me so american horticulture

8/3/2019 Me So American Horticulture

1/25

Landscapes of Cultivation in Mesoamerica on the Eve of the ConquestAuthor(s): Thomas M. Whitmore and B. L. Turner IISource: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 82, No. 3, The Americasbefore and after 1492: Current Geographical Research (Sep., 1992), pp. 402-425Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of American GeographersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2563353 .

Accessed: 05/10/2011 07:06

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Taylor & Francis, Ltd. andAssociation of American Geographers are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,

preserve and extend access toAnnals of the Association of American Geographers.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=taylorfrancishttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aaghttp://www.jstor.org/stable/2563353?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/2563353?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aaghttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=taylorfrancis


2/25

Landscapes ofCultivationnMesoamericaon the EveoftheConquestThomas M. Whitmore* nd B. L. Turner I**

*Departmentf Geography, niversityf North arolina, hapelHill,NC 27599,e-mail [email protected]

**GraduatechoolofGeography, eorgePerkinsMarsh nstitute,ClarkUniversity,orcester, A01610,Fax508/793-7780,[email protected],mnetB.Turner

Abstract. re-Columbian merindiangricul-turalists eveloped technologies nd manage-ment practiceswith which to crop a widerange f ecological onditions, iving ise o amultiplicityf cultivatedandscapes.Thisvari-etywas particularlyvident n Mesoamerica,where agricultural ractices ranged fromswiddeningto multicropped,hydraulicallytransformedetlands.Here we explore heseindigenous ultivated andscapes s they x-isted bout hetime f heColumbian ncoun-ter. We illustratehem hrough he examina-tion of three transects pproximatinghecoursesof he nitialpanish ntradashroughthisdiverse egion: he first xtends rom heGulf oast to centralMexico;the second tra-verses the Yucatanpeninsulafromnorth osouth; nd the hird limbs ntohighland ua-temalafromhePacific oastalplain.Second, we broadly sketch the majorchangesthattookplace in these landscapesduring he first hase ofSpanishdominationand some of the forces thatshaped thesechanges. Three processes were especiallysignificant:heAmerindianepopulation,heintroductionf exoticbiota nd technologies,andthereorderingf and ndthe rural con-omy. Ultimately,owever, econfiguredhy-brid" landscapes resulted hat reflectedheunionofcultures.Last,we argue hat he caleof environmen-tal transformationf Amerindiangriculturehas not always been fully ppreciated, hescaleofenvironmentalegradationssociatedAnnals of the Association ofAmericanGeographers. 82(3), 1992, pp. 402-425( Copyright992byAssociationfAmericaneographers

withSpanish introductionshas been overstatedat times, and the contrasting deologies of na-ture between the two cultures has been over-simplified.KeyWords: Amerindiangriculture, esoamerica,sixteenthentury,olumbian ncounter.

HE ColumbianEncounter pened theworld to the treasures f Amerindianplant domestication, he impacts ofwhichwould be global nreach nd rangefarbeyond gricultureerse. Thepotato,for x-ample, ncreased hecaloricbase ofnorthernEurope,facilitatingts exponential opulationgrowth fter 750,whilemaize,manioc, weetpotato, nd peanutbecamedietarymainstaysformuch of the rest of theworld Hamilton1976, 56-57, 60).Amerindianottonwas liter-ally hefabric fthe ndustrializationf textiles(Sauer1976, 18), nd tobacco claims he dubi-ous distinctionf "viceofchoice" formuch f

theworld.Less well known s that these and otherAmerindianomesticatesfglobal ignificance(e.g., avocado, bean, cacao, chile, papaya,squash, and tomato)coevolvedwithequallyimpressiveystemsf cultivation.ongbeforetheColumbian ncounter,merindiangricul-turalists addevelopedtechnologiesndman-agementpracticeswithwhich o cropa widerangeof environmentsnd ecologicalcondi-tions,giving iseto a varietyf landscapesofcultivation.hisvariety asparticularlyvident


3/25

Landscapes of Cultivation n Mesoamerica 403in Mesoamerica, here dvancedmaterialul-ture nd state rganizationxtended rom hesouthern order fthe Bajio n CentralMexicosoutheastwardo Guatemala, ncluding artsofBelize,Honduras,Nicaragua,nd Costa Rica(Fig. 1). Some of these cultivatedandscapesconsisted of intermingledr patchwork-likeMicrosystems,ine-tunedo small-scalenvi-ronmentalariations, hile therswere domi-nated by zonal patterns eyedto the broadenvironmentalones createdbyelevation, s-pect, ndslope.The conquistadoresmarveledtthese and-scapes, even as they sowed the seeds ofchange.Anewrenderingfthe andemergedat a pace only lightlylower han hat f theconquest itself. Withinfifty ears of Co-lumbus's initial andfall, panishhegemonyoverMiddleAmerica theCaribbean,Mexico,and Central merica) ascompletend, nthecourseof the sixteenthentury,mostof thecultivated andscapes of Mesoamericahadbeen forever ltered rom heir ormerondi-tion.This alteration ollowednot onlyfromchanges ncontrol fthe land,butfrom heintroductionf exoticbiota, echnologies,ndmanagement ractices s well.The cultivatedandscapes fthepreconqu-estAmerindiansnd theimplicationsftheirtransformation,specially in Mesoamerica,have been the subject of ratherpolarizedviews, many f whichhavebeen empiricallyuninformedsee Denevan,this volume andDoolittle,his olume).Amerindiangriculturehas not lways een fullyppreciated,he caleof environmentalegradationssociatedwithSpanish ransformationf this gricultureasbeen overstatedt times, nd thecontrastingideologies fnature etween hetwocultureshasbeen oversimplified.Herewe explore he indigenous ultivatedlandscapes hatwerewitnessed y heSpanishadventurerss they xisted boutthe time fthe Columbian ncounter. urprimarybjec-tive s to illustratehevarietyf these land-scapes throughhe examinationfthree ran-sects traversingifferentnvironmentalndsociopolitical errain. ach transect pproxi-mates hecourse of one of the nitialpanishentradasthroughthis diverse region: the"Cortestransect" xtendsto centralMexicofrom he Gulfcoast,the "Montejotransect"traverses he Yucatan eninsula rom orth o

