,041 91,795 1,059,692

4.44 22.5

3.96 25.2

4.67 21.4

4.42 22.6

Old System XIII XIV XV XVI

3,169 914 262 4,345 4.25 23.5

404,786 61,023 34,415 500,223

75,556 14,078 4,852 93,486

98,849 16,863 6,941 122,682

4.09 24.4

3.78 26.5

4.36 22.9

579,221 91,964 46,208 716,391 4.10 24.4

a. Casados con otra casta, and so forth, counted as half-tributaries. b. Total tributaries is the sum of II, plus III, plus 1/2 IV, plus 1/2 VII, plus 1/2 VIII. c. Mexico, Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca. d. Valladolid, Guadalajara. e. Guanajuato, San Luis Potos!, Zacatecas, Arizpe.

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

285

3. For the females we follow the principle that in 1570 all widows were paying a half-tribute. Some of the solteras were also paying (those owning land), but these were relatively few, and since even their approximate number cannot be readily determined, it is preferable to leave them out of the estimate. The Matricula lists "viudas y solteras" jointly, and if the solteras are not to be counted, the question remains what proportion of the total was contributed by the viudas. Concerning this point we have information from another source. T h e series of summaries of population derived from the Revillagigedo general census of 1793, which appears in volumes 522 and 523 of the ramo Historia, AGN, Mexico City, has already been described. In certain of the summaries occur tables showing broad age groups segregated with respect to both sex and civil status. From each of the six of these which are applicable, we may determine the number of solteras aged 16 years or older, and the number of viudas. T h e total of these two groups corresponds quite closely to the "viudas y solteras" of the Matricula, and from it may be ascertained the proportion of viudas. T h e six tables refer to the provinces of México, Guanajuato, Nuevo México, and Tlaxcala, together with the jurisdictions of Durango and Antequera. T h e total number of viudas y solteras is roughly 150,000. Of these the viudas amount to 45.5 percent, the remainder being solteras. However, the Province of México, which contains Mexico City, accounts for more than one-half the total number. If we take the proportion of widows of each of the six areas separately and average them, we obtain 39.3 percent, a value which is probably a more reliable estimate for the entire country than 45.5 percent. Since, in any event, we are dealing with an approximation, it is reasonable to place the proportion of viudas in the total of viudas y solteras at 40 percent. Therefore, in table 28a, line XV, we show as tributaries one-half of 40 percent of the stated viudas y solteras. 4. A problem is presented by the próximos a tributar, the males just under the age of paying tribute. T h e discussion in the preceding section leads to the firm conviction that whether or not the practice was recognized officially, in reality nearly every male became subject to tribute by his sixteenth year. On the other hand, there is no clear reason to believe that during the first two centuries of Spanish domination the

286

Essays in Population History

age was pushed much lower. We may remember at this point the severe criticism directed at Montemayor y Cordova de Cuenca because he reported as tributaries people as young as 14 years of age. It is also significant that at the period when the Ordenanza de Intendentes was promulgated, the lower age limit for tributaries in Yucatán differed from that in the rest of Mexico by extending down to 14 years. Finally, from the census reports we have determined that the line of distinction between the niño and the próximo a tributar fell near the thirteenth birthday. On the whole, it is difficult to demonstrate any effective change in the age of transition from the status of próximo a tributar to that of tributario. In view of these facts, and in the absence of convincing evidence to the contrary, we shall regard the category próximos a tributar as embracing the same group of individuals under both the old and the new systems. Hence none of them is listed as tributary in table 28a. T o recapitulate briefly, the number of persons in 1805, who would have been subject to tribute under the old system, is represented by the sum of all casados, one-half the viudos y solteros, and one-half of 40 percent of the viudas y solteras. This value is shown in table 28a, line no. XVI. In addition to the data for the 10 separate provinces, table 28a gives those for 3 significant regions, each composed of a group of provinces. The first group includes the central and southern Provinces of México, Puebla, Veracruz, and Oaxaca, which were setded very early by Indians and whites alike. We designate these the 4 old central provinces (see table 28a). T h e second group consists of the 2 western Provinces of Valladolid (Michoacán) and Guadalajara (Nueva Galicia), likewise old in settlement and designated the two old western provinces. T h e third group embraces the 4 northern provinces of Zacatecas, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, and Arizpe (Sonora), all of which in 1805 were inhabited by immigrants drawn from many races and their descendants. The advertencias in the Matricula state that there were no tributaries in the Province of Durango, and perhaps for the same reason the entire northeastern region of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Texas is omitted. T h e basic value is the ratio of population to tributaries (P/T), and its reciprocal, the percent of tributaries in the population. For Mexico as a whole (see table 28a, last column) the ratio is 4.42 according to the stated figures of the new system, and 4.10 according to the old system. T h e difference between

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

287

the two numbers is referable essentially to the deletion of women under the new system. Of primary interest is the change in proportion of tributaries in the total population which took place during the more than two centuries between 1570 and 1805. The value for the former date has been considered to be close to 2.80, and that for the latter date has been calculated to be 4.10, if we assume the assessment system to be approximately the same at the two dates. T h e increase is 1.30, or 46.5 percent of the value for the late sixteenth century. One further modification is desirable. It will be pointed out shortly that the proportion of tributaries in the population of the two western provinces, Valladolid and Guadalajara, is inexplicably high, and that the average of the other eight provinces may represent the actual situation with greatest fidelity. If we accept this amendment, the estimate for the P/T ratio for 1805, under the old system, becomes 4.24. The increase over the sixteenth century would then be 1.44, or 51.4 percent. A comparable analysis may be made of the relationship between population and casados as seen in the Matricula. When Mdrida is included, the ratio P/C is 5.03 by totals, and 5.13 by average of values for 11 provinces. When Mirida is omitted the ratio is 5.07 by totals (tables 20a and 28a). We may take 5.1 as a reasonable compromise. Then the change from 1570 to 1805 is 5.1 minus 3.3, or 1.8. This is a 54.5 percent increase over the value for 1570. The difference in percent increase is not great (51.4 as opposed to 54.5) and is at least in part accounted for by the fact that widowers, who were included among the tributaries, actually underwent a relative decline during the two-century interval. The conclusion must be, therefore, that the findings for tributaries support the results with casados in pointing to a strong proportionate increase in the younger age groups subsequent to the late sixteenth century. Apart from the gross value of the P/T ratio, many subsidiary points of interest relating to the character of the tributary population emerge from a study of the Matricula of 1805. In particular we should like to enquire to what extent the P/T ratio varied in association with regional, social, and ethnic differences in that population itself. If we examine table 28a, we note that the range of values for tributaries as percent of population in the four central provinces falls between 21.0 and 23.3 under the new sys-

288

Essays in Population History

tem and between 23.0 and 25.3 under the old system. These differences are unimpressive and probably without much significance. Similarly the corresponding ranges for the four northern provinces are 21.1 to 22.0 and 22.6 to 23.5. The margin of difference is very small. The two western provinces, Guadalajara and Valladolid, show respective values of 24.1 and 26.4 for the new system and 25.7 and 27.3 for the old system, an appreciable deviation from the average of the other 8 provinces. The data are consolidated for convenience in table 28a, according to the three groups of provinces. Why Nueva Galicia (Guadalajara) and Michoacin (Valladolid) should show a clearly higher proportion of full tributaries is not readily apparent. We are not immediately aware of any differences from the rest of Mexico in the method of computing the tax-liable persons or in the local administration of the tribute system. Some further analysis of the Matricula is worthwhile in order to explore possible clues to the solution of the problem. One approach is through examination of the 190 partidos which constituted the 10 provinces. Table 28b gives the TABLE

28b

Matrícula of 1805 Average tributary population of partidos 4 Central• Provinces Number of partidos 101 Total population 2,046,893 Average population per partido 20,280 Number of tributaries under the old system 500,223 Average number of tributaries per partido 4,953

2 Westernb Provinces

4 Northern° Provinces

Mexico entire

56 352,808

33 535,668

190 2,935,369

6,300

16,230

15,450

93,486

122,682

716,391

1,669

3,717

3,770

a. México, Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca. b. Valladolid, Guadalajara. c. Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Arizpe.

average population as well as the average number of tributaries per partido for each of the provincial groups. It is evident that, on the average, the 56 partidos in Valladolid and Guadalajara possessed fewer than one-half as many tributaries as did the partidos in other provinces. It is of course true that we are

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

289

dealing here with the tributary, not the total population, and we have no figures for the gente de razón and other nontributary groups. We cannot, therefore, say with finality that the mean total population per partido was much smaller than in other areas. However, in general, the relative proportion of nontributaries increased consistently from the southern, longestablished provinces to the more newly settled ones in the north. It would then be expected that Michoacán and Nueva Galicia would occupy a more or less intermediate position. But in fact the tributary population per partido in these provinces is far below that either to the north or to the south. Hence the number of nontributaries can be invoked as only partly responsible for the regional discrepancy. Another explanation might perhaps be derived from investigation of the types of tributaries shown in the Matricula. In the sixteenth century the tribute-paying class was entirely Indian. By the late seventeenth century, however, considerable numbers of free Negroes and mulattoes (by decisions of the later sixteenth century) had the status of tributaries. In 1804, as the Matrícula demonstrates, somewhat more than one-tenth of the persons in the category of tributary population were wholly or partly of Negro derivation. At the same time a splinter group had grown up, thrown off by economic pressures. Apart from Negroes, the Matrícula distinguishes indios de pueblo who constituted the old, sedentary population, firmly attached to a town or other locality, and laboríos y vagos, who were tribute-paying Indian laborers but who wandered or migrated from one place to another. In Mexico, exclusive of Mérida, these amounted to approximately 9 percent of the total, whereas the Negroes reached 12 percent, with the indios de pueblo making up the remaining 79 percent. One might anticipate that these three subclasses with clearly distinct ethnic and social background would diverge to some extent not only in geographic location but also in their demographic character. A comparison in summary is given in table 28c. The segregation in territorial distribution according to province and region is very sharp. The old central provinces contained roughly 95 percent indios de pueblo, almost no laboríos y vagos, and only 4 percent Negroes. On the other hand, both the old western and new northern regions showed about 30 percent tributary Negroes. At the same time, the northern area included almost 40 percent laboríos y vagos. The

Essays in Population History

290 TABLE

28c

Matrícula of 1805 Data pertaining to the social and ethnic type of tributary Percent of type indicated in total tributary population Type

México

Puebla

Indios de pueblo Indios laboríos y vagos Negros y mulatos libres

94.0 1.4 4.6

96.9 0.7 2.4

Guadalajara

Guanajuato

64.5 0.8 34.7

27.1 57.5 15.4

Indios de pueblo Indios laboríos y vagos Negros y mulatos libres

4 Central« Provinces Indios de pueblo Indios laboríos y vagos Negros y mulatos libres

94.8 1.3 3.9

Veracruz 92.3 3.5 4.2

Oaxaca

Valladolid

95.3 0.7 4.0

58.3 13.2 28.5

San Luis Potosí Zacatecas 41.8 22.7 35.5

26.9 14.8 58.3

Arizpe 45.4 0.0 54.6

2 Western1 Provinces

4 Northern1 Provinces

61.5 6.8 31.7

31.5 38.5 30.0

a. For provinces included, see tables 28a or 28b, pp. 284, 288.

indios de pueblo were reduced correspondingly. T o be sure, it must again be stressed that these figures apply only to the tributary population. Nevertheless, the fact that we are dealing with a similar distribution of ethnic components in both tributary and general population is demonstrated by a study of representative census data. T h e latter show that within the same area the percentage of Negroes and mulattoes among the tributaries follows very closely that found in the population as a whole. The degree of association of the three tributary types with category ratios is seen in table 28d. No profound difference prevails among them insofar as concerns the ratio of tributaries to total population, except that the ratio for Negroes is perceptibly higher. Moreover the values of P/T and the percentages of tributaries in the population approach those found on a regional basis in both the four central and the four northern provinces. It is therefore difficult to offer ethnic or social distinctions as a full explanation for the abnormally high percentages of tributaries in the two western provinces, although

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios TABLE

291 28d

Tributaries and other categories according to ethnic type Indios de pueblo

Category

Indios laboríos y vagos

Negros y mulatos libres

New System 2,624,871 608,397 529,600 80,081 948,274

Total population (P) Stated tributaries (T) Casados (C) Próximos a tributar Niños Ratio P / T T as percent of P

4.32 23.1

258,908 59,587 51,218 7,266 96,475

381,941 78,335 68,261 13,684 141,028

4.35 23.0

4.88 20.5

it is likely that the socio-ethnic factor was in some degree responsible. As a final measure we may consider the relative number or percentage of persons in the subordinate civil categories in the tribute population as set forth in the Matrícula. For present purposes the very brief summary given in table 28e is adeTABLE

28e

Matrícula of 1805 Proportion of certain civil categories in the tributary population Percent of

Niños

Próximos Una married Tributar Casados Adults

Ratio: Viudos + Solteros Viudas + Solteras

4 Central Provinces* 2 Western Provinces1 4 Northern Provinces"

35.6 33.4 38.6

3.1 3.1 3.2

19.8 21.4 18.5

14.4 14.8 12.8

0.716 1.161 0.972

Indios de pueblo Indios laboríos y vagos Negros y mulatos libres

36.1 37.3 36.9

3.1 2.8 3.6

20.2 19.8 17.9

13.8 12.0 15.6

0.715 1.256 1.222

a. For provinces included, see tables 28a or 28b, pp. 284, 288.

quate. The percent of niños, próximos a tributar, and casados in the whole population is related to the three provincial groups and the three tributary types. There are certainly differences among these percentages, but they are small. A similar result is obtained if we calculate the percent of the total population which is supplied by the unmarried adults. The number of

292

Essays in Population History

these people is determined by taking the sum of all the viudos and solteros of both sexes. However, the Matricula segregates by sex, showing the viudos plus solteros separately from the viudas plus solteras (see table 28a). If, now, we take the ratio of the males to the females (see table 28e), we discover a clear distinction between the four central provinces on the one hand and the western and northern groups on the other. A similar difference appears between the indios de pueblo and the other two types of tributaries. Owing to the awkward method of compilation in the Matricula, we cannot tell whether these differences are referable to the viudos or to the solteros. Nevertheless, we can perceive an association between these ratios and the heavy concentration of vagos and of negros in the west and north. It follows, therefore, that some factor in addition to ethnic origin was operative, which involved differentially the viudos and solteros, either with respect to actual number of persons, or through variation in the method of counting these categories. In either contingency, one effect would be to influence the relative number, real or apparent, of full tributaries. Further than this we cannot go. The conclusion is forced upon us, however, that the P/T ratio for Valladolid and Guadalajara constitutes an anomaly. It also follows that the overall average of the ratio P/T and the percentages of tributaries for the other 8 provinces may be taken as substantially normal, insofar as the compilation in the Matricula is concerned. These values have already been employed for comparison of increase of the ratio P/T with that of the ratio P/C and may be summarized thus:

Ratio P/T T as percent of P

New system

Old system

4.57 21.9%

4.24 23.6%

Let us now turn to other aspects of P/T ratios for the colonial period. As we have already pointed out, there is an almost complete lack of adequate data for the tributary population from the time of the tax revisions of the late sixteenth century to that of the reforms embodied formally in the Matricula of 1805. Nevertheless, there are numerous counts and estimates of tribute paid and of tributaries as such throughout this interval. Occasionally it may appear desirable to use them for approximating the total population of the tributary class.

