An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

Modifications to social and ecological systems occurred in the Sotavento as a
result of the large-scale production of sugar cane and extensive livestock breeding. In
1780, more than 200,000 head of cattle and 25,000 horses were distributed among 20
primary haciendas and smaller community ranches (Delgado-Calderón 2000:32). Land
clearing for sugar cane fields and grazing lands continued to expand since the middle
1500s and, by the end of the Colonial period, had permanently altered the human and
ecological landscape.
The name ‘El Marquesillo’ first appears on registry lists in 1793, and these
Colonial period records indicate that by this time, two prominent haciendas, Nopalapa
and Solcuauhtla, were established along the Middle San Juan-Michapan River (Aguirre-
Beltrán 1992) (see Figure 3.12). Hacienda Nopalapa is 15 km northwest of present-day El
Marquesillo, and Hacienda Solcuauhtla is believed to have been approximately 15 km to
the southeast. Further corroboration that this is indeed the “El Marquesillo” in question is
the inclusion of El Zapote, Cerro del Indio, and Lomas de Hujuapan in the same records.
The former are two nearby communities, while the latter is immediately adjacent to El
Marquesillo. All of these places are associated with Hacienda Nopalapa.
Expansive cattle ranching and horse breeding took place in the area. This activity
required the displacement of an already diminished indigenous population and the
importation of enslaved people from the Caribbean and Africa. Census archives from
1793 indicate 53 vaqueros negros, mulatos y pardos libres (cowboys who were black, of
mixed ancestry, and freed slaves) lived in the Nopalapa and El Marquesillo area
(Aguirre-Beltrán 1981; Delgado-Calderón 1995). The family names of these individuals,
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