south, nd the "Alvarado ransect" limbs ntohighlandGuatemalafrom he Pacific oastalplain Fig. 1). Second, we broadly ketch hemajorchanges that ook place in these land-scapes during he first hase of Spanishdomi-nation and some of the forces that shapedthese hanges.Our intents neither o mythol-ogizethe ccomplishmentsftheAmerindiansnor o vilifyheconquerors, ut o llustratehemagnitude nd breadth f the changes thattook place in the cultivated andscapes ofMesoamerica s a result f the Columbian n-counter.

The Cortes TransectCortes ndhis mallband probably irstawthesnowcapped ummit f Orizaba (5,639m)from hip'sdeckinthe vicinityf modernVe-racruz,Mexico. From hat antagepoint, heywere observing he eastern lanks f theAztecempire, domain hat tretchedast-west romtheGulfof Mexico to the PacificOcean andnorth-southrom he Bajfo o the Isthmus fTehuantepecFigs. , 2). More properlydenti-fiedwith he"Triple lliance" fthecity tates

of Tenochtitlan, excoco,and Tacuba in theBasin f Mexico Gibson1964,17),theempirehastaken tspopularnamefrom he dominantMexica Tenochtitlan)nd theirmythicalome-land,Aztlan. he Alliance ommanded polit-ical and economic realm unparalleledinMesoamericanhistory, ompletewith a su-preme ruler,professional rmiesand mer-chants,nd a systemftaxation ndmarketingthat iphoned hewealth ftheempirento tslacustrine eart. opulationstimates orCen-tralMexico, roughly orresponding iththeempire,range from 10 million->50million(Denevan 1976, 77-84; 1992).This transect arallels he Cortesroute ndcrosses virtually very major climaticandagroecologicalone inMesoamerica:thehotand humid tierra alienteof the Gulf CoastPlains, hetierra emplada temperateand)ofthe coastalpiedmont nd the basins on thealtiplanoor Mesa Central,and the upperreachesof thesierras hat eparate hebasinsfrom ne another Figs. 2, 3). Eachof thesebroadrealms,with he exception fthe coldlandsand steep slopes of thesierras,was or-


4/25


5/25

Ba io ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~/ / ~Lakes/~~~~~~~~~~~~0 IK(r.' ( 1S20 4

Basin~ ~ ~~~~~~~K.....I;Tenochtitn) Txoo 0alapa

Toluca Calauba~Pueba Tlublax.

locationalnformatio i3960 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


6/25

406 Whitmore nd Turner6000 m- M E SA CE NT RA L Oizb5000m- Basin Orizaba4000m - Toluca of SierraMadreOriental- Basin MexicoBainPuebla> 300 3005-0 50105

~~ 000 ~~TenochtitldnBai2000m ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~.......PiedmontlOQ....m ................ Coastal71 PlainSeaL~ev350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0C' Distanceinkilometers) C

Figure3. Cort6s Profile, howingverticalrelief long C-C' transect, s noted in Fig.2. Sources: based on Fig.2.

chestratedndtransformednto andscapes fcultivation.GulfCoastal Plain and Piedmont

The area oftheSpaniards andfall as inhab-itedby heTotonacwho masteredhe easonalrhythmnd environmentalariation f thecoastal plainand piedmont o producecropsfor ocal subsistence s well as tribute,ndpossible commerce,withthe Aztec empire(Barlow 1949; Hassig1985, 114, 115; Stark 990,269).Thecoastalplains ndhills ffered com-plexmosaic f microenvironmentalpportuni-ties and constraintsor griculture.he culti-vated andscapes ncounteredn this omplexnatural errainonsisted f patchworkf dif-ferent ultivationypes nterspersed ith or-estsand scrub and. It is even likely hat heforests eremanaged ndmayhave helteredorchards. heTotonac rchestratedheir ear-round ultivation ithhe patial nd temporalvariationsn soil-wateronditions, orkinghewell-drainedands during he rainy eason,and the nundatedands nthedry eason Sie-mens 1988, 1992; Wilkerson 1983, 58). Thelandscapeconfigured ythese practices edSpaniardsto describethe lowlandsaroundZempoala as "a gardenwith uxuriantegeta-tion" Diaz del Castillo 956, 7).ThemainstayfTotonac andMesoamericanagricultureenerally) as rainfedultivationrtemporal. In the GulfCoast area, such cultiva-tiondominatedhewell-drained,sually lop-ing, terrain nd incorporatederraceswithrock-walled,arthen,nd probablylso earthand maguey (metepantli)embankments Rojas