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

293

If so, there is no recourse except interpolation between the two dates 1570 and 1805. The limits of the P/T ratios are 2.80 and 4.24, but the curve connecting them is unknown. Perhaps the best solution is to assume simple linearity and accept what may be a substantial error. The alternative is to discard potentially valuable data. The final body of information which we may consult with reference to the tributary population consists of the counts and reports of 1715-1755. Their chief value to us is that they permit a comparison of the tributary class at that time with essentially the same aggregate of people as is shown by the Matricula of 1805. Thus some impression may be obtained whether changes in age composition, as well as in population size, occurred during this period of more than half a century despite the lack of data directly relevant to total population. The reports as preserved at Seville show two categories, tributarios enteros, and the total of those under tribute-paying age. The latter are uniformly designated muchachos and are made up of two already familiar fractions, niños and próximos a tributar. The relative magnitude of these categories may be set against that found for the same groups in the Matricula. The primary problem encountered in making such a comparison is the securing of a close identity between the two documentary sources. Specifically, the terms tributario entero, niño, próximo a tributar, and muchacho should refer to components in the earlier reports and in the Matricula, which are the same in age, sex, and ethnic status. The Seville reports (so designated for want of a better short descriptive expression) consist of a collection of papers filed in conjunction with suits by Contadores de las Reales Cajas de México to collect fees for revising tribute lists. There are three principal documents: 1) an affidavit of 1740, listing counts made from 1714 to 1737, inclusive; 2) affidavits of 15 July and 20 December, 1735, listing counts made from 1732 to 1735; 3) testimony to a petition of Gabriel de Echevarría filed in 1755 or later, covering counts made from 1742 to 1755, inclusive. By piecing these together we get an unbroken series from 1714 to 1737, and another from 1742 to 1755. T h e counts were made according to partido, for each of which are given the total of tributarios enteros and of muchachos. As we have indicated, the latter category is the sum of the niños and próximos a tributar. An exception is the list

Essays in Population History

294

given in the affidavits of 1735, where the niños and próximos a tributar are given separately instead of being lumped together as muchachos. T h e total number of partidos counted and recorded was 146, by no means all that existed in colonial Mexico. Two of the 146 cannot be used here because they were located in what was then the Province of Mérida (Yucatán). Moreover, no single partido was reported for every year, and a few occur only once in the entire 40 years involved. There is, however, a certain degree of regularity, for the reports run in cycles of 3 to 5 years each. No partido is repeated within any cycle, although some partidos out of the 144 are missing in each cycle. T h e result is a series of periods of years, each one providing a very substantial sample of the partidos, but in each case a somewhat different sample. Hence, we may distinguish the following seven periods, with the corresponding number of partidos represented. Period

1714-1719 1720-1724 1725-1731 1732-1737 1742-1745 1746-1750 1751-1755

Number of

partidos

118 131 134 137 91 94 97

The exact manner of determining tributarios enteros in the first half of the eighteenth century is unknown to us, and there are no counts of entire populations upon which to base an estimate. It is highly probable that the shift from what we have called the old system (of ca. 1570) to the new system, as manifested by the Matricula of 1805, was in full course. How far it had reached in 1715 is an unsettled point. Nevertheless, some attempt to reconcile the two groups of documents is essential. In order to accomplish this objective, the method of choice is to adjust the 1715-1755 reports so as to bring them into conformity with the new system, as this system is manifested in the compilation of the Matrícula. T h e critical categories are the próximos a tributar and the female half-tributaries. By 1715, as we have intimated in previous discussion, all but a very few of the younger females, the solteras, must have been entirely relieved of tribute assessment. On the other hand, it is likely that many viudas were still counted as half-

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

295

tributaries and that women were not completely emancipated until near the end of the century. If this assumption is valid, it follows that, in terms of proportion of tributaries, the female category from 1714 to 1755 was in a position intermediate between the old and the new systems. We cannot specify the exact status, particularly in view of considerable local variation. Nevertheless, since there is no sure indication, it is not unreasonable to place the progress at the half-way point. In formulating the conversion of the new-system data of the Matrícula to the old system, we included one-half of 40 percent of the viudas plus solteras. For Mexico as a whole this quantity is close to 7 percent of the stated number of tributaries under the new system. Then we must add one-half, or 3.5 percent to the tributaries given by the 1714-1755 lists in order to adjust for the additional female half-tributaries. Hence, for each 1,000 tributaries, we correct to read 1,035. With respect to the niños, próximos a tributar, and muchachos, there is little reason for believing that the definition of these groups varied materially in the two sets of documents. The only likely difference would be an increase in the relative number of muchachos due to a possible raising of the age limit. On the other hand, we have already pointed to the lack of valid evidence that such a change actually occurred. Adjustment is therefore restricted to the increase in number of tributaries given in the Seville reports by 3.5 percent. There are three points in time upon which we may focus our attention. One of these is 1805, the date of the Matricula. The other two pertain to the Seville reports. Although these form an almost continuous series from 1714 to 1755, the beginning and the end of the period may be regarded as particularly significant. Hence we compare the years 1714—1719 with the years 1751-1755, and these with the end of the century. For the Seville reports, in as much as the organization is according to partidos, and the partidos do not match in all cases, we have amplified the number of these units for 1714— 1719 by several from the interval 1720-1724, and for 1751-1755 by several from 1746-1750. The increase in sample size is valuable, and the partial widening of the time periods is of relatively minor importance. T h e partidos from the Matricula have been selected in such a way as to conform to those which we find in the Seville

296

Essays in Population History

reports. During the eighteenth century considerable realignment of territorial boundaries affected numerous local jurisdictions. In the 4 southern provinces, México, Puebla, Veracruz, and Oaxaca, the correspondence in names is very close throughout these documents. Furthermore most of the discrepancies can be resolved merely by comparing areas on the map. In the western and northern provinces, this method is not often suitable. Hence we have used from the Matricula only those 16 partidos which can be surely identified as occurring in the earlier lists, for the Seville reports were apparently quite incomplete in the 6 western and northern regions. We tabulate below, in condensed form for convenience, the results with the three time periods. For each is given the number of partidos, the total tributaries (adjusted by 3.5 percent for the Seville records), the total muchachos and the ratio M/T by two methods. The first is based upon the ratios of the total numbers shown; the second is the mean of the individual ratios for partidos. The differences in numerical value may be attributed to the wide variation in size of the partidos. Period

Partidos

Tributaries

Muchachos

M / T (total)

M / T {means)

1714-1719 1751-1755 1805

117 134 114

285,707 398,138 525,846

370,874 542,385 910,407

1.298 1.362 1.731

1.251 1.395 1.783

According to both methods of determining M/T, a substantial increase occurred in the value of the ratio throughout the period from approximately 1715 to 1805. We used the i-test for the significance of three pairs of ratios obtained as the means of partidos: 1714 to 1751; 1751 to 1805; 1714 to 1805. The values for t respectively were 2.70, 7,85 and 9.69. All are significant at or beyond the 1 percent level of probability. A further examination may be undertaken of changes in the number of tributaries and muchachos as shown within the body of the Seville reports. Since there is so much variation from period to period in the returns from each partido, the gross number of persons in these categories is of no great value for analyzing chronological trends. However, the relative status at a consecutive series of points in time is of considerable importance. We may get at these internal relationships by considering the seven periods of years into which, as we mentioned previously, the Seville reports can be segregated.

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

297

We start with the period 1720-1724 and equate the tributaries for each partido to 100 as a base. The muchachos are similarly treated. Then we turn to the period 1714-1719 and for each partido which occurs in both periods we determine the ratio of 1714-1719 to 1720-1724. The average ratio for 1720-1724 will of course be 1, since all constituent values are 100. The mean of the partido ratios of 1714-1719 to 1720-1724 (117 partidos) is 0.938 for tributaries and 0.902 for muchachos. The procedure is repeated for each of the other five periods. The results are shown in table 29, together with the total tribTABLE

29

Change in relative number of tributaries and muchachos from 1714 to 1755, according to the Seville reports

Period

Applicable Partidos

Total Tributaries

1714-19 1720-24 1725-31 1732-37 1742-45 1746-50 1751-55

117 131 132 131 88 94 96

303,959 370,070 410,237 421,784 248,488 281,747 286,194

Mean T relative to 1720-1724 0.938

1.000

1.113 1.187 1.159 1.228 1.276

Total Muchachos 374,006 454,826 470,252 444,709 332,780 371,908 383,027

Mean M relative to 1720-1724 0.902

1.000

1.097 1.095 1.414 1.538 1.450

utaries and muchachos for each period. In order to facilitate inspection the points have been plotted in figure 22. From the relative number of tributaries and muchachos, as noted in table 29, and illustrated in figure 22, it is evident that both categories increased from 1714 to 1755 in a rather erratic but unequivocal manner. Furthermore, over the entire span of years, the muchachos seem to have increased faster than the tributaries. Both table and graph display irregularities which are difficult, if not impossible, to explain with only the data we possess, but the underlying movement is reasonably well established. Consequently the internal relationships among the Seville reports conform to the trend indicated by the comparison of these data with those contained in the Matricula of 1805. The broad conclusion must be that a real increase occurred in the relative size of the tributary class under the age of adulthood and that such a trend implies a progressive shift of the population toward a more youthful age composition.

Essays in Population History

298 Ratio {N/n «or ROrlo4 1720-1724) I.Cl

~a O

TRIBUTARIOS

*'muchachos

o _L

rreo

Yoof

Figure 22. T h e relative number of tributarios and of muchachos according to the Seville reports. For each category the period 1720-1724 is taken as 1. Each point shows the ratio of the number at a specific period to that in 1720-1724. T h e periods are those given in table 29.

Such a conclusion is in harmony with the parallel rise in the ratios of total population to casados (P/C) and to tributaries (P/T) during the eighteenth century.

V

In conclusion, we may first reiterate that for the history of populations in Mexico before the year 1900 the conventional methods for constructing life tables are not easily applicable even to the best census of the colonial period, that of 1777. Consequently any study of age composition must rest upon isolated distributions observed at widely separated dates. With the exception of a substantial sample of 3 bishoprics from 1777 and a scattering of jurisdictions from 1793, no records exist in which the population is described by reference to single years of age. On the other hand certain broad age groups have been established with the totals given in the form of comprehensive summaries. T o these may be added a large body of information expressed in terms of civil or fiscal categories, each of which may be considered to imply a range of age which has general, if not restricted, detailed significance.

Civil Category and Age Group Ratios

299

We find that the relative proportion of both married and widowed persons has been reduced by 1960 to approximately one-half the value characteristic of the mid-sixteenth century. In the late eighteenth century this reduction had progressed to a point intermediate between the levels of 1560 and 1960. At the same time, the proportion of unmarried and nevermarried persons has doubled. Since this group consisted almost entirely of children, it follows that the general population underwent a process of rejuvenation which continued throughout at least three centuries. Similar results are obtained by an analysis of the young age categories niño and muchacho as these are set forth in the official censuses of 1777 and 1793 as well as in the documents relating to the tributary class. The censuses of 1900-1960 indicate for Mexico, as for other Latin American countries, a trend toward increased longevity and consequent progressive reduction in relative number of the younger groups when each census is regarded as depicting a stationary or a stable population. These movements are associated with the twentieth-century decrease in mortality rates and maintenance of high birth rates. The rejuvenation of the Mexican population which we have described in these pages antedated by three to four centuries the modern response to industrialization and improvement in public health. It represents the long demographic recovery following the near extermination which accompanied occupation by the Europeans and was carried out under primitive economic and sanitary conditions. Hence the contemporary reaction, manifested in numerical increase and rapid shifts in age composition, must be regarded as in fact a logical continuation of processes initiated centuries ago.

Chapter V

The Population of West-Central Mexico (NUEVA GALICIA AND ADJACENT NEW SPAIN), 154&-1960

I This essay explores methods whereby the movement of population in a moderately large area can be reconstructed over a substantial period. For demonstration we have chosen an irregularly shaped portion of west-central Mexico grouping together areas we have been studying for some time. No single, complete estimate exists of the number of inhabitants in west-central Mexico. We have made a series of such estimates and have followed the changes in its population from the middle of the sixteenth century to the present day. T h e basic method is that of graphic interpolation. The underlying rationale is that a smoothed curve drawn through a series of points which are placed according to reasonably reliable estimates, gives a veracious picture of an over-all trend, even though it may depart from strict reality in small detail. Clearly, the validity of this method as an index to gross population movement will depend upon two factors. T h e first is the accuracy of the individual, original estimates. T h e second is the fidelity with which the separate smoothed curves are drawn. With regard to the second factor, we shall state that each graph was constructed from the points at our disposal after repeated trials with different scales and coordinates so as to reflect as carefully as we could the trend shown by the data themselves without reference to mathematical preconceptions. Concerning the first factor, a detailed exposition of areas and estimates is necessary.

II

T h e first step in our procedure was to fractionate the westcentral region of Mexico so as to obtain several subordinate areas for each of which usable counts are available or can be derived from other types of information in the documentary

Population of West-Central Mexico

301

sources. For each such area a table was constructed (See tables 30-39) in which were placed for each date the total number of inhabitants of all ethnic groups, unless otherwise specified, and the source of the estimate, together with any necessary comment. T h e sources are those discussed at length below. T h e second step was to plot for each area, against calendar year, the points determined by the populations actually secured. T h e points were then connected by the best fitting line (See figures 23-32). From each of these lines the values were then read off, as a rule at the intersection of the line with the ordinates representing the years falling on the decades, 1560, 1570, and so forth. These interpolated values were then inserted in each table enclosed in parentheses in order to distinguish them from the actual values obtained from historical sources. After we had thus plotted the population-time graph for each subordinate area, the points for the entire west-central region were calculated by securing from the tables the total of the interpolated values for the subordinate areas at each tenth year. Finally, these totals were plotted on a separate graph, for which see figure 34. The points, when connected, form a smooth curve depicting the total population of the region. Ill T h e region studied may be described best in terms of modern territorial units. It embraces in their entirety the present states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima, and Aguascalientes, and parts of two others. One consists of the long southwestward extension of the state of Zacatecas from Jerez (today Ciudad Garcia) through Juchipila which during the colonial period, is impossible to dissociate from adjacent parts of Jalisco and Aguascalientes. T h e other includes much of the coast of Michoacdn, known since the sixteenth century as the Motines. During the earlier decades of Spanish occupation this territory was closely affiliated with Colima, and it has seemed advisable to retain it in our west-central Mexico throughout the subsequent centuries. For purposes of our study we have divided west-central Mexico into sub-regions on the basis of geographic and administrative factors; the latter are especially important, because they govern the reporting of data. Although we have outlined the

302

Essays in Population History TABLE

30

Motines: Population data and sources. Date

Population

1548 1560 1564 1568 1570 1580 1590 1595 1598 1600 1608 1615 1619

16,906 (9,000) (7,400) 7,406 (5,500) 2,960 (2,700) 2,360 (2,200) (2,100) (1,750) (1,550) 1,580

1621 1630 1640 1644 1654 1661 1670 1680 1690 1697 1700 1710 1715 1720 1725 1730 1740 1750 1755 1760 1768 1770 1780 1789 1791

(1,400) (1,250) (1,050) (1,000) 921 (800) (700) (650) (620) 614 (615) (700) 910 (900) 3,767 (1,000) 1,163 1,588 (1,550) (1,650) 3,744 (1,900) (2,100) 2,412 2,376

1793

2,554

1795 1797 1800 1804 1822

2,472 (2,500) (2,500) 2,134 1,289

Source Suma de Visitas; IA: 43. IA: 44. Brand, p. 166, based on the Relaciones Geográficas. Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 695A.

Bishop Baltasar de Covarrubias, Ms. 2579, Biblioteca de Real Palacio, Madrid—total population

Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 469, cuad. 1.

Trib. list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 809,

35.

Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798. AGN, Historia, 72: 50—total population. Villaseñor y Sánchez, II, pp. 98-99—total population. Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798. AGN, Historia, 72: 50—total population. AGN, Historia, vol. 73, exp. 12 (ff. 167-182). Rel's topog., I. ff. 382-383 v., Biblioteca Nac., adrid, ms. 2449. AGN, Padrones, 21: 321 for non-Indians; Matricida de Tributarios for Indians. Brand, p. 166. Matricula de Tributarios—tributary population. Brand, p. 166, citing Martínez de Lejarza.

Population of West-Central Mexico

303

TABLE 3 1

Colima: Population data and sources. Date

Population

1548 1560 1564 1568 1570 1580 1590 1595 1598 1600 1608 1615 1619

17,923 (14,300) (13,500) 12,893 (12,500) (11,200) (10,100) 959 (9,400) (9,200) (8,550) (8,000) 7,710

1621 1630 1640 1644 1654 1661 1670 1680 1690 1697 1700 1710 1715 1720 1725 1730 1740 1743 1750 1755 1760 1768 1770 1780 1790 1793

(7,600) (7,000) (6,350) (6,100) 2,043 (5,350) (5,000) (4,700) (4,550) 3,534 (4,500) (4,550) (4,560) 2,958 4,914 (5,250) 6,142 (6,450) (7,500) 4,313 (9,300) 11,225 (11,600) (14,100) (16,600) 17,139

1800 1808

(19,000) 22,000

Source Suma de Visitas; IA: 43. IA: 44.

Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 695A, incomp.

Bishop Baltasar de Covarrubias, ms. 2579, Biblioteca de Real Palacio, Madrid—total population.

Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 469, cuad. 1.

Trib. list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 809, ramo 35.

Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798. AGN, Historia, 72: 50—total population. Villaseñor y Sánchez, II, pp. 83-88—total population. Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798. AGN, Historia, 72: 50—total population.

AGN, Padrones, 11: 16 for non-Indians; Matricula de Tributarios for Indians. Almada, p. 37.

Essays in Population History

304 TABLE

32

Ávalos: Population data and sources. Date

Population

1548 1560 1564 1568 1570 1580 1590 1595 1598 1600 1608 1615 1621 1630 1640 1644 1654 1661 1670 1680 1690 1697 1700 1710 1715 1720 1730 1740 1743 1750 1760

44,679 (21,200) (18,800) 16,750 (15,800) (12,800) (10,900) 10,220 (9,900) (9,600) (8,900) (8,400) (8,000) (7,600) (7,250) (7,200) 7,173 (7,200) (7,400) (8,000) (8,600) 9,257 (9,700) (11,100) 11,326 (12,900) (15,200) 18,500 17,200 (21,800) 26,890

1770 1780 1790

(32,700) (40,300) 47,520

1795 1797 1800 1804

(60,570) 65,798 (66,000) 34,587

Source Suma de Visitas; IA: 43. IA: 44.

Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 695A.

Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 469, cuad. 1.

