Making a New World: Founding Capitalism in the Bajío and Spanish North America

Appendix E: The Sierra Gorda and New Santander, 1740–1760

Appendix E The Sierra Gorda and New Santander, 1740–1760 The years from 1740 to 1760 saw an energetic thrust northward from Querétaro through the Sierra Gorda and along the Gulf lowlands to the Río Grande Valley . The lands from the Río Pánuco to the Nueces were constituted as a new Colony of New Santander. The entire enterprise was led by don José de Escand ón, a Spanish immigrant who had made a fortune in trade and textile production and claimed military command at Querétaro. Regions that had remained enclaves of indigenous independence after the Chichimeca wars of the sixteenth century now were settled in a rapid thrust that combined military rule, a mission presence, and commercial goals in new ways intended to promote the silver economy and accelerate Atlantic capitalism. Two surveys provide revealing portraits of the process. In 1743 Escandón reported on the state of missions, military forces, and indigenous peoples in the Sierra Gorda, just after an expedition in which he had bolstered the military presence and just before he engineered the replacement of many established missionaries with newcomers more subject to his military rule and commercial interests. Then don Agustín López de la Cámara Alta, a lieutenant colonel and engineer in the Spanish military sent to survey the state of settlement and development in New Santander, wrote a detailed account of his visit in 1757, less than a decade into the development of the new colony. This appendix offers tabular summaries of key aspects of their reports, to sustain the analysis in the last section of chapter 3. In his survey Escandón focused on military forces, the affiliations of missionary clergy, and the population of indigenous nations. It is clear that military forces far exceeded the missionary presence, and that native peoples fragmented into many small groups. Escandón’s thrust into the Sierra Gorda militarized settlements and missions long in place and long contested. His later drive into the Gulf lowlands 560 appendix e TaBle e.1 The Sierra Gorda in 1743 Military Religious Peoples Pueblo/Mission Officers Soldiers Number Base Nación Number Jurisdicción Querétaro Pueblo San Pedro Tolimán 2 62 Misión Santo Domingo Soriano unknown Santo Domingo, México De razón 22 Otomí 100 Jonaces 171 Cadereita, Villa de Cadereita 4 200 Pueblo de Vizarrón 1 7 Misión de Vizarrón 3 San Fernando, México Jonaces 121 Misión Guadalupe Aguacatlán 1 Santo Domingo, De razón 36 Pames 183 Misión Santiago Xalpan 2 20 unknown San Agustín, México Spaniards, mestizos, mulattoes 408 Mexicanos 122 Pames, Pisquintla 159 Tancama 652 Tongo, Landa 562 Soyapilca 386 Tancoyol 255 Mallila 599 Amatlan 260 The sierra gorda and new sanTander 561 Hacienda San Nicolás Concá 1 42 Razón, Esclavos 215 Indios 234 Misión San Juan Bautista Pacula 2 40 Spaniards, mestizos, mulattoes 477 Pames 1,234 Jurisdicción San Luis de la Paz Pueblo San Luis de la Paz unknown S.J. Jonaces 245 Misión San Miguel de la Cruz Milagrosa 1 Santo Domingo, México Jonaces 234 Pueblo San Juan Bautista Xichú 1 10 1 San Francisco, Michoacán Jonaces 249 Real San Francisco Xichú Chichimecas 30 SouthEast Margins Real de Zimapán 1 46 Misión de Tolimán 3 San Francisco, Pachuca Chichimecas 67 Jurisdicción de Meztitlán Pueblo JacalaOtupilla 90 Españoles voluntarios M. Chapulhuacan unknown unknown Villa de Valles M. Xilitla, Tilaco, Labor Source: agn, Historia, vol. 522, f. 133–36; Mendoza Muñoz, El Conde de Sierra Gorda, don José de Escandón y Helguera, 104–9. 562 appendix e TaBle e.2 Spanish New Santander in 1757 (with Dates of Founding) Population Calidades Economy Families Total Sp. Mest. Mul. Ag. Irr. Salt Silver Livestock sierra gorda Santa Bárbara 85 424 x x x x 3,083 Palmilla (1755) 25 67 x 3,667 Jaumave (1743) 88 428 x x x 7,799 R. Infantes (1749) 32 234 x x x 4,709 S. Gorda Total 230 1,154 1 1 4 2 3 19,445 sw TransiTion Altamira (1749) 81 361 x x x 4,363 Horcasitas 73 367 x x x x 1,790 Escandón (1751) 65 264 x x x x 1,432 Llera (1742) 82 296 x x x x x x 1,749 Aguayo...