Rabiela1988,118; Sluyter 990,20-37, 51-53;Wilkerson983, 4, 76).Perhaps s important,owever,werea vari-ety fwetlanddaptationshat llowed ultiva-tion during he markeddry eason (Siemens1983, 87; 1990,117; VivioEscoto 1964,212;West 964b, 8). In ome nstances,hemarginsofwetlandsnd eveeswerecultivateds waterrecededn hedry eason,facilitatedy heuseof mall rainage itches.nothers,more lab-orate networksf canals were used to createfield systems n wetlands proper. Siemens(1982, 983)believes hat hese more laboratenetworksmay lso have functionedna flood-recessionalmanner.Contemporarylood-re-cessionalcultivationn the Gulf Coast (andelsewhere) oes notemploy heelaborate ndmajor anal networks ound n the relics f theancient ystems. huswe suspect hat hecul-tivation ssociatedwithwetlandspropermayhave functioned hroughmost of the yearratherhan nly uring ecession f hefloods.Relics fwalls nd embankmentsn drylandsandfields ndcanals n wetlands re abundantin theGulfCoast area, although ating heircontinueduse up to the eve of conquest isdifficulto establish Sluyter 990; Siemens1982, 983). ndeed,Siemens t al. (1988, 07)found videncethat t leastone wetland ys-tem nVeracruzwasprobablybandoned500-700 years beforethe ColumbianEncounter.Furtheroutheast, owever, panish ccountsdescribe onditionshat mply etland ultiva-tion nthe sixteenth enturyPohl1985).Thisevidence, herelativelyarge opulations longportionsf theGulfCoast (Lopezde Gomara1964,91; Stark 978,214-19; Wilkerson 983,55),andtheamount ftributextracted y he


7/25

Landscapes fCultivationnMesoamerica 407Aztec from he area (Barlow 949), ead us tosuspect hatmany f the relic griculturalea-turesfound hroughouthe GulfCoast zonemayhavebeen operatingtthe ime fSpanishcontact. hese ssuesrequire urthernvestiga-tion. n addition,Wilkerson1983, 1) specu-latesthatrunoffnd other ypes f irrigationwere used inthe area.It can also be presumed hat wo typesoforchard-gardenserefound nthe area: theubiquitous olar or calmil, carefully endedhousehold gardens providing vegetables,fruits,ondiments,medicinals,nd fiber rod-ucts Siemens1983,97); and orchards, spe-ciallyof cacao and variousfruits rownforcommercial urposes and tribute Bergmann1969,86, 88; Millon1955,705; Schmidt 977,57; Stark 974,204, 210; 1978,215).Orchardspecies mayhave been cultivated s specialplots see MontejoTransect), nd/or heymayhavebeen integrated ithinmanagedforestsas describedby Alcorn 1984)for hemodernHuastec.Field management racticeswere probablysimilaro those used n he ltiplano,ncludingmontones (mounded soil) or camellones(ridgedor furrowed oil) and possibly rans-planting rom eedbeds almacigos r tialacalli)(Rojas Rabiela1988, 33, 74-75, 82; Schmidt1977, 57). Whilemaizedominated, thnohis-torical nd ethnographicnalogs suggest hatfieldswere intercropped ithbeans, squash,cotton,maguey Agave pp.), tuna Opuntiaspp.) or root crops (Rojas Rabiela 1988, 93;Sluyter990, 6,62; Stark 974, 05; 1978, 16).SierraMadre Oriental

Theeastern ersant fthe SierraMadreOri-entalpresented formidablescarpmentep-aratingheGulfCoastal Plains nd Piedmontfrom hemineral ealth ndcooler limates nthe altiplano. ts ascent took the Spaniardsfrom he tierra aliente o the tierraempladaand, ultimatelyhe tierra ria eyond he2000-3000 m saddleoftherange Fig.2). Theslopeis steep and rugged hroughout,issectedbythedeep, narrow anyons f theGulf-boundstreams West 1964b, 52-53). Much of themountainlopereceivesarge mounts foro-graphically-inducedrainfall (2000 mm-3000mm nnually), iving ise o cloud forestsnear hecrest Vivio scoto 964, 01).Thisescarpmentwas an agriculturalransi-

tion one perhaps haped ess by groecologi-cal conditions han by decliningpopulationpressures between the piedmont and theupper lopes. The piedmont pparently as alandscape f terraces, nd Siemens 1990, 45)quotes a nineteenth-centuryermanresidentwho described "terraces . . on every slope."As slopes grew teeper, owever, he ntensityof cultivationiminishedo a shiftingype, l-thoughfog moisture n the dry season sup-ported wo maize crops annuallyn a singlefield n some ocations Rojas Rabiela 988, 8).GutierrezRuvalcaba forthcoming)otes six-teenth-centuryultivation requencies n theSierraMadreOriental f1:8-1:10 i.e,one yearofcultivationnd eight-ten ears f fallow oreachmilpaplot).Another ourcenotes hortercycleperiods 1:4-1:5) for he ame region theColonial-era rovince f Meztitlann thepres-ent-day ildago-Veracruzorder RojasRabiela1988, 2]).1Local nhabitantslso mayhaveem-ployed vertical onation trategy,ultivatingplots t differentlevations o reducerisk ndaugment production (GutierrezRuvalcabaforthcoming;iemens1990, 44).Mesa Central