Trib. list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 809, ramo 35. Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798. Villaseñor y Sánchez, II, pp. 213-220—total population. Mota Padilla, pp. 133-136—total population. Visita of Bishop, AGI, Aud. de Guadalajara, leg. 401— total population. Rel's topog., II, ff. 136-141 v., Biblioteca Nac., Madrid, MS 2450—total population. Banda, p. 35—total population. Matricula de Tributarios—tributary population.

Population of West-Central Mexico

305

TABLE 3 3

Southwestern Jalisco: Population data and sources. Date 1548 1560 1564 1568 1570 1580 1590 1595 1598 1600 1608 1615 1619 1621 1630 1640 1644 1654 1661 1670 1680 1690 1697 1700 1710 1715 1720 1722 1725 1730 1740 1743 1750 1755 1760 1765 1768 1770 1780 1790 1791 1795 1797 1800 1802 1804 1810 1830

Population Source 45,975 Suma de Visitas; IA: 43. (23,400) (19,700) 15,797 IA: 44. (15,800) (11,600) (9,200) 5,719 Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 695A. (7,800) (7,600) (6,600) (6,100) 7,866 Bishop Baltasar de Covarrubiai, MS 2579, Biblioteca de Real Palacio, Madrid—total population. (5,800) (5,600) (5,500) (5,400) 5,355 Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 469, cuad. 1. (5,200) (5,100) (5,100) (5,200) 5,389 Trib. list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 809, ramo 35. (5,800) (7,600) (8,500) (9,400) 9,772 Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798. (11,200) (12,600) (15,700) 15,750 Mota Padilla, pp. 133-136—total population. 16,751 Trib. list, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798. (22,800) 38,960 Visita of Bishop, AGI, Aud. de Guadalajara, leg. 401— adjusted total population. (30,600) (33,200) (35,600) (46,600) (59,000) 49,850 AGN, Historia, 72 : 201 and 73: 127, plus Matricula de Tributarios. (67,000) 89,091 Banda, p. 35—total population. (75,000) 59,500 Etzatlán; total calculated and adjusted. See text. 34,895 Matricula de Tributarios—tributary population. (90,000) Extrapolated from curve. 89,534 Banda, p. 36, total of four departments. See text.

306

Essays in Population History TABLE 3 4

Zacualpan: Population data and sources. Date

Population

1525 1548 1560 1564 1568 1570 1578 1580 1590 1594 1598 1600 1608 1621 1644

8,217 1,000 (640) (540) 366 (430) 339 (285) (190) 165 124 (125) 96 100 93

Source Visita after the conquest by Cortés. See text Suma de Visitas; IA: 43. IA: 44. Auction list compilation. See text Auction list compilation. See text. Calculated by ratio of 1594/1598. See text Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduria, leg. 863B. Estimate. Real Servicio list, AGI, Aud. de Guadalajara, leg. 10.

TABLE 3 5

Banderas: Population data and sources. Date

Population

1548 1560 1564 1568 1570 1578 1580 1590 1595 1598 1600 1608 1615 1621 1630 1644 1650 1661

7,985 (2,650) 1,283 2,424 828 761 (650) 508 341 206 (200) 166 (140) 87 (120) 192 (100) 59

Source Suma de Visitas; IA: 43. López de Velasco. IA: 44. Auction list compilation. See text. U (( K c< « Auction list compilation. See text Trib. list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 859B. Calculated by ratio of 1595/1598. Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 863B. Arregui, p. 88. Real Servicio list, AGI, Aud. de Guadalajara, leg. 10. Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, legs. 867B and 869A.

Population of West-Central Mexico

907

TABLE 3 6

Purificaciin: Population data and sources. Date 1548 1560 1564 1568 1570 1578 1580 1590 1595 1598 1600 1608 1615 1621 1630 1644 1650 1661

Source

Population 19,249 (6,500) 3,835 5,019 1,704 1,575 (1,500) 1,069 917 553 (850) 1,114 (600) 870 (500) 432 (450) 468

Suma de Visitas; IA: 43. López de Velasco. 1A: 44. Auction list compilation. See text. It

It

It

CI

«(

Auction list compilation. See text. Trib. list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 859B. Calculated by ratio of 1595/1598. Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 863B. Arregui, p. 75. Real Servicio list, AGI, Aud. de Guadalajara, leg. 10. Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, legs. 867B and 869A.

TABLE 3 7

Northern Frontier: Population data and sources. Date

Population

1548 1560 1564 1568 1570 1578 1580 1590 1595 1598 1600 1608

30,000 14,554 (18,200) 13,395 16,609 (13,000) 7,634 (9,500) 8,533 6,525 (6,100) (6,000) 5,832

1615 1621 1630

(4,900) 3,740 (4,500)

Source By extrapolation from curve. Suma de Visitas; IA : 43. López de Velasco. IA: 44. Auction list compilation. See text. Auction list compilation. See text. Trib. list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 859B. Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 863B for Indians; Gaspar de la Fuente for others, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 874, ramo 2. Arregui, passim.

308

Essays in Population History TABLE

38

Central Nueva Galicia: Population data and sources. Date

Population

1548 1560 1564 1568 1570 1578 1580 1590 1595

111,187 (70,000) 53,269 61,971 (50,000) 23,810 (36,000) 21,631 25,782

1598 1600 1608

(23,000) (22,000) 17,589

1615 1621

(20,300) 16,531

1630

(15,500)

Source Suma de Visitas; I A: 43. López de Velasco. IA: 44 for Indians. López de Velasco for others. Auction list compilation. See text. Auction list compilation. See text. Trib. list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 859B for Indians; Mota y Escobar for others. Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 863B for Indians; Mota y Escobar for others. Mean of 1608 and 1644 for Indians. Arregui, passim, for others.

Population of West-Central Mexico

509

TABLE 3 9

Early Colonial Nueva Galicia, 1548-1805: Population data and sources. Date

Population

1548

169,421

1560

(97,990)

1564 1568

72,322 88,096

1570 1578 1580 1590 1592

(65,969) 34,119 (47,935) 31,931 33,795

1595

33,974

1598

27,369

1600 1608

(29,175) 24,797

1615 1621

(26,040) 24,876

1630 1644

(20,220) 11,562 6,000 17,562

1661

11,541 8,800 20,341

1700

19,000

1743

21,000 40,000 60,000 50,000 110,000

Source Suma de Visitas; IA: 43: Total of values for subordinate areas. Sum of interpolations on curves from tables 34 to 38, inclusive. López de Velasco, plus interpolation for Zacualpan. Total of IA: 44, for Indians; López de Velasco for españoles. Sum of interpolations. Auction list compilation. Sum of interpolations. Auction list compilation. Trib. pop. for all New Galicia, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 859A. Trib. list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 859B for Indians; Mota y Escobar for españoles y negros (2,228 persons). Sum of populations by ratio for subordinate areas for Indians; Mota y Escobar for españoles y negros. Sum of interpolations. Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 863B for Indians; Central New Galicia, Mota y Escobar for españoles y negros; Northern Frontier, Gaspar de la Fuente for españoles y negros. (AGI, Contaduría, leg. 847, ramo 2.) Sum of interpolations. Arregui, general estimate, New Galicia, for Indians (pp. xlix and 29); Arregui, sum of regional estimates for españoles y negros. Sum of interpolations. Trib. pop. for entire area: Real Servicio list, AGI, Aud. de Guadalajara, leg. 10. Españoles y negros: Interpolated in log plot as described in text. Total of above. Trib. pop. for entire area: Real Servicio list, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 867B, 869A. Españoles y negros: Interpolated in log plot as above. Total of above. Trib. pop. for entire area: Estimate: Real Servicio list, average for 1696-1707, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 872, gives 21,001 including Culiacán. Deduct 2,000 for Culiacán, add 3 percent for tributary negros y mulatos libres, or 600. Total estimated 19,000. Españoles y negros: Interpolated in log plot as above. Total of above. Indians for entire area: estimate of Mota Padilla. Españoles y negros: Interpolated in log plot as above. Total of above.

Essays in Population History

S10 TABLE

Date 1760

1797

1804

39 (cont'd.)

Source Population 67,247 Indian pop. for entire area: Visita of Bishop, AGI, And. de Guadalajara, leg. 401. Non-Indian pop.: Visita of Bishop. 79,496 Total of above. 146,743 344,550 Total pop. state of Jalisco, minus Southwest Jalisco and Avalos: Banda, p. 35. 26,624 Total pop. state of Aguascalientes: SM de G y E, Boletin, 2a, ep., I l l (1871), p. 19-23. 54,795 Total pop. district of Juchipila, by proportion. See text. 425,969 Total of above. 125,944 Trib. pop. for entire area: Matricula of 1805. TABLE

40a

Population West-Central Area, entire, 1548-1790 With the exception of the first date (1548), allfiguresfor the population of subordinate areas have been secured by interpolation in the corresponding population-time curves as drawn from the data supplied in tables 30-39. The dates are spaced 10 years apart, on the terminal year of each decade. The final column gives the total for each date of the five subordinate areas.

Date 1548 1560 1570 1580 1590 1600 1610 1620 1630 1640 1650 1660 1670 1680 1690 1700 1710 1720 1730 1740 1750 1760 1770 1780 1790

Early Colonial Nueva Southwestern Galicia Jalisco Ávalos 169,421 45,975 44,679 23,400 21,200 97,990 15,800 15,800 65,969 11,600 46,000 12,800 9,200 35,300 10,900 7,600 9,600 29,200 6,450 8,800 25,500 23,600 5,900 8,100 20,200 5,600 7,600 19,000 5,500 7,250 18,500 5,300 7,100 19,500 5,200 7,200 22,000 5,100 7,400 25,500 5,100 8,000 30,300 5,200 8,600 38,000 5,800 9,700 46,200 7,600 11,100 60,000 9,400 12,900 76,000 12,600 15,200 96,000 15,700 17,800 122,000 20,000 21,800 155,000 26,500 26,700 205,000 35,600 32,700 270,000 46,600 40,300 355,000 59,000 49,500

Colima 17,923 14,300 12,500 11,200 10,100 9,200 8,400 7,600 7,000 6,350 5,800 5,300 5,000 4,700 4,550 4,500 4,550 4,700 5,250 6,100 7,500 9,300 11,600 14,100 16,600

Motines 16,906 9,000 5,500 3,650 2,700 2,100 1,700 1,450 1,250 1,050 925 800 700 650 620 615 700 900 1,000 1,150 1,400 1,650 1,900 2,100 2,300

West-Central Region entire 294,904 165,890 115,569 85,250 68,200 57,700 50,850 46,650 41,650 39,150 37,625 38,000 40,200 43,950 49,270 58,615 70,150 87,900 110,050 136,750 172,750 219,150 286,800 373,100 482,400

Population of West-Central Mexico TABLE

311 40b

Values of u for Early Colonial Nutoa Galicia Calculated from the populations shown in table 40a Period

CO

1548-1560 1560-1570 1570-1580 1580-1590 1590-1600 1600-1610 1610-1620 1620-1630 1630-1640 1640-1650 1650-1660 1660-1670 1670-1680 1680-1690 1690-1700 1700-1710 1710-1720 1720-1730 1730-1740 1740-1750 1750-1760 1760-1770 1770-1780 1780-1790

-4.62 -3.98 -3.63 -2.66 -1.90 -1.35 -0.78 -1.55 -0.61 -0.27 +0.53 +1.21 +1.47 +1.73 +2.26 +1.95 +2.62 +2.37 +2.35 +2.42 +2.39 +2.80 +2.76 +2.74

Essays in Population History

512 TABLE 40c

Values of to for West-Central Mexico, entire Calculated from the populations shown in table 40a, from 1548 to 1790, and in table 48 from 1800 to 1960. Period

C> i

1548-1550 1550-1560 1548-1560 1560-1570 1570-1580 1580-1590 1590-1600 1600-1610 1610-1620 1620-1630 1630-1640 1640-1650 1650-1660 1660-1670 1670-1680 1680-1690 1690-1700 1700-1710 1710-1720 1720-1730 1730-1740 1740-1750 1750-1760 1760-1770 1770-1780 1780-1790 1790-1800 1800-1810 1810-1820 1820-1830 1830-1840 1840-1850 1850-1860 1860-1870 1870-1880 1880-1890 1890-1900 1900-1910 1910-1921 1921-1930 1930-1940 1940-1950 1950-1960

-6.40 -4.69 -5.02 -3.63 -3.06 -2.23 -1.67 -1.27 -0.86 -1.13 -0.59 -0.40 +0.10 +0.56 +0.89 +1.14 +1.74 +1.80 +2.26 +2.26 +2.18 +2.36 +2.38 +2.69 +2.64 +2.58 +2.40 +0.69 +1.08 +1.20 +1.13 +1.17 +0.97 +0.90 +1.02 +1.06 +0.89 +0.71 -0.45 +0.72 +1.40 +2.10 +3.26

Population of West-Central Mexico Population (UOIIAM)

Figure 23.

Population of Motines, 1550-1820.

Figure 24.

Population of Colima, 1550-1810.

SIS

S14

Essays in Population History

Reputation (Svolo«)

SQPOO

ISSO

I600

Figure 25.

I6SO

I700

I7SO

18 00

Population o! Avalos, 1550-1810.

Population (SouthwMtern Jolltoo) IOO.OOO;

Yoar

Figure 26.

Population of Southwestern Jalisco, 1550-1810.

Population of West-Central Mexico

Population (Zacualpan)

Figure 27.

Population of Zacualpan, 1550-1610.

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Essays in Population History

S16

Population (Banderas)

Year Figure 28.

Population of Banderas, 1550-1660.

Population of West-Central Mexico

Population (Purificación)

Figure 29.

Population of Purificación, 1550-1660.

J17

318

Population (Northern Fromier)

Essays in Population History

Population of West-Central Mexico

Population (Central Nueva Gallcia)

Figure 31.

Population of Central Nueva Galicia, 1550-1620.

319

320

Figure 32. 1810.

Essays in Population History

Population of Early Colonial Nueva Galicia, 1550—

Population {Watt Ctntrol MMleo)

Figure 33. Population of west-central Mexico, 1550-1790. Each of the points at 10-year intervals is the sum of the populations of the subordinate areas as the latter are read by interpolation in the corresponding graph at the pertinent year.

Population of West-Central Mexico

321

Figure 34. Population of west-central Mexico. Values of « f o r 10year periods, based upon figure 33. T h e points above the central horizontal line are the logarithms of positive values of and represent increases in population. Those below the line are the logarithms of negative values of a, and represent decreases in population.

region here considered in terms of state boundaries, prior to 1810 it divided rather evenly between two large administrative entities, New Spain (Audiencia of México) and Nueva Galicia (Audiencia of Nueva Galicia or of Guadalajara). Most colonial population data, therefore, are of quite distinct administrative origin and documentary appearance. Until we arrive at countrywide counts toward the end of the eighteenth century, we have to deal separately with each of the two portions which pertained respectively to New Spain and Nueva Galicia. Nueva Galicia contained three small areas which may be segregated in the sixteenth-century documents and which have served in a previous essay as excellent examples of the coastal habitat. (See Chapter II.) These are Purificació, Valley of Banderas, and Valley of Zacualpan. Since we have already set their data apart, we retain them as separate entities until the early seventeenth century. By that time the number of their inhabitants had reached such an extreme of insignificance that the most practical procedure is to merge them with Nueva Galicia as a whole.

