Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

enumeration of the Mayan population was conducted primarily by using the tax and tribute
records paid by the Mayan populations. 11
Guatemala was a colony of Spain for nearly three hundred years from 1524 until 1821.
Soon after their arrival in 1521 it became apparent that Guatemala did not contain the same gold
and silver riches that were being mined in Mexico. As a result, the Spaniards focused on
cultivating agricultural products for export, utilizing the great expanses of fertile land; surplus
financial and material capital and resources were exported from Guatemala back to Spain. Under
Spanish colonization a system of latifundias was established; the distribution of land shifted from
communally held lands to ownership concentrated in the hands of few select individuals (Vanden,
2002, 255). The owners of the latifundias, or large estates, favored cash crops and mono crops
intended for export. Demand in the international markets determined the prices and the
production from Guatemala. The financial success of the latifundias directly related to the
practice of using forced slave labor. Large landowners were dependent on slave and forced labor
to cultivate their crops; at this point in time the export crops mainly consisted of cacao and
indigo.
The size of households was determined by the amount
and frequency of tributes. After 1770 the Catholic dioceses throughout the colony began to
undertake a more systematic approach to counting the Mayan population. Although, the official
population data during this time period undernumerated the Mayan population, as Archbishop
Pedro Cortez y Larraz stated, there were a number of “infidel Indians” that were “living as
fugitives in the mountains” (Lovell and Lutz, 1996, 401).
In areas where the Mayan population had been completely destroyed Spaniards imported
African slaves (Vanden, 2002, 255). The Spaniards exploited the existing Mayan social system,
11 It is possible that these records were consistently undernumerated, since there were Mayas residing in
rural areas outside of the reach of the church and state.
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