Hacienda La Parada: A conflict between jesuits in the colegio de San Luis Potosí and tlaxcaltecas of San Miguel Mexquitic, 1625-1640

Abstract

Jesuits were most widely noted for their educational and doctrinal labor, but also for having vast rural properties destined for agricultural activities which they acquired through royal favors, donations or purchases to private individuals. In the Spanish town of San Luis Minas del Potosí, Jesuits did not establish any sort of mission, but they did establish their church and since their arrival founded El Colegio de San Luis Potosí in order to exercise their educational vocation. They also purchased several lands and livestock farms.

This article is about the legal conflict for the lands of the La Parada hacienda, between the Jesuits from El Colegio de San Luis and the Tlaxcalteca indigenous people of San Miguel Mexquitic, who arrived to this place and founded their town in 1591. This conflict is analyzed through the lands of the hacienda, presenting the hypothesis that behind the legal conflict was the hand of the Franciscan, doctrine people and allies of the Tlaxcaltecas, in this disagreement wherein Jesuits had established themselves in the town of San Luis Minas del Potosí in 1623, obtaining hefty donations and benefits from their most wealthy neighbors.