322

Essays in Population History

Another special area lies at the opposite end of the territory. This is the Northern Frontier, which, for 1550, may be considered to include everything north and east of Tepatitlin, Teocaltiche, and Juchipila. Naturally, there was no formal boundary, and the line of Spanish occupation moved steadily toward the interior as time progressed. The population data for the middle of the sixteenth century are very meager, and it is not until after 1600 that the coverage even approaches a satisfactory state. Consequently, we have isolated this portion of Nueva Galicia until subsequent to 1630, when it becomes feasible to consolidate it with the remainder of the province. For the same earlier period, the residue of Nueva Galicia has been treated as a unit, and the population figures have been obtained by computing the sums of the individual, component towns. The area has been designated Central Nueva Galicia merely for purposes of reference and description. T o describe the sum of the five divisions just mentioned, i.e., all the territory within the Audiencia of Nueva Galicia which is considered here for study, we shall use the term Early Colonial Nueva Galicia. The territory is actually coterminous with Nueva Galicia as it existed in the middle of the sixteenth century. It will be noted that we have omitted the northwestern extension of Nueva Galicia, which was settled early in the sixteenth century as the province of Culiacin, and which later came to form the state of Sinaloa. The reason for the omission is simply that, during most of the colonial period, the province of Culiacin, because of the difficulty of communication, had a largely autonomous administration and kept its own records. Its reports to the Audiencia in Guadalajara, as they were transmitted to Spain, contained totals which do not give the detailed data needed for our study. Rather than offer completely unsupported guesses, we have omitted the province. Because of political and military accident, the boundary between Nueva Galicia and New Spain followed a very irregular course through the modern state of Jalisco. During the last century of the colonial period when provincial lines were readjusted, it is difficult, and in truth seems rather futile, to maintain the separation. Nevertheless, when we have carried the two entities as independent units part way as we have to, it appears preferable to preserve the distinction throughout. Within what was legally New Spain, we set apart the

Population of West-Central Mexico

323

Motines and Colima as discrete units. Both these areas may be followed quite easily in the documentary sources throughout their history. A third region was that portion of Jalisco which was given to the Avalos family in joint encomienda with the Crown, and which preserved its identity for centuries first as the Provincia de Avalos and later as the jurisdiction, partido, or canton of Sayula. The remainder of the area which lay in New Spain formed an irregular block of territory within the state of Jalisco, the boundaries of which are not always distinct. Its outline can best be described by certain towns, or in later years partidos, which fell within it: Zapotldn and Tuxpan to the south and east of Avalos; Autlin, Amula, and Tuscacuesco between Avalos, Colima, and the sea; finally, a northward prolongation, later perhaps an enclave in Nueva Galicia, which reached as far as Ameca and Etzatldn. For want of a more exact expression, we have called this area southwest Jalisco. For some estimates of its population, we have had to piece together figures for the individual towns and districts. We may summarize the territorial units employed during various periods as component parts of the entire west-central region: 1548-1630

Northern Frontier Central Nueva Galicia Purificación Banderas Zacualpan Early Colonial Nueva Galicia

Motines Colima Avalos Southwest Jalisco plus

Total in New Spain

West-Central Mexico

1630-1810

Early Colonial Nueva Galicia with no subdivisions

Motines Colima Avalos Southwest Jalisco

Early Colonial Nueva Galicia plus

Total in New Spain

West-Central Mexico

1800-1960 Jalisco Colima Nayarit Aguascalientes Southwestern Zacatecas Motines in Michoacán West-Central Mexico

Population of West-Central Mexico

325 IV

We now consider the sources of population data arranged according to area and consecutively according to data. Our discussion includes all areas. 1525. For the Valley of Zacualpan it is possible to use the figures given in the visita after the Conquest by Francisco Cortés.1 This document covers a large portion of coastal Jalisco, but for most of our areas, it is very difficult to be sure that they are entirely included. The Valley of Zacualpan, however, is represented substantially in its entirety, and we have used it in Chapter II as an example of population decline on the coastal strip. We include the 1525 value here for the purpose of constructing the graph of the area but do not use it in formulating a total for Nueva Galicia. T h e visita states numbers in units of casas, of which, for Zacualpan, there were 1,245. Throughout the document each casa is shown as containing 2 hombres. Hence for Zacualpan there were 2,490. Since each hombre was a married man and head of a household, we apply the factor 3.3, which we have established in previous work as applicable prior to 1550. The total, then, is 8,217. 1548. For a complete discussion of the Suma de Visitas de Pueblos we refer to our monograph on it. It would be superfluous to repeat our findings in detail although we make extensive use of the document here. Specifically, we use directly the populations which we have previously calculated for the pertinent towns.2 One change we make in those values. It is abundantly clear that, at the time the Suma was compiled, large numbers of non-tributaries lived in Nueva Galicia and nearby parts of New Spain who for various reasons were not counted in the totals reported. In order to compensate for their omission, some adjustment is necessary. This problem is considered not only in our monograph 8 but also in a later paper,4 in which we suggested correction levels for numerous portions of Mexico. Based upon these, we have here increased the totals calculated from 1. AGN, Boletín, VIII, pp. 556-572 (19S7). 2. The Population of Central Mexico in 1548 (IA: 43). See especially Appendix^II (jjp. 147-180). 4. "Quelle fut la stratification sociale au centre du Mexique," in Annales: Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations, 18' année (1963), pp. 226-258.

326

Essays in Population History

our earlier study of the Suma by a factor of 1.6 for Zacualpan, 1.38 for the province of Ávalos, and by 1.45 for all other areas. The Northern Frontier required special treatment. The Suma mentions nine localities which can be considered to fall within this area. However, because of very incomplete occupation at that time by the Spaniards, and the active and effective hostility of the natives, the stated tributary population of approximately 10,000 even after augmentation by the factor 1.45 could have reflected nowhere near the actual number. As a result, we were forced to adopt a somewhat arbitrary procedure. We plotted the populations of this region reported from 1564 to 1621 and extrapolated backward to 1548. The result, 30,000, although a frank estimate, is probably in error by no more than ± 5,000. A further problem associated with the use of populations from the Suma concerns the reconciliation of our geographical areas with the manner in which the towns were reported according to the visitas, for the boundaries of the two sets of areas do not coincide. The segregation has been accomplished according to the following scheme. All towns mentioned in the Suma are included, and none more than once. Our area

Zacualpan

includes

9 towns in Visita LVI

Banderas

14 towns in Visita LVI

Purificación

46 towns in Visita LVI 2 towns in Visita LIV

Southwest Jalisco

Total in Visita XIX Total in Visita XXIII Total in Visita LIV, minus 2 in Purificación 2 towns in Visita LVI

Ávalos

Total in Visita IV

Colima

Total in Visita LV, minus the towns in Motines

Motines

17 towns in Visita LV, stated by Brand6 as being in Motines 7 towns in Visita D, stated by Brand as being in Motines5

Northern Frontier

11 towns in Visita LVI

Central Nueva Galicia

Total in Visita LVI, minus towns in Zacualpan, Banderas, Purificación, Northern Frontier, and minus duplications with Visitas XXIII and LIV.

5. Donald D. Brand, et al., Coalcoman and Motines del Oro. An 'ex distrito' of Michoacan, Mexico, pp. 62, 143-159.

Population of West-Central Mexico

327

1564. Subsequent to the compilation of the Suma de Visitas in the late 1550s and the 1560s, both tribute reform and consolidation were carried out.® The surviving fiscal records of the Caja de Guadalajara7 show repeated new assessments for many towns in Nueva Galicia. For numerous localities in which the system was well established, we have series of auction sales of tribute. However, prior to the late 1570s, not enough towns had been brought under the revised system to warrant the use of totals of towns for estimating the number of tributaries in the province as a whole. For ca. 1570, nevertheless, we have a document which summarizes the official information of the time and which is directly pertinent. This source is the work of Juan López de Velasco.8 Apart from extensive description, López de Velasco gives two lists of tributaries, so designated, from the district of the Audiencia of Nueva Galicia, one including royal towns, the other towns in encomienda. These towns, in spite of some very peculiar spelling, can be identified and allocated to their known geographical location. The totals are, of course, readily obtained, and have been utilized for those of our areas which are in Nueva Galicia. The coverage is excellent. No important place and no significant area were omitted except Zacualpan, the towns for which cannot be identified. For this very small territory we have interpolated in the graph to obtain a value for 1564. Unfortunately, López de Velasco omits all reference to those portions of New Spain with which we are here concerned. The tributaries are given in round numbers, even tens and hundreds. Nevertheless the error would be random, and the total is probably reasonably accurate. For total population we have multiplied by the standard factor of 2.82 which has previously been established as applicable to the sixteenth century. The chief question regarding the document pertains to the date. López de Velasco undoubtedly took his data from official reports, either the prevailing tribute counts or summaries based thereon. We might put the approximate date at 1570, but the average date of the counts must have been earlier, although there is no clear evidence pointing to any particular year. If we assume that some of the figures upon which López de Velasco 6. See Borah, "Los tributos y su recaudación en la audiencia de Nueva Galicia," in Historia y sociedad en el mundo de habla española, pp. 2 7 47. 7. MSS, AGI, Contaduría, legs. 856-861B. 8. Geografía y descripción universal de las Indias, pp. 272-275.

328

Essays in Population History

relied were actually derived from counts made as early as 1550, nevertheless, the majority must have been more recent, and some may have been as late as 1568 or 1569. Hence it is reasonable to use 1564 as an average date. At this juncture one further matter requires comment. We find in the report of López de Velasco for Nueva Galicia entire, a tributary population of 70,782 persons. In addition, however, López de Velasco lists 312 Spanish vecinos or their equivalent as living in Guadalajara and the settlements of the Northern Frontier, together with 43 vecinos in Compostela, Purificación, and Jerez—355 in all. At this period many of these vecinos were unmarried. Hence a factor of 4.0 is reasonable for calculating population,9 and the non-Indian component amounted to 1,420. When these are added to the native population, the total is 72,202. T h e 2 percent increase referable to the Spanish is not important quantitatively at this time and place, but the non-Indian element becomes of greater and greater significance with each decade. Its presence, even at a very low numerical level, in 1560-1570 is indication that it cannot be neglected in subsequent estimates, provided its value can be appraised. Our estimates for Spaniards and other non-Indians may be too low. According to a report to the Franciscans of Guadalajara dated 8 November 1569, there were then 1,000 españoles (vecinos) in Nueva Galicia. 10 A few weeks later, on 20 January, 1570, the cathedral chapter of Guadalajara reported that there were 1,290 españoles in the kingdom.11 T h e Franciscan statement would mean approximately 4,000 persons; that of the cathedral chapter, 5,160. However, both cover the entire kingdom of Nueva Galicia (as the Spanish called it), and fully onehalf or more of the non-Indian population lived in or near Zacatecas. Perhaps 2,000 would have been living in the remainder of Nueva Galicia. Accordingly, a total of 2,000 Spaniards and mestizos can be assumed with reasonable confidence 9. Ibid., pp. 266-271. As we have pointed out in Chapter III, Spanish vecinos headed households, even if unmarried, and Spanish households tended to be larger than those of Indians or lower-class persons of other ethnic groups. 10. Relación que los franciscanos de Guadalajara dieron, Guadalajara, 8 November 1569, in Joaquín García Icazbalceta, ed., Nueva colección de documentos para la historia de México, II, pp. 170—171. This datum is cited in Luis Pérez Verdia, Historia particular del estado de Jalisco, I, p. 241. 11. Luis Páez Brotchie, Jalisco; historia minima, I, p. 105.

Population of West-Central Mexico

329

for the year 1570. It is worth emphasizing, however, that even this number would have constituted little more than 2 percent of the Indian population. 1568. In another earlier monograph,12 we have tabulated the probable population of more than 1,000 towns in colonial Mexico as obtained from tribute and other data. The figures originated from the period after the tribute reform of the 1550s and early 1560s. We considered the average date to lie close to 1568. The individual town values were derived directly and by various methods indirectly. For present purposes, we utilize these estimates without change. We established a series of regions which conform approximately to the geographical and ethnic features of central Mexico. Of these, four are significant here: Regions VII, VIII, IX, and X. Region VII covering Guerrero and Zacatula, includes 14 towns in the Motines. Region VIII is Tarascan Michoacan, but contains one town, Pomaro, in the Motines. Region IX embraces interior (eastern) Jalisco and Zacatecas; Region X, coastal Jalisco, Colima, and Nayarit. We have segregated the towns in west-central Mexico as follows: New Spain

Motines Colima Ávalos Southwestern Jalisco

14 towns in 1 town in 14 towns in 88 towns in 11 towns in 9 towns in 19 towns in

Region Region Region Region Region Region Region

VII VIII X X X IX X

Nueva Galicia

Zacualpan Banderas Purificación Northern Frontier Central Nueva Galicia

4 towns in Region 12 towns in Region 27 towns in Region 12 towns in Region 49 towns in Region 55 towns in Region

X X X IX IX X

The total tributary population is 139,714. To these we add non-Indians as stated by López de Velasco. In Nueva Galicia he reported 355 vecinos, mentioned above, and for New Spain, 30 vecinos in Colima. The sum, 385, multiplied by 4.0 gives 1,540. The aggregate for west-central Mexico is 141,254. 12. The Indian Population of Central Mexico, 1531-1610 (IA: 44), passim but especially the appendix (pp. 57-109).

350

Essays in Population History

1570. For Purificación and Banderas there are sufficient figures from auction sales to obtain an estimate of tributary population. We refer to the discussion under the date 1578. 1578. For Nueva Galicia, although not for New Spain, a valuable insight into population status is made possible by the extant fiscal records of the Caja de Guadalajara, which afford data on occasional tribute assessments and sales of tribute commodities due the Crown. These sales were at public auction (almoneda), and the record for each town is a direct index to the number of people for whom the town was assessed. There is a good run of records from the earliest ca. 1558 to those of ca. 1600.13 The early tributes were in a variety of commodities. By the mid-1570s, however, they had been standardized so that with few exceptions a full tributary paid six reales in silver, one fanega of maize, and one chicken per year. Of these three items the maize was the most stable, and we may regard one fanega as representing one tributary. The most satisfactory block of data is for the tribute auctions for the years 1578 to 1598 inclusive. It must be emphasized that we are dealing with quantities of tribute. Although this tribute was assessed in direct proportion to the population, there was no annual count of persons, and the administrative machinery usually lagged behind the events in the towns themselves. Thus we often find an old assessment still applied for several or even many years after the actual number of tributaries had risen or fallen. The correction which would eventually be made would be manifested in an apparent sudden jump in the population. This system resulted in a somewhat irregular record of tributes, particularly of individual, small localities. Even over large areas, although the fluctuations tended to cancel out, there remained some residue of bureaucratic lag. For instance, in Nueva Galicia, there was little alteration in the assessments during the early 1590s, followed by an almost universal reassessment in the period 15961598 which really reflected a population decline that had been going on without interruption. The tangible result in the record was a disconcerting fall in the tribute quantities sold in 1597 and 1598. The usable auction runs from the files of the Caja de 13. MSS, AGI, Contaduría, legs. 85&-861B. Virtually no records of this kind survive in Guadalajara. For the operation of the tribute system, see Borah, "Los tributos y su recaudación en la audiencia de Nueva Galicia.

Population of West-Central Mexico

331

Guadalajara between 1578 and 1598 include 103 inhabited places. Some of these are always reported jointly with others. Some are sujetos or estancias which in part are kept separate, in part are combined with their principal towns. As a result we have data for 93 localities which are independent of each other. Of these, two, Sentispac and Acaponeta, are to be regarded as a special case; twenty-six are in coastal Jalisco, the Banderas Valley, and the territory of Purificación; the remaining 65 have been consolidated into a single group. The northern and northeastern frontier is poorly represented. The reports from Tepatitlán, Teocaltiche, Nochistlán, Juchipila, and Tlaltenango, are too few to warrant use as a continuous series for 20 years. They are therefore omitted entirely. Although the year 1578 is the first for which the coverage can be regarded as adequate (except 1570 for Purificación alone), only about 60 percent of the probable tributaries are actually reported. T h e other 40 percent were contained either in royal towns omitted from the lists for this particular year or in towns held in private encomienda. In order to achieve a closer estimate, it has been necessary to make adjustments so as to include towns which undoubtedly paid tribute consistently, but for which we have no exact figure for 1578. These adjustments uniformly employ the principle of interpolation, and follow certain specific rules. a. If there is a figure for the town for 1577 or 1579, it is used directly. b. If there are figures for the town both before and after 1578, and within a reasonable interval, the average is used or its equivalent, on the assumption that there had been a linear rate of increase or decrease. c. If information concerning the town ceases several years prior to 1578, and the town never again appears in the records, it is omitted. d. Conversely, if the first mention of the town appears only several years subsequent to 1578, it also is omitted. On the whole, these rules have been followed with conservatism, and the error, if other than random, probably leads to a total estimate which is too low, rather than too high. 1580. For the Motines we use here the total given by Brand 14 as calculated from the Relaciones Geográficas. 1590. T h e totals here for Nueva Galicia are calculated 14. P. 166.

332

Essays in Population History

from the same series and by the same methods as for 1578. The single exception is Zacualpan for which we have interpolated an estimate on the curve for that region. The population of this valley had declined by 1590 to less than 200 persons, and no reports are to be found for the years close to 1590. 1592. At this date there is a summary of prevailing assessments for all towns in the entire province of Nueva Galicia,18 which gives 11,984 tributaries, or 33,795 total tributary population. All Zacatecas was included, but at this time there were very few tributary Indians north and east of Jerez and Teocaltiche. 1594. A list of auction sales for this year shows the towns in the Valley of Zacualpan as having 58 tributaries, or 165 persons. We use this value also for the year 1595. 1595. Corresponding to this year there are lists of towns with the amount paid by each as the new tax to the King, known as the real servicio. Every town was liable, whether in the Crown or in encomienda, and each tributary paid four reales or one-half peso. Hence twice the number of pesos paid is the number of tributaries. Since the towns are listed individually, they may be allocated to subordinate regions without difficulty. Two lists are of service to us. The first18 covers Nueva Galicia completely. The only exception is Zacualpan, for which we use the auction figure of 1594. The second is a real servicio list prepared for the Caja de México.17 For Ávalos, Southwestern Jalisco, and Motines, including Zacatula, the town lists are entirely satisfactory. With Colima the coverage is so defective that for this area the real servicio cannot be used at all. For Nueva Galicia at this time, although not for any portion of western New Spain, we can obtain some idea of the non-Indian population. T h e source is the work of Mota y Escobar 18 which is dated to 1602-1605 but which applies in general to the period 1595-1605. T o determine with any degree of exactness the number of whites, mestizos, and Negroes reported by Mota y Escobar is very difficult. Chevalier19 puts the total ca. 15. AGI, Contaduría, leg. 859A. The occasion was the need to impose collection of the new tax, real servicio, of four Teales per full tributary, due from all tributaries whether in towns held by the Crown or in encomienda. See chapter I. 16. AGI, Contaduría, leg. 859B. 17. AGI, Contaduría, leg. 695A. 18. Descripción geográfica de los reynos de Galicia, Vizcaya y Léon. 19. Domingo Lázaro de Arregui, Descripción de la Nueva Galacia. Ed. y estudio por François Chevalier, p. lxiv.

