By Adriana Ortega Zenteno
The foundation of Spanish towns and Indian towns
The Spanish settlement model was one of the main instruments of colonization in the Bajío. The Spanish town that followed the model of the metropolis was endowed in its founding document with the necessary elements to motivate the settlement of the area and provide each immigrant with land for their establishment. The large grants and ranches, the protection of roads, or the supply of mining centers later generated the need for a settlement that concentrated the activities of a community with its particular functions.
The selection of the site to populate was not left to the free discretion of the royal official sent, but of the future inhabitants; this can be deduced from the words included in the text of some of the founding acts (Rodríguez Frausto, 1976, pp. 23-25). Undoubtedly, marking the place was not easy, since they spent several days carefully examining the geography of the place and the different border points, until they marked the site of the future community.
In order to found a new site, it was not enough to establish the seat of the population, but to proceed with the layout to order or regulate community life. In this way, the plots for the town hall where the City Council would meet and the place for the church were indicated. The blocks were also indicated for the residents to build their houses and the ejidal land or surrounding area for future expansion. Each block was divided into residential to deliver to the first settlers.
Around the villas, the ejido was then marked to allow the safe expansion of urban space in the future. From the main square, the rods were measured to demarcate this large piece of land, so that new neighbors could receive the essential plot of land to build their house. Another benefit for the founders and future settlers was that of plots for vegetable gardens, designated in specific places with adequate water supply conditions. Another indicated space was the boyal pasture and the caballerías of land for cultivation since it was proposed to establish communities of farmers and ranchers.
Once the plan of the new town was established, the lots were distributed, and the residents gathered all the materials they could get to start their construction. After that, the settlement ordinance recommended the construction of a palisade or trench with a fence «so as not to receive damage from the rebellious indigenous people» (AHML box 1642-1643 doc 11 page 18). It was also advisable to bring seeds to sow the field immediately, as well as gather the cattle in the pasture.
There were five important populations that were founded in the Bajío Region in the 16th century, some of them already mentioned: San Felipe, Guanajuato, San Miguel el Grande, Celaya, and León, each capital of a new political division: the Mayor’s Office. Silao, Irapuato, and Apaseo were also established in the area, without exactly knowing the name of who led these new towns, or if viceregal authorization was received, nor the date of its formal layout. We know, however, that Silao and Irapuato began life as congregations and that Apaseo began as an indigenous town entrusted to the Marquises of Villamayor.
Control of the waters
The various rivers that bathed the territory were fundamental since they had a preponderant role for the election and settlement of communities. The springs were the main sources that supplied the inhabitants and allowed the practice of agriculture that favored the town as a productive and self-sufficient region.
The construction of dams, wells, aqueducts, canals, and bridges was important to facilitate transit over natural tributaries, to control the growing colonization, and to build roads. These were important works for communication, commerce, agriculture, and road traffic. Due to its magnitude, both the Spanish authorities and the religious orders and indigenous caciques were involved. Construction encompassed military, economic, and religious projects.
It is also still evident how they carried out the construction of canals and bridges with a sufficient slope for the runoff of water by gravity. Systems of this type have been found in the haciendas built on the ranch of Juan de Sotomayor, the Rancho de la Cruz, and San Juan de la Penitencia, on the banks of the Lerma River, lands granted to Gonzalo Riobó de Sotomayor, and Hernán Pérez de Bocanegra in 1562. These haciendas gave rise to the mayorazgo of the Apaseos, territory comprised between Yuriria, Maravatío, and Cuitzeo. Today, in Guanajuato, we can admire some hydraulic structures dating from the viceregal era along the roads, such as the Acámbaro bridges over the Lerma river, the Apaseo bridges, the San Rafael bridge in San Miguel, the San Luis de la Paz that connected the town with the Indian towns, and the bridge of the Hacienda de la Quemada.
Taken from: “El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, Through Guanajuato.”
Guanajuato state government.
Download it from: https://guanajuato.mx/bliblioteca-turistica/