Crossing he Sierra, he Spaniards nteredthegreat emiarid olcanicbasinsand rangesof the Mesa Central, ncounteringandscapesthattheyfound morefamiliar nd appealingthan those of the tierra caliente (Figs. 2, 3).Here, a largeAmerindian opulationwas ar-rangednsettlement ierarchies ominated ycity-states hose hinterlandspread acrossbasin floors nd up the surroundinglopes.Agricultureormed he basis of subsistenceand commercemong ity-statesndwas cen-tral o thetributextractedythe Aztec.TheMesaCentralscomposedofbroad, lat-flooredbasinsringedby imposing olcanoesand broad lopes West 964b, 2, 47), many fwhich ffered ertile oilsfor gricultureSte-vens1964,195-296;West1964b, 7). Most ofthisarea is above 1800m (Figs. 2, 3). Here,Mesoamericanrop production as limited yrecurrentrostsnd low evelsofprecipitation(Sanders tal. 1979, 30) meanannualprecip-itation anges rom 50 mm-1000m)combinedwithhigh nnualvariabilityVivioEscoto1964,199). Paradoxically,oor nteriorrainage averise o variouswetlands n the basinfloors.Whileeach basin differedccording o its


8/25

408 Whitmore nd Turnerfeaturesnd occupation, ommonalityf usegave rise to a characteristicattern f culti-vated andscapes.2 he upper ierras emainedin forest, source of wood and regulator fwater.Belowtheforest ine, rainfederracedand semiterracedultivationominated. ari-ous forms f floodwaterrrigationerepur-sued withinephemeralwater courses andalong lands adjacent to them, ncluding heedges of the basins' floors nto which thedrainages mptied.On thebasinfloor roper,where poor drainagewas common,variouskinds f wetland ultivation ere adapted totheperihumidonditions.Smallclusters fvillages nd hamletswerescattered cross the landscape. Their nten-sivelyultivatedardens roduced ood rops,condiments, rnaments,nd medicinal lants(Evans 1990, 117, 126; Palerm 1955; RojasRabiela 988, 2-93; forthcoming).pecializedorchards f avocado,nopal de grana the actihostinghecochineal nsect sed forred dye,Opuntina spp.), maguey agave or centuryplant, Agave spp.), tejocote (Mexican haw-thorn,Crataegusmexicana), apulin capulincherry, runus apuli)and otherfruits ccu-pied favoredniches Rojas Rabiela 1988,93:forthcoming).

Rainfed ultivation ominated patially, l-though tsformswereadaptedto thevaryingterrain.3 pper and lowerslopes were em-bracedby flightsfslopingmetepantlisemi-terraces)whichpreserved oil and soil mois-ture (Donkin 1979, 131; Patrick 985; RojasRabiela 988:118-19;Sanders 981, 92).Morethan simple lope adjustment, etepantlin-corporatedoodand fiber roductionnto heterrace yusingmaguey r nopalcacti s bermanchors Evans 1990, 125; Patrick 985, 542;Wilken 979). Maize, beans,and squash werethe mainstaysof slope cultivation,butMesoamerican ultivatorsrew largevarietyof other cultigens, including amaranth(Amaranthusnnuus), chia (Salviahispanica),tomato, eans, squash,and chiles.Perhaps he most ommon rrigation orkswere weirsor check dams that aptured iltand waterwithinntermittentrainages,rthatspread water onto adjacent lands forfloodwaterrrigationDonkin 1979, 42, 44;GarcraCook 1985; Parsons1971, 220; RojasRabiela 1988, 120; 1985, 202; forthcoming;Sanderset al. 1979,222-81;Wolf nd Palerm

1955, 266). Perhaps t was these features nCholula thatCortesdescribed n 1520: "thefarmlandsre very ertilend theyhave muchland and the greater art s irrigated"1945,146). In some cases, thistechniquewas ex-tendedto valley loors,whichwere straddledbybroad erraces hat ouldbe fedby hannelrunoff ater Donkin1979, 44; Rojas Rabiela1988,120; Sanderset al. 1979,253; Wolf ndPalerm 955).Small ams nd diversion eirs oupledwithcanals provided permanent rrigation aterfrom prings r permanenttreamsnselectedlocations Armillast al. 1956; Doolittle 990,115; Millon 957; RojasRabiela 985, 98; 1988,121; Sanders t al. 1979, 60-62).Thousands fsmallcontourbenchterraces n the Basin ofMexico are thought o have been irrigatednthisway Donkin 979, 4; Sanders t al. 1979,251-52). n some cases, lengthyanals, com-pletewith queducts hat panned nterveningbarrancasgullies), ttest o theuse ofperma-nent irrigationDoolittle 1990, 127; Donkin1979, 42, 44; Parsons 1971, 220; Wolf andPalerm 955, 66).At eastone instance fthecanalization nd relocation f the flow of alarge treamor rrigations knownntheBasinofMexico Doolittle 990,115-20).While ter-racingwas locatedthroughouthe Mesa Cen-tral,ts ssociationwith laborate rrigationn-frastructuresas only been welldocumentedfor heBasin fMexico.Manyof the seasonal and permanentwet-landsand shallow akes inthe interiorfthevalleys fTlaxcala,Mexico, ndperhaps ueblaweretransformednto networkfcanals andplanting urfaces wetland fields)on whichyear-roundultivationouldbe practicedPar-sons1971, 20; RojasRabiela 985, 08;Sanders1972, 31-32;Sanders t al. 1979, 75; Wilken1969, 987). nsomecases,hierarchialystemsof canals channeled xcessivewater o the n-terior,reatingrained ields long heperiph-ery f akesorwetlands.The latter form of wetland cultivationreached tszenithamongthe chinampas, r"floating ardens," f the Basin fMexico,oc-cupyinghousands fhectares f the southernfreshwaterakes of Chalco and Xochimilco(Armillas 971,653; Sanderset al. 1979, 275;West nd Armillas952, 71) Fig. ). The actualchinampa as a narrow rtificialslanda raisedfield), nchoredbytreesalongitsedges, and