Population of West-Central Mexico

SSS

1620 at 5,000 to 6,000 for all Nueva Galicia. An estimate of our own, based upon the statements of Mota y Escobar for ca. 1600, and excluding Zacatecas and the northern mines, comes to 2,228 of whom perhaps 1,000 were Negroes. This figure may well be too low, but we use it for lack of anything more certain and add it to the tributary count in order to arrive at the total for Nueva Galicia. 1598. This is the last year for which we have at our disposal reports of auction sales. The representation of towns is incomplete. Interpolation cannot be employed because there are not enough figures for subsequent years upon which we can rely. Therefore, we turn to the use of ratios. If we consider the coastal area, apart from the remainder of Nueva Galicia, we find 15 towns for which the real servicio is given in the list for 1595, and for which we have a report on an auction sale in 1598. After calculating the number of tributaries represented at each date, and after taking the 1595/1598 ratio for each town, we find the mean ratio for the 15 towns to be 1.66. The Standard Error is ± 0.176, or ± 10.6 per cent of the mean. Since there were 446 tributaries in the entire area in 1595, we estimate the comparable value for 1598 as 269 ± 27 tributaries. An analogous calculation with 51 parallel towns in the remainder of Nueva Galicia gives a mean ratio of 1.25 with Standard Error of ± 0.666 ( ± 5.3 per cent of the mean). The estimated number of tributaries is 8,602. When the coastal towns are included, the provincial total is 8,871 dt approximately 450. When we use a factor of 2.84, the tributary population is 25,141. For the purpose of constructing the individual population graphs of Zacualpan, Banderas and Purificación, we have been able to use the values for 1598 directly. For the remainder of Nueva Galicia we cannot do this, because we cannot segregate Central Nueva Galicia from the Northern Frontier. However, for Nueva Galicia entire (i.e., early colonial Nueva Galicia), the general total of 25,141 can be used. T o this figure we add the 2,228 non-Indians estimated from Mota y Escobar, or 27,369 in all. 1602. For this year we have multiple sources, and a comparison of methods is possible. The first source is Mota y Escobar. Although the book covers the years 1602 to 1605, most of the information must have been secured by 1602. For Indians, Mota y Escobar states most of his populations as vecinos casados.

334

Essays in Population History

If we disregard the figure for Huaynamota, which we have hitherto left out of all consideration, and divide the total of 800 persons attributed to Tuxpan by 3.3 to arrive at casados, we find a total of 5,459 vecinos casados for Nueva Galicia. By the use of the standard factors for categories of civil status we convert this number to 6,387 tributaries. Here it must be pointed out that the list of Mota y Escobar is seriously deficient. He omits all mention of the coastal area south of Compostela, together with such important plateau districts as Analco and Poncitlán. In view of these lacunae it is of interest once more to explore the ratio method. We proceed as previously described, using the ratios of years 1595/1602 and 1598/1602 and available tax assessments. There are 24 towns with values in 1595 and 1602; 21 towns with values in both 1598 and 1602. For the former the mean ratio is 1.568, with Standard Error ± 0.194; for the latter the mean ratio is 1.372, with Standard Error ± 0.204. By the first ratio the calculated tributaries in 1602 amount to 6,522, by the second, to 5,963. The estimate from Mota y Escobar, 6,387, falls between the two. The mean of all three is 6,291. It is to be noted that if Mota y Escobar arrives at too low a tributary population, as suggested by the omissions mentioned above, so does the ratio method. In view of the equivocal status of this estimate, we have omitted it entirely in tables and graphs. 1608. We have for 1608 another solid list of tributaries who were to pay real servicio.20 A few towns are missing; the data for them have been supplied from a summary of the towns visited by Lic. Juan de Paz de Vallecillo, Oidor and Visitador General in 1606-1607.21 The non-Indian population is estimated from two sources. The first is Mota y Escobar, our figure from whom, 2,228 is again employed for most of Nueva Galicia, although it probably is outdated by 1608. The other is the report of the visita of Gaspar de la Fuente to the northern frontier towns in 1608-1610.22 A close examination of his report gives 160 Spanish and mestizo vecinos, or approximately 640 persons, to whom may be added 590 Negroes. The sum of all these, 3,458, has been used in the total estimate for Nueva Galicia. 1619. For this date we have the extensive relación of 20. Accounts of the Caja de Guadalajara for 1608-1609, MS, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 863 B. 21. MS, AGI, Audiencia de Guadalajara, leg. 7. 22. MS, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 874, ramo 2.

Population of West-Central Mexico

335

the Bishopric of Michoacán by Bishop Baltasar de Covarrubias,23 apparently based upon his episcopal inspections. It includes a full description of all towns in the bishopric and is of value here for several areas in New Spain. The relación contains a careful account of the region of the Motines, according to which there was a total of 45 indios casados plus 60 mozos. If we use the customary factor of 3.3 for the casados, we obtain 1,470, plus 60, or 1,530 as the Indian population. In Maquili there were 10-12 Spaniards, or say 11. These are multiplied by 4.5 as a fair factor for the Spanish people at this date. The total is 1,580 persons. For Colima, which was then in the Bishopric of Michoacán, Bishop Baltasar de Covarrubias mentions 2,174 tributaries, mostly Indian, plus 150 solteros. We may use a factor of 3.0 for tributaries at this time, and get a tributary population of 6,972. T o these must be added 164 Spanish vecinos, or 738 persons. Southwestern Jalisco was represented by 1,261 Indian tributaries plus 60 Negro servants in Tamazula, Zapotlán, and Tuxpan, together with 20 Spanish vecinos in Zapotlán. With the usual factors, these total 3,933 persons. In order to arrive at a rough estimate of all southwestern Jalisco, we may double this value to allow for the full area and consider the population to have been 7,866. 1621. For this date we have the work of Arregui. His detailed descriptions with rare exceptions, follow the alcaldías mayores, or jurisdictions, as they existed in his day, not the individual towns. Therefore, although we have tabulated the data he provides, it is impossible to establish any parallel series of localities which will afford a direct comparison with the figures derived from tribute assessments. Moreover, the estimates of population which he gives leave a great deal to be desired. If we add the separate figures given by Arregui for the various jurisdictions and regions, we arrive at a total of 5,052 tributaries. This number includes Purificación with 300 and Banderas with 30. But at the same time, he cites no figures for the jurisdictions of San Cristóbal Barranca, Cuyutlán-Cajititlán, Juchipila, Minas de Santo Domingo, and Minas de Chimaltitlán. Some other areas are given only in part. Hence the total of 5,052 must be an underestimate. Fortunately, he states cate23. Biblioteca de Real Palacio, Madrid, MS No. 2579.

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Essays in Population History

gorically that there were 7,196 tributaries in Nueva Galicia.24 In spite of the shortcomings of the detailed accounts, we can accept the total of 7,196 as representing the best information that Arregui could obtain. Of much interest are also Arregui's estimates of the tributary population 10 years previously, that is in 1611, although the precise dates of the assessments are unknown. Chevalier has examined the individual figures and arrives at a mean reduction in 10 years of 33.0 percent.25 Arregui himself givs a total of 9,696 for 1611, or a reduction by 1621 of 34.8 percent. Arregui was beyond doubt a reliable witness, and appears to have been deeply concerned with the condition of the native tributary population. Yet his estimate of a one-third reduction during the decade 1611-1621 seems excessive. The totals derived from official tribute counts do not exceed 9,700 for any year subsequent to 1595. The estimate of Mota y Escobar for 1602, although admittedly too low, gives no ground for assuming an Indian population at that time of more than 10,000 tributaries. Finally, the whole trend of the decline had moderated very substantially by 1610 and did not approach the level of 3 or more percent per year as demanded by the statements of Arregui. For these reasons we have not used his figure for the population in 1611. In establishing population estimates for 1621, we have proceeded by more than one method. In the case of Zacualpan we have simply used 100 persons, for, according to lists of real servicio and also the trend of the graph for this area, this figure is sufficiently close. For Banderas and Purificación we multiplied the numbers of tributaries given by Arregui by the factor 2.9. For the Northern Frontier we pursued a similar course but added the Spaniards cited by him. For central Nueva Galicia we used for Indians the mean of the 1608 and 1644 lists of real servicio payments and added an estimate of the Spaniards. Although the above estimates were useful in constructing the individual curves for the component parts, in order to calculate the population for early colonial Nueva Galicia entire, we ignored these estimates and used the broad figure given by Arregui, of 7,196 tributaries in all. We multiplied by 2.9 and obtained a tributary population of 20,868. The non-Indians are 24. P. 29. 25. Arregui, p. xlix.

Population of West-Central Mexico

337

represented by 1,002 vecinos españoles reported by Arregui in the Northern Frontier and central Nueva Galicia. If we multiply by 4.0 we arrive at 4,008 as the non-Indian population. This value may be too low. Chevalier thinks there were 5,000-6,000 Spaniards in all Nueva Galicia, including Zacatecas.26 This indicates 1,600-1,700 vecinos, not counting mestizos or Negroes. If we increase the estimate to cover the latter groups but decrease it so as to exclude Zacatecas, and other areas outside our region, we would probably emerge with more than 4,000 nonIndians in our portion of Nueva Galicia (early colonial Nueva Galicia). However, we have no firm data upon which to base a revision, and the figure 4,008 will have to stand. 1644. For 1644 we have a list of tributaries in the form of the assessment for the real servicio.27 This list is comparable with those of 1595 and 1608. Direct summation of the town assessments for real servicio yields 3,854 tributaries. Of the subordinate areas, the tributaries can be segregated only for Banderas and Purificación, and these have been used for plotting the respective graphs. Otherwise we consolidate the figures for Early Colonial Nueva Galicia. When we use a factor of 3.0 we therefore obtain 11,562 as the tributary population. 1654. For this year there is a letter from the Duke of Albuquerque, Viceroy of New Spain, to the King,28 which contains a list of tributaries for New Spain. From it we obtain values for Ávalos, Motines, Colima, and southwestern Jalisco which are used in constructing the respective individual graphs. 1661. From the fiscal records for Nueva Galicia, we have compiled another list of tributaries, similar to that of 1644.29 Direct summation shows a total of 3,854 tributaries. T h e factor we use at this period is 3.1, and the total number of persons is 11,541. For the last time we can calculate a separate, adequate count for Banderas and for Purificación. Subsequently these areas are included without comment in early colonial Nueva Galicia. 1697. We have a tributary list of 1697 for New Spain80 but not for Nueva Galicia. Direct totals of towns may be ob26. Ibid., p. lxiv. 27. Affidavit of the Contador of the Caja de Guadalajara, 16 August 1644, MS, AGI, Audiencia de Guadalajara, leg. 10. 28. Letter No. 27, 17 March 1654, MS, AGI, Audiencia de Méjico, leg. 469, cuaderno 1. 29. Through scrutiny of the Accounts of the Caja de Guadalajara, 16611663, MSS, AGI, Contaduría, legs. 867B-869A. 30. MS, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 809, ramo 35.

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Essays in Population History

tained for Avalos (by then the district of Sayula), Colima, and Motines (by then the district of Motines), and the population reckoned by using the multiplicative factor 3.3. Southwestern Jalisco is represented by the districts of Amula, Cutzala, Tuzcacuesco, and Autldn. Zapotldn is lacking. However, a fair estimate for this district may be secured by calculating for other dates the ratio of Zapotlin to the remaining districts of southwestern Jalisco and to the nearby district of Sayula. All these data have been utilized in the customary manner for graphing regional populations. 1700. T h e point placed at the year 1700 is actually obtained from a series of reports dated from 1696 to 1707, inclusive. These consist of nine summaries of the accounts of the Caja de Guadalajara, and show the total real servicio for Nueva Galicia collected over a period of twelve consecutive years.31 Despite considerable variation from year to year we may use the annual average, 3,182 pesos, or 6,364 tributaries. T h e territory covered includes all Nueva Galicia, presumably omitting no part thereof, together with the province of Culiacdn. This region belonged administratively to the Audiencia of Nueva Galicia, but prior to this date its tributes had always been kept separate from those of Nueva Galicia proper. Therefore, in order to conform to previous estimates, they should be deducted from the figure given above. A fair estimate of the tributaries in Culiacdn might be 500. Hence the total should be reduced from 6,364 to 5,864. Regardless of the treatment of Culiacdn, it is clear that the tributaries had begun to increase over their number of the mid-seventeenth century even though we concede that the lists of 1644 and 1661 are moderately short of the true count. Furthermore, we must never forget that we have been, and still are, following the number of sedentary Indian tributaries, the descendants of the original inhabitants. Therefore, in the values for 1644, 1654, 1661, and 1697, we have disregarded completely the other ethnic and economic groups: the Spaniards and the mestizos, the free but tributary Negroes and mulattos, and the displaced but tributary indios laborios. By the year 1700, the native Indian tributaries constituted only a fraction of the total population. T h e part played by the new elements must be discussed at greater length. We therefore consider two problems 31. MSS, AGI, Contaduría, leg. 872.

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at this point. T h e first relates to the proportion of Negroes who were included in the tributary population of west-central Mexico. T h e second concerns the size of the non-tributary component, the gente de razón. T h e first question may be expressed thus: T o what extent may we assume that the tributary population was purely Indian, and to what extent must we allow for Negro tributaries. T h e most reliable data known to us are in table 41. Part A of this table gives figures for New Spain from documents in the Archive of the Indies together with the Matrícula de Tributarios of 1805, 32 the latter for the entire country except Yucatán and the Provincias Internas. Part B shows figures for Nueva Galicia and for certain portions of Jalisco and Colima which lay in New Spain. Part C gives the percentages of Negro tributaries shown by the Matrícula de Tributarios of 1805 for all provinces except Yucatán. T h e figures in Parts A and B are widely scattered in place and time and are subject to considerable documentary error. They therefore lack precision and must be taken as indicative only of order of magnitude. Part A shows that the Negro compenent of the tributary population, which began in the late sixteenth century at virtually 0 percent, had not reached beyond 1-2 percent by 1732— 1735, for which period the summary is very complete. By 1805 it had risen to roughly 10 percent, a great increase in a few years. Meanwhile Part B indicates that in the western area, despite wide variability, the proportion of Negro tributaries was higher than the colonial average and by 1732 had attained a level somewhere between 2 and 12 percent. In 1805 in the province of Guadalajara the proportion was 33.9 percent. Part C shows clearly that at the end of the colonial period the proportion of Negro tributaries was nearly 10 times greater in the six western and northern than in the four central and southern provinces. T h e reason for this disparity we do not attempt to determine here. Insofar as the tributary population of the west-central area is concerned, we may ignore the Negro component in counts prior to 1600, and probably as late as 1620. From 1620 to 1730 the Negro element must have constituted close to 5 percent of the total tributaries, in most cases rather less than more. Thus by 1730 the number had reached a value which cannot be 32. MS, AGN, Tributos, vol. 43, last expediente.

340

Essays in Population History t a b l e 41

Proportion of Free Negros and Mulattos Among Tributaries Part A In the Audiencia de Mixico and Mexico entire Percent free Negros and mulattos in total tributaries

Sources and remarks

Date

Area

1591

Audiencia de México, towns in Crown

0.6

AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 320. Ratio of tribute payment totals.

1640

Audiencia de México, towns in Crown

1.1

AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 35. Ratio of tributes of free Negros and mulattos to tributes of Crown towns plus real servicio of all towns.

1701

Audiencia de México, total tributaries listed

1.3

AGI, Contaduría, leg. 809, ramo 35. (Document in bad condition and truncated.)

1732-5

Audiencia de México, total tributaries listed Mexico entire

1.4

AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798.

10.5

Matricula de Tributarios of 1805.

1804

Part B West-Central Region

Date

Area

Percent free Negros and mulattos in total tributaries

Sources and remarks

1596

Audiencia de Guadalajara, real servicio

0.05

AGI, Contaduria, leg. 859B. Accounts Caja Guadalajara.

1662

Acaponeta a / m Juchipila a / m

7.7 4.9

AGI, Contaduría, leg. 867B. Accounts Caja Guadalajara. Real servicio.

1701

Amula, partido Audán, partido

1.6 2.2

AGI, Contaduiía, leg. 809' ramo 35. Tributary list.

1732-5

Tuxpan, partido Amula, partido Colima, partido Ixdán, partido

2.2 4.5 6.8 12.7

AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798. Tributary list.

1804

Guadalajara, province

33.9

Matricula de Tributarios of 1805.

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TABLE 41

(cont'd.)

