The Evolution of the Indian Corporation of the Toluca Region, 1550-1810

Resumen

The determination of indigenous groups to defend and enhance their corporate status and autonomy during the colonial period is increasingly appearing to be a regional constant. The extent to which the indigenous people were successful in their endeavor, however, seems to have depended on their distance from the center of Spanish activity and markets, their ecological setting, and their potential as purveyors of labor and tribute to the colonizers. The application of practices such as congregacion, land grants, and composiciones, or of laws designed to ensure the longevity of the self-sustaining lndian town varied in intensity and effectiveness according to sorne of these same determinants, producing predictably  divergent results with regard to corporate autonomy in different regions. The work of Charles Gibson on the Valley of Mexico and William Taylor on Oaxaca stands out as most exemplary of these regional variations. The purpose here is to examine the evolution of the lndian corporation as it adjusted to the colonial situation in an intermediate region, the Valley of Toluca.