9/25

Landscapes of Cultivation n Mesoamerica 409constructedrom ake muck nd bioticmateri-als dredged rom he hallow akes hemselves(Wilken 985,42). The effect as to raisetheplantingurfacerelative o the water n thebordering anals, providingubsurfacerriga-tionat all times,but also facilitatingurfaceirrigationf needed. Canals were regularlycleaned,and the aquaticmuckwas used tofertilizehe fields Armillas 971,653; Palerm1973; West and Armillas 952, 171; Wilken1985, 2).4By the sixteenth entury, hinampaswerepart fa state-designednd controlled ydrau-lic system hat ncluded ikes nd sluice gatescontrollingater evel nd qualitynthe outh-ern partsof the lacustrine etworkPalerm1973). Not only did dikes protect he twosouthern akesfrombrackish akeTexcoco,butan adjacent ection fthat akewas dikedas well, making hinampa gricultureossibleon the islands of the Aztec capital Fig. 2)(Calneck1972; Parsons 976,253; Sanders tal. 1979, 54).Individuallynd as a system, hinampas e-quired ignificantabor nput o constructndmaintain,ut hey ombined ery igh roduc-tivity ith risk-reductionArmillas 971,660;Coe 1964, 8; Moriarty968, 73; Parsons 976,244-46; Sanders 972, 33;Sanders t al. 1979,390). Irrigationeducedproblems fdrought,and thepresence fwatermitigatedrost az-ard.Chinampas were probably double-cropped, usingdifferentultigensnd trans-plantation rom eedbeds (Rojas Rabiela 985,165; 1988, 79-80). Fewcultivationystemsntheworld ouldmatch heir ustained evelofproductivity.TheMontejo Transect

TheYucatan eninsula, ome o the owlandMaya,provided radicallyifferentxperiencefor heSpaniardsFigs. , 4).As ntheMexicancase, the northern ucatanwas wellpeopled,and theMayawereboth killed ultivatorsndactive n long-distancerade Andrews 983;Chamberlain948;Farriss984).Nevertheless,bysuch measures s thenumber nd spatialdomainofcity-states,nd levelofsociopoliti-calorganizationndaffluenceasmeasured ythescale andquality fmonumentalrchitec-ture),the condition f the lowlandMaya in

Yucatan t the time f contactwas not on parwith hatof theirClassic Periodancestors fsome 500-700 years earlier Chase and Rice1985; Jones 989; Turner 983a,b).The Yucatan s composed of two environ-mental omains Figs. , 5) overwhich com-mon set of cropping racticeswere differen-tially mployed n associationwith differingintensities f occupation.The peninsula s alarge imestone helfwith xtreme arst ondi-tions,dominated y tropicalwet-drylimate(tierraaliente)n whichrainfallncreases on-siderably rom he northwesto the southeast(Finch 965; Wilhelmy981;Wilson 980).Thenorthern eripheryf the peninsula s a rela-tively lat, owlyelevated plain, but startingwith he PuucHills Figs. ,4), a rolling ill rupland rea extends outhwardnto hePeten(Guatemala). Everywheren the north,ex-tremelyhallow ndrocky oils, n absenceofsurfacewater, nd a pronounceddry easonimpeded griculture.At hetime fthe Columbian ncounter,henorthernow plainsweremoderatelyo heavilyoccupied. ncontrast,hecentral nd southernuplands, n area thatwas once the heart ftheClassicMayacivilizationCulbert 973; Turner1990a), were very sparselysettled in 1492(Jones 1989; Means 1917; Scholes and Roys1968; Turner 990a,b).Northernnd CoastalPlains

Spaniards fficiallyiscoveredheYucatann1517 (Chamberlain 948,61-64; Clendinnen1987,17-18; Means 1917)onlyto find hat tleasttwoSpaniards, urvivorsfa shipwreck,werepresent mongthe Maya.One ofthesemen refusedoreturnohis formeromrades,but led the Maya in subsequent militaryn-countersgainst hem Chamberlain948,61-64; Means1917).The Spaniards ypassed heYucatan orMexico, o that he nitialonquestawaited1527,whilesubjugationf thepenin-sulafollowed ometwenty ears ater Farriss1984, 12). Led by Francisco e Montejo theElder),hefirstntrada eganon the northeast-ern oastofthepeninsuland marchednland.The transecthatwe followhereroughlyor-responds to the north-south ourse ofMontejo's route,with ome libertiesaken oinclude he interior plandswhichMontejo's


10/25

410 Whitmore nd Turner

M xico *~~~~~~~~~~MenrdaValladolid

...0.... . . .2V............... ~~

-j~~~~~~- 5

"'1~~~~~~~15' I-

1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~....../ -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~../ K~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0 Spanish citie ... .