Part C Provinces according to the Matricula of 1805

Province

Percent free Negros and mulattos in total tributaries

Oaxaca Veracruz Puebla Mexico

3.3 4.2 2.3 4.6

Valladolid Guadalajara Guanajuato San Luis Potosí Zacatecas Arizpe

27.5 33.9 13.7 34.2 57.8 58.4

neglected, and if we use the series of records of tribute counts for partidos in New Spain, which extend from 1715 to 1755,33 we must allow for an average of 5 percent Negroes in the tributary population. Nueva Galicia at this period is not directly involved, for we possess no comparable run of tributary counts from the Audiencia of Guadalajara. Nevertheless, probably at least the same proportion of Negroes was to be found there as in adjacent New Spain and should be included if the question arises. The above considerations apply to population estimates based upon tributary counts. With the exception of the Matricula de Tributarios of 1805, these cease to be of importance for our purposes after the series of 1715-1755. Consequently the distribution of races among tributaries becomes a problem of interest per se, but is not of significance with respect to total population. By the first half of the eighteenth century we begin to find a succession of general surveys—those of Mota Padilla,34 Villaseñor y Sánchez,35 and the censuses36—which render it unnecessary to use tribute data. As a result, except for special reasons, we may regard tributary populations as consisting entirely of Indians. 33. MSS, AGI, Audiencia de Méjico, leg. 798. 34. Historia de la conquista del reino de la Nueva Galicia escrita . . . en 1742. 35. José Antonio Villaseñor y Sánchez, Theatro americano. 36. That of 1742-1746, summarized in Villaseñor y Sánchez, that of 1777, and the general and military censuses of 1792-1794. For a discussion, see chapter I in this volume.

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Essays in Population History

The second question pertains to the number of nonIndians in the total population. It has been pointed out that the lists of 1644, 1654, 1661, 1697, and 1700, for both New Spain and Nueva Galicia, show only the tributary population. Moreover, subsequent to the reports by Bishop Baltasar de Covarrubias in 1619 and by Arregui in 1621, we know of no comprehensive statement of Spanish and mixed population until well into the eighteenth century. It is therefore extremely difficult to find any satisfactory estimate for this component during the seventeenth century, and consequently we have to resort to indirect devices. In compiling each of the population curves for three of our four areas in New Spain, Motines, Colima, and Southwestern Jalisco, we have plotted the values of total population in 1619, for which date we have the Baltasar de Covarrubias report. Subsequently we have entered the tributary population for 1654, 1697 and any other available dates, until the next report from which the total number of persons can be derived. For Motines this is in 1725; for Colima, 1725, and for Southwestern Jalisco, 1742. Thereafter, until 1810, there are adequate data, but we have continued to segregate the values for total and for tributary population. For Colima, where the proportion of non-Indians was relatively high, and where the data, although widely spaced in time, are quite reliable, we have drawn a smooth curve so as to give the best fit to the points of total population throughout and have by-passed the points representing only the tributary population. For Motines and Southwestern Jalisco, it has been necessary for the curve to follow the tributary population between 1621 and the early eighteenth century. This course probably yields values by interpolation which are too low, but the error is not great, for the non-Indian component in these areas was relatively small during the seventeenth century. A similar procedure had to be followed for the province of Avalos, for which we have no statement whatever concerning non-tributaries prior to 1740. At this approximate date, both Villaseñor y Sánchez and Mota Padilla agree that the Spaniards and Negroes jointly constituted nearly one-third of the total inhabitants.87 The omission of this component during the period 1660-1740 must introduce an error on the side of underestimate, 37. Mota Padilla, p. 546; Villaseñor y Sánchez, II, 215-220.

Population of West-Central Mexico

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but to attempt a correction entirely unsupported by evidence might compound the error. We have no recourse, however, but to consider the trend as following the tributary count up to 1700 and thence the total population. With Nueva Galicia we are in much the same situation. There are reasonably good estimates for the non-Indians in 1602 (Mota y Escobar) and 1621 (Arregui). The next reliable survey dates from 1760 (Visita of the Bishop of Guadalajara). However, in this instance we can deal with a single entity, rather with four, as described for New Spain. It is hopeless to establish individual, ad hoc values of non-Indian population between 1620 and 1760. T h e only alternative is to base estimates upon the most probable trend in numbers. T h e most reasonable assumption is that this trend conformed to an approximately logarithmic course, for the population increased consistently, not erratically, and under the circumstances is likely to have increased more or less in direct proportion to the existing size. Accordingly we plot the values for 1602, 1621 and 1760 on log paper and observe that they fall very closely along a straight line. If we interpolate on this line for any specific date, we are therefore likely to get a reasonable approximation to the actual non-tributary population. If this number is added to a known count of tributaries, the total may be accepted with a fair degree of confidence. This method has been used to construct the graph for early colonial Nueva Galicia. (See Table 39.) We now return to the consideration of reports of population at certain dates subsequent to 1700. In order to achieve a logical order of presentation these dates are not always placed in strict chronological sequence. 1725 and 1768. The Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City contains a document reporting population counts in the Province of Michoacán. 88 Included are data for the Motines and for Colima. For each area, town by town, are given the number of vecinos of all ethnic groups, "que tenían entonces" (that the towns had then) and those "que ahora tienen" (that the towns have now). T h e latter time is somewhat doubtful but may be taken as 1768. The former is regarded by Brand as referring to approximately 1725,39 a date which seems entirely reasonable. We therefore obtain the sum of the vecinos for each 38. Ramo de Historia, vol. 72, exp. 1, f. 50. 39. P. 154.

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date and area and multiply by 4.5 in 1725 and 4.8 in 1768. These factors we have previously determined to be appropriate for vecinos or casados in the general population during that century. 1715 to 1755. Covering this period of 40 years, with but a single break of five years, is a series of annual reports of numbers of tributaries in all New Spain.40 The arrangement is by districts or partidos, and a report for each district is found to occur every few years. We have used the following districts and years of report. Motines Colima Sayula Southwestern Jalisco, the total of: Amula Audin Tuxpan Etzatldn

1715 and 1752 1715 and 1755 1715 and 1751 1722 1722 1722 1721

and and and and

1751 1752 1755 1751

The points for 1715-1722 and for 1751-1755 are plotted on the corresponding graphs as tributary, not total, populations. 1740 to 1750. For a period centering around the decade 1740-1750 the three important sources for the Indian tributary population are: Matías de la Mota Padilla, José Antonio Villaseñor y Sánchez, and the reports of tributary numbers between 1715 and 1755 from New Spain, already discussed. The work of Mota Padilla is significant because he attempted to give the Indian population of Nueva Galicia at the time of writing (1742). His estimates of aboriginal population showing a tremendous decline from 1520 to his own day are of great interest but need not be considered in detail here. For Nueva Galicia he reports by jurisdiction, partido, or alcaldía mayor and under each entity lists the principal town, although not all the towns. By checking these, it may be ascertained that his coverage is very good for all parts of the province except the coast. He includes the jurisdictions of Jala, Tequepexpan, Mascota, Tepic, and Sentispac. His figures for Acaponeta are useless, because this province embraced the entire modern state of Sinaloa. Banderas is probably included under Tepic, but there is no reference to Purificación, although the error thus introduced is not large. 40. MSS, AGI, Audiencia de Méjico, leg. 798.

Population of West-Central Mexico

345

41

Mota Padilla reports all Indian populations in terms of tributarios enteros, the lists for which he apparently was able to inspect. He explains carefully that, in order to determine the total population, one must add to the listed tributaries those who do not pay tribute, to wit: children up to 18 years, the aged, the alcaldes, caciques, church singers, and others. He then multiplies so as to obtain an estimate of the total in round numbers. His factor varies somewhat; in 18 jurisdictions it ranged from 4.10 to 6.75, with a mean of 5.08. After describing Nueva Galicia, Mota Padilla goes on to consider a substantial area in New Spain, specifically the former provincia de Ávalos, and the jurisdictions of Amula, Autlán, Etzatlán, and Colima. Here, he writes, he was no longer able to use the official tribute lists. In their place he resorted to the parish registers, and reported the populations in terms of "indios de padrón," or total persons. With these figures, naturally, no multiplicative factor is necessary. The Theatro Americano of Villaseñor y Sánchez is a descriptive encyclopedia of the Spanish possessions in Mexico, comprehending not only New Spain, as stated in the title, but also Nueva Galicia, Nueva Vizcaya, and the Provincias Internas. The book was written to present the data on population resulting from the reports of alcaldes mayores called for by the Conde de Fuenclara, Viceroy of New Spain, and often referred to as the census of 1742-1746. In giving population, Villaseñor y Sánchez uses families exclusively, and separates Indian from Spanish and other groups. The local territorial segregation is by parish, for each of which in New Spain, he states the number of Indian families. The section on Nueva Galicia is very sketchy. The population of most parishes is missing, so that it is impossible to arrive at any estimate for the entire province. The usefulness of the account in the present context is really limited to a few jurisdictions in Nueva Galicia and for purposes of comparison, a number in New Spain. The third source, as mentioned previously, consists of a series of lists of tributaries in New Spain by totals for partidos. Again, as with Villaseñor y Sánchez, we may use those that refer to portions of Jalisco and Colima for comparison with Mota Padilla. It is evident that of the three documents described, the 41. Passim, but esp. pp. 50 and 133-134 for the discussion which follows.

346

Essays in Population History

book by Mota Padilla provides not only the best source of data for the tributary population but substantially the only source for the decade in question. Indeed, we might very well ignore the others entirely and employ the totals of Mota Padilla directly, were it not for the problem generated by his consistent use of the factor 5.0 as the ratio of population to tributarios enteros. The relation between tributaries and total population has been discussed extensively elsewhere.42 It has been shown that the ratio characteristic of the sixteenth century, 2.82, may be used to 1590 or 1600, but the value then rose until it reached 4.15, the point firmly established in the Matricula de Tributarios of 1805. In the meantime the method of assessment was altered so as to include all adult men but no women. Hence any time course of the change in ratio which we might chart would be largely empirical. Nevertheless, all the evidence points to a ratio of 3.5 to 3.6 at or near the decade 1740-1750. There certainly is not the slightest indication that the ratio ever reached 5.0. Two possible explanations may be offered. 1) Mota Padilla intended to consider the non-tributaries as equal to 20-25 percent of the total adults and add them to the tributarios enteros, thus increasing the factor by which the tributarios enteros alone must be multiplied. 2) He really had in mind casados, or heads of families, for whom the factor would be closer to 5.0. However, the second alternative is rendered dubious by his own very careful exposition of what he meant by tributaries. He had a very clear idea of those who constituted the class. Because we know what Mota Padilla did but cannot be sure that his method gave the right answer, we may turn to compare his figures with those of the other contemporary sources. In so doing we shall use the multiplicative factors which we have determined to be the most appropriate to the decade 1740-1750. These are, for population to tributaries, 3.6, and for population to casados, 4.6. At this point we note that Villaseñor y Sánchez consistently, and without exception expressed population in terms 42. Borah and Cook, The Population of Central Mexico in 1548, pp. 75103; The Population of the Mixteca Alta, 1520-1960 (Ibero-Americana: 50, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968), pp. 39-47. See also chapter III in this volume.

Population of West-Central Mexico

347

of familias. We have explained in detail in a previous essay,43 that during the second half of the eighteenth century two methods were in use for formulating family number. One was by means of the biological family, the unit of husband, wife, and children; the other was by means of the domestic living aggregate or household. Both types of enumeration, which we designated respectively Types I and III, appear in the censuses of 1777 and 1793. However, the gente de razón, Spaniards and other non-Indians castes, are invariably presented according to Type III; the Indians frequently, although not always, according to Type I. Villaseñor y Sánchez makes no distinction between Indians and gente de razón but reports both groups merely in terms of familias. For instance, when he describes the suburb of Guadalupe, near Mexico City, he writes: "Aunque el Pueblo es corto en su vecindario, porque apenas se contaran cincuenta, ó sesenta familias de Españoles, y Mestizos, y ciento, y diez de Indios. . . . " (Although the town has few residents, for there are barely 50 or 60 families of Spaniards and mestizos and 110 of Indians. . . .)44 It is highly probable that, with all ethnic components, he is thinking in terms of vecinos, an expression which is synonymous with heads of domestic establishments rather than of restricted, marital families. Accordingly, in calculating total populations from the families reported by Villaseñor y Sánchez, we should use the factor for vecinos (or casados), 4.6. We make four sets of comparisons for the period 17401750. 1. For the 4 jurisdictions, Jala, Tepic, Sentispac, Tequepexpan, plus the town of Hostotipaquillo, the totals given by Villaseñor y Sánchez and by Mota Padilla are: Villaseñor y Sánchez

Mota Padilla

1,586 familias de indios X 4.6 = 7,296 persons

1,466 tributarios X 5.0 = 7,330 persons

2. We may utilize the data for Colima and Southwestern Jalisco. Four jurisdictions are covered by both authors with reasonable completeness with the exception of coastal Colima, which appears to have been omitted by Mota Padilla. These jurisdictions are Colima, Amula, Autlin, and Sayula. 43. See chapter III in this volume. 44. I. p. 16.

348

Essays in Population History Villaseñor y Sánchez

4,444 familia« de indios X 4.6 = 20,442 persons

Mota Padilla population given direedy: 23,250 persons

3. Whereas Villaseñor y Sánchez organizes his descriptions according to jurisdiction and parish, Mota Padilla proceeds by groups of towns (or groups of parishes). With Avalos and Southwestern Jalisco it is possible in certain cases to crosscorrelate these places so as to obtain parallel groups for which there are figures in both sources. There are 10 of these groups, headed by Ajijic, Amacueca, Zacoalco, Atoyac, Cocula, Sayula, Techalutla, Amula, Teocuitatlán, and Tapalpa. Villaseñor y Sánchez 2,901 familias de indios X 4.6 = 13,345 persons

Mota Padilla population given direedy: 14,800 persons

4. The lists of numbers of tributaries reported for the Audiencia of Mexico (our third source for these years) include the partidos of Amula, Autlin, and Sayula. These partidos are also covered by Mota Padilla. From the tributary lists we have a figure for Amula in 1751, for Autldn in 1746 and 1751 of which we may take the average, and for Sayula in 1745 and 1751 of which we also may take the average. For the three partidos, then, we have the following results: AGI—Aud. Méx.

Mota Padilla

6,546 tributaries X 3.6 — 23,566 persons

population given direedy: 21,750 persons

It is clear that when we use our own derived values of the ratios of population to tributaries for the tributary lists of the Audiencia of Mexico and to families for Villaseñor y Sánchez on the assumption that he was counting households, the values thus obtained reconcile very closely with the numbers given by Mota Padilla. Indeed, the consistency throughout is surprising, in view of the manifold sources of error. As a consequence, we may accept tentatively the statements of Mota Padilla at face value, however he may have reached his conclusions. One further item of evidence, however, deserves mention. In his general summary, Mota Padilla says that there were 8,000 tributarios enteros in Nueva Galicia which when

Population of West-Central Mexico

349

multiplied by 5.0 means 40,000 people. T o this he adds the Sierra and other unreduced regions which he thought contained 20,000 people. Thus the total is 60,000 almas. In this estimate he also includes 3 cities (Guadalajara, Aguascalientes, and Zacatecas), 8 villas, and 10 reales de minas.46 this total for the tributary population is quite reasonable on general grounds and conforms, as we have seen, to other sources for the period. For confirmation, however, we may apply a simple test by another approach. Mota Padilla reports six jurisdictions on the northern frontier with 5,243 tributarios enteros. In Central Nueva Galicia he recites 14 jurisdictions (excluding Acaponeta) with 6,912 tributaries. The total of 12,155 tributaries, when multiplied by our factor 3.6, yields 43,758 persons46 this figure is close to the comprehensive estimate of Mota Padilla, for tributary Indians. Accordingly, we use his estimate of 60,000 for tributary and independent Indians. There remains the problem of the non-Indians. Mota Padilla gives a few figures for Spaniards and Negroes in Nueva Galicia but specifies actual numbers for only three jurisdictions and the city of Guadalajara. Outside of Nueva Galicia he mentions a usable total only for Southwestern Jalisco, 4,700 persons.47 Villaseñor y Sánchez gives reasonably good values for Colima and Sayula (Ávalos) and what appears to be an underestimate for the Motines.48 We have utilized these data where pertinent to individual areas. For Early Colonial Nueva Galicia in 1740 and in 1750 it has been necessary to interpolate on the logarithmic plot discussed previously. 1760. For 1760 we have the report of a remarkably exhaustive series of visitas carried out by the Bishop of Guadalajara, which covers the entire diocese.49 He proceeded from parish to parish and for each set down the number both of families and persons with distinction between españoles and indios. It is therefore possible to obtain a very precise figure for that fraction of Nueva Galicia which we have designated Early Colonial Nueva Galicia: españoles, 79,496 persons; indios, 67,287 persons. In addition to Nueva Galicia, certain portions of the 45. 46. 47. 48. 49.

P. 546. Passim and p. 546. Pp. 46-47, 67, 71-72, 78-79, 82, 88, 99, 105, 134-136, 543, and 546. II, 83-88, 98-99, and 213-220. MS, AGI, Audiencia de Guadalajara, leg. 401.

350

Essays in Population History

area which were politically in New Spain, were also in the Bishopric of Guadalajara and hence were included in the episcopal survey of 1760. Here we find the partido of Sayula entire, and most of Southwestern Jalisco. In the latter area the district of Zapotlán did not appear, for it was outside the bishop's territory. However, we can get a reasonably close estimate for its total population by taking ratios with the other Jalisco districts and with Sayula. Colima and Motines were also outside the Bishopric of Guadalajara and for them we have no values at this date. 1760-1810. Subsequent to the visita of 1760 we are forced to rely upon diverse sources for the different areas. We shall discuss these areas individually, but briefly: a. Motines. We have already mentioned the undated report on Michoacán60 which we have ascribed to 1768, although it may have been written later. An account by Juan Zárate y Manso lists 472 Indian tributaries, 83 families of Negroes, and 44 families of Spaniards for the year 1789.51 Our estimate of total population would be 2,412. Further, Brand cites various sources of the early 1790s as showing 408 families of Indians, 200 of castas, and 32 of españoles.82 We would estimate the total here as 2,376. The summary of the 1793 military census gives 1,086 persons for all races except Indians.63 Brand estimates a total population of 2,472 in the early 1790s.54 The Matricula de Tributarios of 1805 gives 2,134 as a total for the tributary population. We have drawn the graph for the Motines to follow all of the total populations, 1789-1793. b. Colima. The 1793 military census gives for all nonIndians a total of 12,803 persons.85 Lacking an Indian census, we may use the Indian tributary population as shown in the Matricula de Tributarios of 1805. At that time there were 1,084 tributaries, which we multiply by 4.0, to obtain 4,336 persons. The total of both estimates would be 17,139. 50. AGN, Historia, vol. 72, exp. 1, f. 50. 51. "Descripción topográfica del partido de Motines del Oro. Año de 1789," MS, in AGN, Historia, vol. 73, exp. 12, ff. 167-182. 52. P. 123. Brand's sources are the "Noticias de la jurisdición de Motines del Oro, 1791," in the Noticias topográficas de la Nueva España, MS 2449, Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, but consulted in the Paso y Troncoso transcript in the Archivo Histórico of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City, and various accounts of 1789 and the early 1790's in AGN, Historia, vol. 72, exps. 1, 4, and 8, and vol. 73, exp. 12. 53. MS, AGN, Padrones, vol. 21, ff. 321 and 364. 54. P. 166. 55. MS, AGN, Padrones, vol. 11, f. 16.

Population of West-Central Mexico

351

One other figure may be used. According to Francisco R. Almada, in 1808 the population of Colima was 22,000." c. Avalos. The "Descripción . . . de la Provincia de Sayula" reports that according to the census of 1790 the total number of persons was 47,521.87 According to Longinos Banda, in 1797 the subdelegation of Sayula had 65,798 inhabitants. 68 The Matricula de Tributarios of 1805 gives 34,587 as the tributary population of the partido of Sayula. d. Southwestern Jalisco. As for 1760, we are obliged to use indirect methods for this region, because several of the sources provide data for only a portion of the subordinate political units. Prior to 1810 the four districts included under the title Southwestern Jalisco were Amula (Tuxcacuesco), Autlán, Etzatlán, and Zapotlán-Tuxpan. After 1810 considerable realignment occurred, and one cannot be certain that the new departments followed exactly the boundaries long established for the old districts. However, it is possible to obtain six statements of population according to local divisions. Four of these include the tributary population only: (1) 1722, 1733, and 1752 from the long Tun of reports for the Audiencia of México.69 (2) 1805 from the Matricula de Tributarios. Two show the total population. These are for the years 1797 and 1830 as given by Longinos Banda. (See table 33.) From these six sets of figures we have calculated the populations of the four districts on a percentage basis. (See table 42.) The values for each territorial entity are consistent throughout the entire period from 1722 to 1830 and demonstrate that the mean ratios of population, tributary and total, among these entities are sufficiently stable to justify their use for estimating the population of Southwestern Jalisco as a whole. The ratio of the population of Sayula to that of Zapotlán, however, when similarly calculated, shows a steady and marked decline from 3.45 in 1733 to 1.02 in 1851. Clearly this ratio must be used cautiously and with due attention to the date. Our specific estimates are as follows: i. 1791. Two reports give the population of Spaniards 56. Diccionario de historia geografía y biografía del estado de Colima, article "censos," p. 37. 57. 17 October 1791, Relaciones topográficas de pueblos de México, vol. II, ff. 136-141V, MS 2450, Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid. 58. Estadística de Jalisco, p. 35. 59. MSS, AGI, Audiencia de Méjico, leg. 798.

352

Essays in Population History TABLE

42

Area ratios and percentages used for calculating populations of partidos in Southwestern Jalisco Percent of total population found in each partido Autldn Etzatldn Zapotldn Source

Date

Amula

1722

18.12

24.89

17.37

39.62

1733 1752 1797 1804

16.21 17.55 12.73 17.48

32.44 24.90 35.37 21.40

16.52 18.85 17.71 22.66

34.83 38.70 34.19 38.46

1830

17.65

24.57

18.94

38.84

Mean

16.62

27.76

18.68

36.94

Tributary pop., AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798. M

M

Total pop., Banda, p. 35. Tributary pop., Matrícula de Tributarios of 1805. Total pop., Banda, p. 36 by departments.

Ratio population of Sayula to that of Zapotlân Date

Ratio

Source

1733 1751 1804 1830

3.45 3.07 2.58 2.02

Tributary population, AGI, Aud. de Méjico, leg. 798. Tributary population, Matricula de Tributaries. Total population, Banda, p. 36. j^jj

1851

1.02

Canton Sayula — dept. Zapotlân dept. Zapotlân Total population, Banda, p. 39. Ratio : as above

and mestizos for the partido of Amula60 and that for Autldn.61 The total number is 6,637 almas. By using the percentages described above, we obtain 14,955 for Southwestern Jalisco. The tributary population in 1805 (Matricula de Tributarios) was 34,895 and the total of the two groups would be 49,850. This estimate, for 1791, probably omits the Negro element and is therefore too low. ii. 1797. Banda62 has made a compilation for the state of Jalisco, derived from various sources (which he does not cite in detail) from the year 1794 to 1800. We may take as the central date, 1797. He lists the distribution by subdelegations. We use the following: Ahualulco y Etzatldn, Zapotldn, Amula 6 Tuxcacuesco, Autldn, and Tomatldn. The total population is 60. MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 72, f. 201. 61. Ibid., vol. 73, f. 127. 62. P. 35.

Population of West-Central Mexico

353

89,091, a value which much exceeds the 49,850 which we derived for 1793. If the latter is too low, the former is probably too high. iii. 1802. We have a count of Etzatlán for 1802.63 It is clear from the context of the document that only the town is included. However, it contains an exact breakdown by ethnic group: españoles, mulatos, and indios. The Matrícula de Tributarios of 1805 gives the tributary population (Indians plus Negroes) for the partido of Etzatlán. By using the ratio of the Negro plus the Indian population of the town to that of the partido and the mean ratio of the partido to southwestern Jalisco, we reach an estimate of 59,500 for the total population. This value is admittedly precarious and rests upon very thin evidence, but it is within the expected order of magnitudes and may be used with these reservations. iv. 1805. The document which we have called the Matricula de Tributarios of 1805 is the most thorough and exhaustive, as well as the last, compilation which we possess of data on tributaries. For the four partidos of Zapotlán, Tuxcacuesco, Etzatlán, and Audán the total tributary population is given as 34,895. v. 1830. Although 1830 is 20 years past our termination date for this section, it is worth while noting an estimate by Longinos Banda.84 He lists for that year, without stating his source, the population of the state of Jalisco according to department and canton (as the state was then divided). For the departments of Tuxcacuesco, Zapotlán, Etzatlán, Autlán, and Mascota, the total population was 111,384. The inclusion of Mascota is dubious, but if this department is omitted, the population becomes 89,534, almost identical with that given by Banda for 1797. The answer to the problem, apart from poor methods of census taking at that time, appears to lie in shifts of departmental and district boundaries concerning which we have at present no information. We have placed the points on the graph for Southwestern Jalisco subsequent to 1790 as they have been described above. The trend line has been carried through none of them, but between them, so as to reflect a reasonable reconciliation of the discordant estimates. 63. Plan general de las familias, MS, Biblioteca Pública de Guadalajara, manuscript collection, vol. 50, number 1. 64. P. 36.

354

Essays in Population History

e. Early Colonial Nueva Galicia. Subsequent to the episcopal visita of 1760, no comprehensive data exist for the population of Nueva Galicia. For that portion with which we are dealing in this essay, we have but a few scattered items: the Spanish population of the partido of Ahuacatldn, 68 the Negro population of the same partido, 88 and totals for the Spaniards and Negroes of the partido of Aguascalientes. 67 Our only recourse is Longinos Banda. His list of data for 1794-1800 comes to a total of 499,439 for the state of Jalisco. If we deduct 154,889 for Southwestern Jalisco and for Sayula, 344,550 remain in the state. Two other regions, however, must be included. T h e first is Aguascalientes. For this partido, later a state, a report gives a population of 26,624 in 1794.68 T h e second region is that fraction of southwestern Zacatecas which, at the end of the colonial period, was included in the partido of Juchipila. T h e best we can do here is to derive an approximation by ratios. We know Banda's total for each of the northeastern Jalisco districts of La Barca, Barranca, Cuquio, Lagos, and Tepatitldn. We also know the tributary population of the corresponding districts in 1804. By taking the ratios and averaging them, we calculate 2.88 as the mean ratio of Banda's figure to that of the Matricula de Tributarios. Finally, we have the tributary population of the partido of Juchipila in 1805. By applying the ratio just derived, we obtain a total population of 54,795 for Juchipila. A rough check is provided by a count of 1834 which shows for the then three districts of Jerez, Tlaltenango, and Juchipila, a total of 76,328 persons.09 Our final value for Early Colonial Nueva Galicia in 1797 is 425,969.

V

We may now return briefly to the graphic expression of population in west-central Mexico between 1548 and 1790, as displayed in figure 33. T h e line is drawn through the points 65. MS, AGN, Padrones, vol. 14, f. 188. 66. MS, AGN, Historia, vol. 523, f. 75. 67. MS, AGN, Padrones, vol. 5 f. 225 et al. 68. "Documentos antiguos relativos al estado de Aguascalientes," Sociedad Mexicana de Georgrafía y Estadística, Boletín, 2a ep., III (1871), pp. 19-25. 69. José María García, "Zacatecas. Ligeras noticias estadísticas . . . ibid., la ep., VIII (1860), pp. 20-24.

Population of West-Central Mexico

355

recorded in the final column of table 40 where each point is the sum of the values obtained by interpolation at the corresponding years in the graphs of the subordinate areas. The graph ends with the point for the year 1790. To establish the point for 1800, and certainly for 1810, would require extrapolation of the terminal colonial data from the censuses of 1793 and Banda's estimate for approximately 1797. It is better to continue the trend line beyond 1790 by the use of the nineteenth century censuses and estimates which will be presented in the next section of this essay. The course of the changes which occurred during the colonial period need little verbal exposition. Beginning with a large aboriginal population, a tremendous decline, still in progress at that time, brought the total to approximately 300,000 by 1548. The decline continued but slowed down until a minimum of close to 40,000 was reached in the middle decades of the seventeenth century, and great portions of the pre-Conquest inhabitants had been in effect exterminated. Then began an increase which brought the total number of persons to an estimated 480,000 in 1790. The trend of these changes in population may be seen more clearly in figure 34. Here we have calculated and plotted the coefficient of population movement as the logarithm of the term , a function described fully earlier in chapter II. In the period 1548 to 1560 the rate of decline was roughly 5 percent per year. (See table 40c.) It diminished to zero (i.e., stationary) in the decade 1650-1660. Thereafter the rate became positive (-f o>) and reached the level of a 1 percent increase per year by the decade 1680-1690, and by the decade 1710-1720 a rate of more than 2 percent per year, a condition which was maintained until at least 1800 and which was not again duplicated until the present day. The causes of this truly great expansion in numbers are those common to much of central and northern Mexico. They may be summarized in a broad sense as a century of relative quiet and stability, with a high birth rate, although accompanied by a high death rate. For the west-central region, there was also the impetus supplied by a heavy migration from Europe and from other parts of Mexico. It would be interesting to speculate in detail upon these factors, but we must reserve this discussion for another essay.

Essays in Population History

356 VI

For the entire span of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the task of compiling the population data for west-central Mexico becomes one of merely assembling and fitting together the numerous estimates, counts, and formal censuses which exist in the printed record. The problems involved, apart from filling gaps, consist principally in reconciling conflicting statements and in evaluating the effectiveness of the various censuses. To write a critique of census methods for Mexico, as for any other country, would require an essay in itself. However, such an effort is not necessary in order to establish the broad trend of population change since 1800. Therefore, we have reduced comment and discussion to a minimum and cite many documents without attempting to assess their merits as sources of numerical information. The interval from approximately 1800 to the present may be readily divided into the pre-census and the census periods. The line of separation is 1895. At that date the first national census was taken. Another followed in 1900 and others thereafter decennially. Therefore, corresponding to each census date we simply add the state or regional reports and immediately derive the official population for the west-central area. Prior to 1895, during much of the nineteenth century, state and local authorities made many attempts to obtain a clear idea of the number of people living in the various jurisdictions. The results were frequently published in the annual reports (Memorias) of the governors, and many found their way into the Boletín of the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística. Most of these can be used but suffer from a good deal of inaccuracy. Furthermore, since they originate at irregular dates, no consistent decennial or any other summation is possible. It is entirely feasible, nevertheless, to employ the method of graphic interpolation. Consequently we use this device to obtain values for west-central Mexico in the period 1800-1895. The subordinate areas are somewhat different from those employed during consideration of the colonial era. The primary basis has become the state. Therefore, we immediately set apart four states, for each of which we tabulate and plot the available population data for the entire span of years 1800 to 1960. These are Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit, and Aguascalientes. Colima and Aguascalientes remain unaltered territorially

Population of West-Central Mexico

357

throughout. Jalisco and Nayarit underwent change. Subsequent to independence, the region extending from Ixtlán del Rio north beyond Acaponeta constituted the Canton of Tepic in the state of Jalisco. In 1884 it was set apart as the Territory of Tepic, and in 1917 became the state of Nayarit. The reports of its population therefore, are incorporated with those of Jalisco until nearly the census of 1895. At and after that time it would be possible to treat the figures for the two areas separately, but since they must be consolidated from 1800 to 1890, it is more convenient to continue the procedure until 1960. (See tables 47 and 48.) The area encompassed by the term Motines has remained unaltered, except in minor detail since the end of the colonial period, and those details have been discussed fully by Brand. In general we deal with four modern municipios, Aquila, Coalcomán, Coahuayana, and Chiniquila, the populations for which are given in the state censuses for Michoacán. Southwestern Zacatecas, at the beginning of the republic was covered quite exactly by the partido of Juchipila. In the middle of the nineteenth century this large region was separated into component districts and later municipios. The outlines of these units vary considerably from decade to decade, but the form of the whole may be traced with relative assurance. The list of component municipios for 1950 and 1960 is stated in full in table 45, note g. For each of the five regions, Motines, Colima, southwestern Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, and Jalisco plus Nayarit, the figures for population, available from estimates and censuses, have been tabulated in tables 43 to 47, inclusive. They have also been plotted as a set of graphs in figures 35 to 39, inclusive. For each region thus plotted the best fitting curve has been drawn as was done for the colonial period in figures 23 to 32. The values from interpolation at decimal intervals between 1800 and 1890 have been entered in the respective local tables (in parentheses), as well as in table 48 for the purpose of summary. In the latter table are also the respective totals of the five components for each date specified. Below the central horizontal line the national census data for each component, and likewise for the entire west-central region of Mexico, have been tabulated. The final totals for this region have been plotted in figure 40. As we have previously suggested, we make no attempt

358

Essays in Population History

here to evaluate the nineteenth century sources of population data for this portion of Mexico, nor to examine critically the characteristics of the various national censuses since 1895. We merely use the numerical values as given, and include in the notes to the respective tables necessary comment concerning the origin of the specific sources. Nevertheless, a brief, general discussion of the individual regions is desirable. (For specific data and sources, see tables 43-47.) Motines. This region has been very thoroughly studied by Brand, and we can do little more than follow his outline. 70 We deviate from his schedule at only a few points. The population of 1,289 persons in 1822, attributed by Brand to Martinez de Lejarza, appears to be far out of the probable range, for prior to 1810 there were at least 2,400 persons (The Matricula de Tributaries of 1805 gave 2,134 as the tributary population.), and in the 1860s there were 9,000-10,000. We have therefore disregarded the value of 1,289 and have carried the trend line directly from 1800 to 1860 without respect to possible local fluctuation. The population in 1868-1869 is shown as 9,573 for the District of Coalcomin uncorrected. Brand, in his table 12, changes the value to 4,856 on the ground that the territory covered was greater than that included in later counts. Brand may be entirely correct in reducing the population stated in what he calls the pseudocensus of 1868. On the other hand his correction may be excessive. He shows for the District of Coalcomdn corrected: 1861: 8,880, 1868: 4,856, 1877: 10,491. It is very difficult to accept this figure for 1868, particularly when the official value, 9,573, is entirely consistent with the other two reports. We therefore retain the official estimate. From 1870 to 1950 we accept Brand's figures as the best obtainable, nor do we see any reason to disagree with his comments on discrepancies in the national censuses. For the result of the 1960 census which, of course, Brand was unable to secure, we use the sum of the four municipios mentioned above as constituting the population of the region Coalcomdn-Motines. Colima. Colima presents a difficult probiem, both because the population reports are widely scattered and because at those periods when they are available, they are unusually discordant. Here we do not have prior work like that of Prof. Brand to help us. 70. Brand, tables 12 and 13, pp. 159-160.