Bajos Perioic welands co~/ '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~~~~~~~.......7 \-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~... ......- 50-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.............('


11/25

Landscapes of Cultivation nMesoamerica 411

300m

S a3L~e?velS 250 200 150 100 50 0M' Distance (kilometers) MFigure . MontejoProfile,howing ertical elief long M-M'transect,s noted n Fig. . Sources: ased nFig. .

party pparentlyvoided because of ts parseoccupation.The littoral f northern ucatan was ex-tremelymportantconomically o theMaya,who had converted coastal wetlands (thecienaga) nto he center f Mesoamerican altproduction nd trade. Salt was apparentlytransportedycanoe alongthe coasts oMex-ico and CentralAmerica Andrews 983).Thesettlementsontrollingaltproductionay n-land, spread throughouthe northern lains,as was most ftheMaya population.HeretheSpaniards encountered large numbers ofMaya, rrangednsmall-sized olities onsist-ing of sizable villages nd well-tended and-scapes.Thesevillages nd their andshad a commonmorphology. smallplaza and publicmonu-ment,usually smallpyramidr some othershrine,marked he centerof a village, romwhichhomesteads, ach demarcated y tonewallsenclosing rchard-gardens,adiated ut-ward (the elite lived closest to the center)(Clendinnen 987; Gomez-Pompat al. 1987).Homesteads ave way o open- or outfieldsnvarious tages ffallow, hichn urn avewaytoforest,much f whichmayhave been man-aged. Here, culling nd related ctivitiesmayhavesupported orms fagroforestrypetkot)(Gomez-Pompa t al. 1987). This spatialar-rangement as repeated cross the northernplains,with he pparent xception fsavannaareas.Spanishdocumentsrefer o both "planta-tions" and "orchard-gardens"n the area,using the former esignation requentlyorelite-owned cacao" standssituatedon theedges of Maya towns Tozzer 1941, 194-95;Scholes and Roys1968, 171-72).5 he spatialarrangementndconcentrationftheseplots

may have giventhe impression f extensiveorchards.Mayahorticulturalractices ere notwell documented y he Spaniards, ther hanreports hat heelite used slaves and servantsto care fortheirorchards, nd evidence ofmonocropping r plantation-likeabor orga-nization s lacking Scholes and Roys 1968,171-72).Orchard-gardenslayedan important oleamong heMaya nd theAmerindiansf tierracalientengeneral Killion orthcoming). uchoftheMayafood upplywas grown n orchard-gardens, s testified y heir patial xtent ndthe quantity f remainsof orchard-gardensspecies takenfrom xcavations fMaya mid-dens (Turner nd Miksicek1984). Indeed,Gomez-Pompandcolleagues 1987) rgue hatthe unusualdistributionfuseful pecies cur-rentlyfound within ancient walled plotsthroughoutucatan re remnantsf ancientorchard-gardenssee also Folan et al. 1979).Individual rees and groveswere apparentlyprivately wned and inherited Millon 1955,700;Scholesand Roys 968, 71-72).Landa referredo the use ofagaves, chiles,beans, and cotton n house gardens Tozzer1941, 94-95).Maya orchard-gardensncludeda large arietyfnativerees, hrubs,nd otherspecies adapted othewet-dryropical limateoftheplains Clendinnen987, 41; Chamber-lain1968,52; Scholes and Roys1968, 171-72,328; Tozzer 1941,179, 230). These includedagaveand cotton, vocado,nance (Brysonimacrassifolia), llspice (Pimenta dioica), guava(Psidium uajava), apodilla Manilkaraapote),andmamey apote (Calocarpummammosum).Theprevalence forchard-gardensotwith-standing,hestaple ropofthe northern ayaat thetimeof the ColumbianEncounter asmaize. Considerable ocumentationyearlier


12/25

412 Whitmorend Turnerchroniclers ndicates hatthe bulk of itwasproduced in fields distant rom he walledhomesteads and orchard-gardens,lthoughwalls may have been present n these "out-fields" wallswithout ccupationtructuresrecommon; ee Freidelnd Leventhal975).Thecultivationractices n these "outfields" reuncertain,s is the intensityfcultivation.nthe mid-1500s,andanoted hat heMayapre-pared he andfrom anuaryoAprilin hedryseason), plantedwith digging tick,nd cul-tivatedby "collect[ing] ogether efuse ndburn[ing]t norder osow" indicatinghiftingcultivation?); ut theyalso had "improved"lands nd "kept he andwellcleared nd freefromweeds" (indicating onshiftingultiva-tion?) Tozzer 941, 2,64, 97; Landa 937, 8).

Because of the level ofpopulationnd thewell-defined oundaries fvillages nd prov-inces nthe north, e suspect hat short-fal-low rotationalystemwas used inwhichplotpreparation ocused n burningollected nddriedvegetationnorder o provide ssentialphosphorus or he oilbefore herains eganinApril.Plotswere firstowedto maize andsubsequentlyntercroppedith quash ndni-trogen ixing eans.6 nterestingly,heregionwas known or ts otton nd hempproductionatthetimeofconquest, lthough irtuallyodescriptionsf its cultivationxist.Weedingdominatedhegrowingeason laboruntil hefallharvest.Theoutfields feachvillagewere pparentlyseparatedfrom hose of the nextby forestwhich, naddition o possible groforestryc-tivities,ormed reserve orwoodfuel,hunt-ing, and tameanimals.Deer were, perhaps,the most mportantf thesemitamenimals,apparentlyontrolled rom irthhrough io-logical mprinting,nd laterherdedfrom hevillage o feed in theforest Means 1917,30;Tozzer1941, 27).TheUplands