Population of West-Central Mexico TABLE

359 43

Population of Motines,

1789-1960

Date

Population

Source

1789 1791 1793 1795 1797 1800 1804 1810 1820 1822 1830 1840 1850 1860 1861 1868 1869 1870 1877

2,412 2,376 2,554 2,472 (2,500) (2,500) 2,134 (2,800) (3,400) 1,289 (4,100) (5,000) (6,100) (7,500) 8,880 9,573 9,573 (9,100) 10,497

A G N , Historia, vol. 73, exp. 12 (ff. 167-182). Rel. top., Biblioteca Nac., Madrid, M S 2449. AGN, Padrones, 21: 321; Matrícula de Tributarios of 1805. Brand, p. 166.

1880 1883 1889 1890 1895 1900 1910 1921 1930 1940 1950 1960

(11,000) 10,868 14,055 (13,600) 15,020 17,065 26,387 27,051 26,578 27,182 36,469 48,216

Matricula de Tributarios, total trib. pop. Brand, p. 166, citing Martínez de Lejarza.*

Brand, p. 159, citing José Guadalupe Romero. b 0 Pérez Hernández, pp. 49-50. Michoacán, gobernador, Memoria, 1877, pp. 93-99; Brand, p. 159. Michoacán, gobernador, Memoria, 1883, pp. 134 and 145. Ibid., 1887-1889; also Velasco. d Anuario estadístico, 1896, census of 1895. Census, 1900.* Census, 1910.« Census, 1921." Census, 1930.« Census, 1940.» Census, 1950.» Census, I960.'

a. Análisis estadística de la provincia de Michoacán. Martínez de Lejarza gives 1,350 as the total for the Partido of Coaguayana. Brand reduces this figure to 1,289. b. "Noticias para formar la estadística del obispado de Michoacán," Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, Boletín, ep. la, V I I I (1860), pp. 531-640 and I X (1862), pp. 1-84. Brand reduces Romero's estimate for the district of Coalcomán on the ground that Romero included territory not properly to be considered as in the Motines. c. " C u a d r o sinóptico . . . de Michoacán, 1872," Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, ep. 2a, IV (1872), table between pp. 656-657; José María Pérez Hernández, Compendio de la geografía del estado de Michoacán de Ocampo, pp. 49-50. Both sources cite the padrón of 1 March 1868 (which Pérez Hernández calls an official count of 1869), with a result of 9,573 for the district of Coalcomán. Brand, table 12, p. 159, reduces the number to 4,856. See the discussion in the text. d. In the Memoria, sección estadística, cuadro 1. The total population of the district of Coalcomán is given as 14,055 in the table, which is dated 8 J u n e 1889. This figure is repeated in Velasco, Geografía y estadística de la República Mexicana, vol. VI (Michoacán), p. 157. This value is accepted by Brand and is ascribed to ca. 1889. e. T h e figures for 1900-1950, inclusive, are taken directly from Brand's table 13, p. 160. They represent Brand's analysis of the respective censuses as they pertain to the Motines. f. T h e value shown is the total of the municipios of Aquila, Coahuayana, Coalcomán, and Chiniquila.

360

Essays in Population History

Population (Motín**)

Figure 35.

Population of Motines, 1790-1960.

Population of West-Central Mexico

Papulation (Colima)

361

Essays in Population History

362 TABLE

44

Population of Colima, Date

Population

1793 1800 1808 1810 1820 1826 1830 1830 1834 1840 1842

17,139 (18,000) 22,000 (23,000) (33,000) 41,429 45,838 (42,000) 47,000 (52,000) 51,000

1842

52,900

1846 1850 1860 1865 1870 1880 1890 1897 1900 1910 1920 1921 1930 1940 1950 1960

61,243 (61,000) (63,000) 63,283 (63,000) (63,000) (63,000) 63,443 (65,000) 77,704 (63,000) omitted 61,923 78,806 101,374 164,450

1793-1960 Source

Our estimate as shown in table 31. Almada, p. 37. Almada, p. 37; Ensayo estadístico, pp. 17-19.* Almada, p. 37; Ensayo estadístico, pp. 17-19. Value from interpolation in figure 36. Almada, p. 37; Ensayo estadístico, pp. 17-19. Almada, p. 37; Ensayo estadístico, pp. 17-19, ascribed El Siglo

XIX.

Almada, p. 37; Ensayo estadístico, pp. 17-19, ascribed Ramón R. de la Vega. Consensus of several sources. Mean value from several sources.

Mean value. Census, 1921. Value from interpolation in figure 36. Census, Census, Census, Census,

1930. 1940. 1950. 1960.

a. Ensayo estadístico sobre el territorio de Colima, mandado formar y publicar por la muy ilustre municipalidad de la capital del territorio. T h e Ensayo was also published in the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, Boletín, ep. la, I (3d ed., 1861), pp. 302-335.

Our o w n estimate for 1793 is 17,139. (See table 44.) T h i s is followed by the figure of 22,000 for 1808 f r o m Francisco R. Almada. T h e next d a t u m is at 1826, with 41,429 stated by the Ensayo estadístico and A l m a d a as being derived from a count conducted in that year and reported to the national congress. For 1830, we have 45,838, reported by the same t w o writers probably from a single source. For 1834, there is an estimate of 47,000 by Ing. Harcort. For 1842, there are t w o estimates, o n e of 51,000 from an article in El Siglo XIX and a second of 52,900 by R a m ó n R. d e la Vega. For 1846, all sources report a population of 61,243. A c c o r d i n g to the Ensayo

Population of West-Central Mexico

363

estadísticothe figure comes from "noticias recogidas con el mayor cuidado en 1846," which . . fueron recogidas . . . de una manera extra-oficial por varios sugetos, y después puestos en órden por él que esto escribe" (reports collected with the greatest care in 1846, [which] were gathered in an unofficial manner by various people and then put in order by the writer). These data are relatively consistent and are as authentic as can be expected for the first half of the nineteenth century. We enter them all in table 44 and figure 36. Rafael Durán 72 gave an official estimate for Colima in 1858 as 70,000. For 1862, he added a calculation of his own, 69,824. He also cited for 1859, the Ministerio de Fomento as showing 62,109. García Cubas73 calculated the population of Colima in 1868 as 48,649, based upon what he stated was a careful census by the governor. This "deplorable reduction" he ascribes to the civil war and the unhealthy conditions on the coast. However, Almada gives 65,827 for 1871.74 Moreover, the Ensayo geográfico issued by the governor in 1886, declares that the state took a count in 1871 and found 63,290.75 We thus have six estimates for the period 1858-1871 which range from 48,000 to 70,000. It is very difficult without exhaustive study to evaluate the accuracy of each one. Consequently, since the span of years is short, we are justified in taking the average, 63,283, and placing the corresponding point on the graph at the central year, 1865. For the decade 1890-1900 there are two summaries by Peñafiel, 69,549 in the federal Anuario estadístico of 1893, and 55,757 in the Anuario of 1896. In addition, the Anuario of 1901 gives 65,115 as from the national census of 1900. Clearly these counts are unreliable, but we have no means for determining the relative correctness of each. A fair compromise is to average the three, 63,443, and place the point at 1897. T h e added comment is pertinent, however, that all three of these counts are below 70,000, a fact which lends credibility to the 71. P. 17, fn. 1 and pp. 18-19, fn. 1. 72. "Memoria sobre el censo de la República Mexicana," Sociedad Mexicana de Georgrafia y Estadística, Boletín, la ep., IX (1862) pp. 263277. 73. "Materiales para formar la estadística general de la República Mexicana. Apuntes relativos a la población," in ibid., 2a ep., II (1870), pp. 354-355. 74. Diccionario del estado de Colima, article "censos," p. 37. 75. Ignacio Rodriguez, Ensayo geográfico, estadístico e histórico del estado de Colima. Formado de órden del gobernador del mismo C. Esteban García, en vista de los datos mas fehacientes tanto oficiales como privados, pp. 24-25.

364

Essays in Population History

contention of Garcia Cubas that the population of Colima suffered some type of disturbance in the 1860s which may or may not have resulted in an actual decline. The population in 1910 was 77,704 but thereafter, according to the official censuses, underwent amazing gyrations. The total in the 1921 census is 91,749, that in the 1930 census 61,923. In the meantime, according to the official censuses, substantially every state in Mexico experienced a reduction in population during the Revolution of 1910-1920, and the nation as a whole declined in numbers from 15,160,000 in 1910 to 14,330,000 in 1921. It is highly unlikely that the inhabitants of Colima rose from 77,704 to 91,749, and then fell to 61,923 in 1930. On the other hand, we are in no position to revise the national censuses. The difficulty is best met by omitting the 1921 value entirely. The trend line will then be shown as falling steeply, and then shallowly, from 77,704 in 1910 to 61,693 in 1930. The population for 1921 will be estimated from the graph as approximately 63,000. T h e result of all these adjustments is to establish a highly irregular population curve for Colima. Nevertheless, Population (3oulhw»l«in Zacateca*)

Figure 37.

Population of Southwestern Zacatecas, 1790-1960.

Population of West-Central Mexico

365

the graph as drawn does not depart widely from its probable true course. Southwestern Zacatecas. Relatively few estimates are available for this area. Furthermore, one is always confronted with the necessity of finding the sum of the populations of the districts and municipios into which the colonial partido of Juchipila was later divided. Certain specific dates merit brief comment. (See table 45.) 1868. Here is the sum, 106,832, of the populations reported in the Governor's Memoria of 1870, for four districts: Villanueva, Sánchez Román, Juchipila and Nochistlán. For some reason Jerez is omitted. If it had been included with its 1856 population of nearly 30,000, the total would fall very close to our line. 1890. The value here, from Elias Amador, Noticia estadística de Zacatecas, appears to be an overestimate, in view of the populations reported in the censuses of 1895 and 1900. 1910. We do not have available the detailed figures for Zacatecas in 1910, and hence cannot fill in the point for that year. However, for the entire state of Zacatecas, the censuses of 1900, 1910, and 1921 give respectively approximate populations of 460,000, 478,000 and 380,000. We would be justified in assuming for the southwestern portion a corresponding change in numbers. Hence, if there were 172,510 in 1900, the 1910 value would be of the order of 179,000. We have drawn the curve from 1900 to 1921 accordingly. Aguascalientes. For this state the first information in the nineteenth century is from Agustín R. González, who, writing in 1881, cites an informe of 1813 which gives a population of 32,000 in that year. The next data come from the period 1854-1857, for which Orozco y Berra in the Memoria of the Secretaría de Fomento of 1857 gives four estimates, as noted in table 46. These are all very close to each other, and may be averaged to give 84,161 near the year 1855. We use this average and carry the trend line through the point. We next jump to the censuses of 1895 and 1900, of which we prefer the figure from the latter. The populations given by the census of 1910 and subsequently present no anomalies. Jalisco and Nayarit. As we have already noted, the populations of Jalisco and Nayarit are combined here for the purpose of presentation, although the states have been politi-

366

Essays in Population History TABLE

45

Population 0} Southwestern Zacatecas, 1797-1960 Date

Population

1797 1800 1810 1820 1830 1834 1836 1840 1850 1854 1856 1860 1868

54,795 (57,000) (66,000) (76,000) (86,000) 103,642 111,161 (96,000) (107,000) 105,137 118,845 (120,000) 106,832

1870 1880 1890 1890 1895 1900 1910 1921 1930 1940 1950 1960

(132,000) (145,000) 194,182 (160,000) 161,219 172,571 179,000 161,343 165,383 185,312 209,748 263,893

Source As derived, and placed in table 39.*

José Maria Garcia. b Ibid. Orozco y Berra, 1857.° José María García Zacatecas, gobernador, Memoria, 1870, doc. No. 9, pp. 62-63. Elias Amador."1 Anuario estadístico, 1896.* Anuario estadístico, 1901.' O u r estimate. Census, 1921. Census, 1930. Census, 1940. Census, 1950.« Census, 1960. h

a. Derived by proportion from data of Banda and from the Matricula of 1805 relating to the district of Juchipila. b. "Zacatecas. Ligeras noticias estadísticas del departamento de Zacatecas tomadas de la colección de gacetas del gobierno departamental de 1837, y algunas sacadas del Atlas de García Cubas de 1858 . . . población," Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, Boletín, ep. la, VIII (1860), pp. 19-24. We show the total of 4 districts: Jerez, Tlaltenango, Villanueva, and Juchipila. c. In Secretaría del Estado y del Despacho de Fomento, Colonización, Industria y Comercio, Memoria, 1857, section IX by Orozco y Berra. We show the totals of 5 districts: the 4 mentioned above plus that of Nochistlán. d. Noticia estadística de Zacatecas (Zacatecas, 1892). We show the total for the 5 districts of Jerez, Tlaltenango, Villanueva, Juchipila, and Nochistlán. For discussion of possible overestimate, see text. e. Giving results of the census of 1895. The total is for the 5 districts mentioned above. f. Giving results of the census of 1900. The total is for the same 5 districts. g. Total for the municipios of Apulco, Nochistlán, Juchipila, Apozol, Mezquital, Moyahua, Tlaltenango, Atolinga, Momax, Teul de González Ortega, Tepechitlán, García de la Cadena, Villanueva, Huanusco, Jalpa, Plateado, Tabasco, Jerez, Monte Escobedo, Tepetongo, Susticacán. h. Same municipios as for 1950.

Population of West-Central Mexico

367

TABLE 4 6 Population of Aguascalientes, Date

Population

1793 1800 1810 1813 1820 1830 1840 1850 1855 1860 1870 1880 1890 1895 1900 1910 1921 1930 1940 1950 1960

26,624 (28,000) (31,000) 32,000 (39,000) (51,000) (67,000) (79,000) 84,161 (87,000) (90,000) (93,000) (98,000) 104,615 102,416 120,511 107,581 132,900 161,693 188,075 243,363

1793-1960 Source

See table 39, under date of 1797.« González.1»

Mean estimate from Orozco y Berra, 1857.°

Anuario estadístico, Armario estadístico,

Census, Census, Census, Census, Census, Census,

1896. 1902.

1910. 1921. 1930. 1940. 19602(official revised value). 1960.

a. Slightly revised from figure in "Documento« antiguos relativos al estado de Aguascalientes," Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, Boletín, ep. 2a, III (1871), pp. 17-25. b. Agustín R. González, Historia del estado de Aguascalientes, pp. 82-83. The figure is from a report of the city council of the state capital to the deputy to the Cortes, Cesario de la Rosa, at the end of 1813. c. Secretaría de Fomento, Memoria, 1857, Section IX. Orozco y Berra gives the following estimates for Aguascalientes: 1854—81,727 from an official notice 1856—85,837 from Lerdo de Tejada 1856—83,243 from García Cubas 1856—85,837 from an official notice We have used the average, 84,161.

cally separate since before 1884. The documentary sources of estimate are numerous and, on the whole, mutually quite consistent. We owe our knowledge of these largely to the efforts of Longinos Banda, whose book published in 1873 is a work of real excellence. The detailed citations from Banda and others are given in table 47. Only a few matters require comment. Of the two points at 1855, showing a population of well over 900,000, the first, 924,580, was furnished by the secretary of the Bishop of Guadalajara and was based upon a series of reports from the parish priests. On general grounds such a compilation should command a great deal of respect. Concerning the second value, 952,510 persons, we have only Banda's

368

Essays in Population History

Population (Agua«eoll«tn)

Y«ar Figure 38.

Population of Aguascalientes, 1790-1960.

369

Population of West-Central Mexico

Population

( J a l i s c o and Nayarlt)

3,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

I800

1850

I900

1950

Figure 39. Population of Jalisco and Nayarit, 1790-1960. T h e overlapping of squares reflects the number of estimates at dates close together.

Year

370

Essays in Population History TABLE

47

Population of Jalisco and Nayarit, 1793-1960 Source

Date

Population

1793 1800 1810 1814 1820 1822 1822 1823 1825 1825 1826 1830 1830 1830 1831 1832 1837 1838 1839 1839 1840 1840 1848 1848 1850 1854 1855 1855 1856 1857 1858 1860 1862 1870 1880 1885 1890 1891 1893

499,439 (500,000) (525,000) 517,624 (570,000) 656,881 547,369 650,000 609,746 656,744 656,830 (630,000) 656,881 656,600 660,595 670,826 675,000 716,690 712,792 725,972 (690,000) 724,327 774,461 778,746 (770,000) 801,874 924,580 952,510 804,053 822,229 829,886 (850,000) 844,872 (940,000) (1,055,000) 1,152,084 (1,185,000) 1,286,614 1,274,528 134,701 1,409,229

1894

1,248,472 140,521 1,389,003

Jalisco Nayarit Total

Armario estadístico, 1894

1895

1,107,863 148,776 1,256,639

Jalisco Nayarit Total

Anuario estadístico, 1895

Banda, pp. 33-34.« Banda, citing Navarro y Noriega. b Banda.' C« (