Compared o the northernlains, herollingkarst ills fthe central eninsularrea musthave been a disappointmentnd aggravationto the Spaniards,for here the populationthinned ramaticallyMeans1917;Scholes ndRoys1968, 333), and the tropical orest ro-videda frontierefuge orMayafleeing pan-ish control. The distinctiveultivated and-scapeofthenorthernlainwasreplacedn heuplandsbyextensive widden ystems, ossi-

bly similar o those described by ethnogra-phers n thenineteenthnd twentiethentu-ries.7This slash-and-burn r milpa (literallycornfield)method nvolved asically he sametools and crops as in the north, ut utilizedlongerfallow ycles and lower labor inputs,especially orweeding.New plotswere cut nJanuaryo allow the woody species to drysufficientlyor burningbefore the rains ofApril. ftereveral easons of ultivation,plotwas abandoned for protracted eriodto es-cape the concentration f pests and weedsthere and to allow regrowthf a secondaryforest.The role oforchard-gardensn the uplandsduringhisperiod s notclear.Theymayhaveexisted round larger ettlements, ut refer-ences toactivityf thiskind resparse. Housegardenswereundoubtedlyommon.Thefor-estswereverymuch heproduct fpast Mayaactivitiesnd werewell tockedwith conomicspeciesfromwhich extensive ollecting ookplace.AlvaradoTransect

Pedro de Alvarado ed the Spanishentradainto he highlandMaya realm f Guatemala n1524, harting route outheastwardrom heMesa Central,following he Pacificcoastalplain,before urning orthwardnto hewell-defendedhighlandsfpresent ayGuatemala(Figs. , 6). Followingheexperience fCortes,Alvaradobroughtthousands of Aztec andTlaxcalanwarriorso subdue the Maya,whofoughthe invasionn a series ofbloodybat-tles.TheSpaniards ound populoushighlandsdivided ntoprovinces f differentthnolin-guisticMayastock.Eachprovince ad heredi-tary ulers, utno overarchingtatewas pres-ent,nor were theremany argecities of thematerialmajesty ound ntheAztecrealm. heregion, owever,ontained ome of the finestagriculturaloils nMesoamerica ndthelow-landsof tsPacific ersant avetheSpaniardspreview fyetanother ource of wealth-es-tateproductionf cacao.The climb from he PacificCoast to thehomelandsf hehighlandMaya ransversesnarrayfbroad groecologicalones associatedwith levationWest1964a, 373).The CoastalPlain La Costa) and the Boca Costa or pied-mont omprise 40-50 km-widetrip etweenthe ocean and highlands roper Figs. 6, 7).


13/25

Landscapes of Cultivation n Mesoamerica 413

>13 r , 15,t230' -Gatml- t>"my'_o'-)\'-j! ----o,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~---------< 1520-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2

910

/427401\

1520~~~~~~~1910,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1

.:.:.:::."': : ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::X::.,.............213 Guteal.Ct......*{------

.................................'',.. . , ::...::.:..: : : : :: : : : : :: : : : : :::.: :: : :.............................. , . _ * ' v/-:,,',x,':':::.:.........................................::.;r!:';\

. o s.

//:/::.,:',, .,:,..............................................,''::::

.........................../..

Figure 6. Alvarado Profilect showingPouthwestrn Guate alaf, 2 Guho eAlan P la C

Fig. ). Sources:adaptedfromU.S. DefenseMappingAgency1978) s a base map and Bergmann1969) ndOrelanna 1984) or ther ocationalnformation.

The coastalplain up to about100melevation)and the owerBoca Costa about100 m-460melevation) re tierra alientewhile the upperBoca Costa (about 460-1500 m elevation) stierra emplada.Precipitationncreases nland

and with levation, uchthatportions f theBoca Costa receive nexcess of2000mm nnu-ally VivoEscoto1964,fig. 0). Around 000melevation, hemountain ront isessteeply ocinder onesandcomposite olcanos, ome of


14/25

414 Whitmore nd Turner4000m Los Altos3500m-3000m -2500m - LakeAtitlhn-0v1 2000m

1 ana _ /: : ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.:.::.::..::.:..::.. -. -..:-

Sea eve Coastal Pain0 25 50 75 100 125A Distancekilometers) A'

|Figure7. Alvarado rofile,howing ertical elieflongA-A' ransect,s noted nFig. . Sources:basedonFig. .

which xceed 3000m.Above the 1500mcon-tour and to the interior f theversants LosAltos, hehighlandolcanic xis, omposedofsmalldepressions nd calderas urrounded yvolcanoes (more than twentyn Guatemalaalone). LakeAtitlan ccupies such a caldera t1566m. The peaks re nclouds nd mistmuchof the time nd averageannualprecipitationthere reaches 3000 mm-4000mm. To thenorthernndof theAlvarado ransect hevol-canic axis giveswaytothe ower-elevatednddrier entral ighlands.Boca Costa

Very ittle s known bout Amerindiangri-culture n the narrowoastalplainproper. ncontrast,heBoca Costawas a zone so prizedfor its agriculturalertilityhatAmerindiangroupsviedwith ne another or tscontrol.The southwest ortion f the BocaCostawaspartof the greater oconusco (also spelledSoconosco, Xoconusco,and Xoconocho)re-gion, extending nto southeasternChiapasstate nMexico.Thisregionwasrenowned orproducing nd widely exporting he finestcacao in Mesoamerica Bergmann 969,86;Gasco and Voorhies 989, 89; MacLeod1973,68-79; Millon1955, 702). Cacao is a delicatespecies thatrequiresmoistbutwell-drainedsoils, shade, protection rom ighwinds, ndwarmtemperaturesmean temperatures e-

tween 180 C and 320 C, without frost) Gasco1987,157). Owingto these needs, major or-chard ones werebelow 650m Orellana 984,70) where annualprecipitationotalsrangedbetween 150mm-2500mm.Pronounced ryseasons necessitated rrigation. acao wascommonly erminated sing seedbeds (alma-cigos) ndreplantedoorchardsRojasRabiela1988, 2). Anotherpecies,Theobromaricolor,ishardier, ut t s not clearthat twas grownextensivelyn the Boca Costa. Major cacaobeganabout30km nland n the alluvial ans.Bergmann1969, 9) suggests hat his nteriorlocationwas a response othedrier onditionsapproachingheocean, but t lsocorrespondswith hewell-drainedgriculturaloils of thealluvial ans haracteristicf thispiedmont.Cacao was producedovera widearea, per-haps inan orchard r plantation-likeattern.TheSpaniards eferredo estates nd gardensororchardsfcacao,terms hatmply otonlymonocroppingonditions ut possibly rriga-tion swell Armillas949, 8; Bergmann969,90;Millon 955;RojasRabiela 988, 2; ZamoraAcosta 1985, 182). Cacao was intensivelytended,its care including he use of shadetrees e.g., maderanegra GliricidiamaculataH. B. and K.] or coxote G. sapium]) nd pro-tection rom redatorsnd theft Lange1971,240-44; Millon1955, 704; Orellana1984, 70;Stone1977, 5-86; Rojas Rabiela 988, 2).The immense alue of the cacao to Meso-


15/25

Landscapes of Cultivation n Mesoamerica 415americanswas in tsuse as a thick everage rgruel. Such was the importance f thisfoodthatthe cacao bean servedas a medium fexchangenMesoamerica, sed nvirtuallynycommodityrservice ransactionMillon 955;Bergmann969, 85-86). Elites ontrolled heproductionf and trade ncacao inthe BocaCosta, although his controldid not requireactualoccupation f thepiedmont.HighlandMayacommunitiesovernedome ofthepro-ductionin the Boca Costa, while Nahuatl-speakinggroupswithin he piedmontmayhave servedto ensurethe flowof cacao toAztecMexico (Bergmann 969, 89; Orellana1984).At hetime ftheSpanish onquest, heAztec extracted ribute rom oconusco andBoca Costaby axinghe owns ontrollingro-duction, egardlessf their ocation.The Boca Costa also offered full rray fagriculture,roducingther oods ndfibers,Maize wasdouble andeventripled-croppednsome locales (Fuentes nd Guzman1882,64;Zamora Acosta 1985, 182), undoubtedlythroughhe useof rrigation.t salsopossiblethat orchards producingother crops thancacao were present. he spatial xtent f thisproduction nto the southern ersant roper(between he cacao zone and LosAltos) snotwellunderstood. he slope is very teep andrugged, nd itappearsto havebeen sparselyoccupiedat contact elativeothe ands boveand below. The southern ersantmayhavebeen usedfor xtensive ultivations a "spill-over" zone forfarmersscendingfrom heBoca Costa ordescending rom os Altos.Los Altos

Inadditiono theubiquitous ousegardens,rainfedultivation as practiced n bothter-raced nd nonterracedieldsntheslopes anddepressions f Los Altos.Many slopes wereintensivelyultivated ithout erracing,artic-ularly heremoundingmontones) r ridging(camellones ontouringhe lope)were ppar-entlyufficiento impede rosion seeWilken1987,129-144).Although lvarado pokeof ahighlyeveloped griculture,panish escrip-tions fpracticesssociatedwith emporalrevague,makingtdifficultodistinguishhiftingfrompermanent ultivationZamoraAcosta1985, 78;PalermndWolf 962, 36).TheAn-nalsof theCakchiquels ca. 1559-81)mentionscut-and-burnechniques,but not rotation f

fields, eading o various nterpretationsboutthe implied requency f cultivationFeldman1985, 29; Orellana 1984, 69). The apparentlyextensive se of mounding,longwith he useof hoe-like nstrumentnd a scraper-likeakeforweeding, ed Feldman 1985, 9-30)to con-clude thata rainfed ystem,more intensivethan lash nd burn,wasprevalentnLosAltos.Terracingaspracticed hroughouthehigh-lands Orellana 984, 7-29), lthoughpecificreferences o Los Altos re few. Remnants fpre-Hispanicerracingxist nthe central igh-lands, nd thepracticemayhavebeenfollowedat the time of conquest Guzman1962,398).The distributionf herelic eaturesmay eflectsoil distinctions etweenthe volcanic xis ofLos Altos nd the morenortherlyentral igh-landsor it mayreflect ifferentialpanish m-pacts.Documentationfterrace emainsn hevolcanicaxis zone is slim,however.Lothrop(1933)found elic erraces roundLakeAtitlanbutdid notdesignateheir unctionor gricul-ture s opposedto house sites.HighlandMayaterracing,n general, ervedthesamefunctionss described ntheCortestransect.Where associated withthe tablon,however, rrigation as common.The tablon(literally, lank) is a raised-gardenlot (20-65 cm inheight), sually ectangularnshapewith nwardlyloping ides, accompaniedbyirrigationhannels Mathewson 984;Wilken1971, 35). f n a sufficientlope,thetablon sconstructed n terraces with the irrigationchannel ocatedat the base of each terracewall.Tablones n use today re especially re-quent round heedges ofLakeAtitlannd onthe northernlopes above the lake,althoughthey an be found lsewhere nthehighlands(Altee 968; Wilken 987).Whileno direct vi-denceyetconfirmsheuse oftablones nthepre-Hispanic ighlands,wofacts tronglyug-gest hat heywere major omponentfhigh-landMaya griculture.he firsts that ach ofthestructurallements f tabloneswas knownand used bytheMaya;the second is that hecurrent istributionoincideswith ontact-erasocial and environmental onditions thatwould have promoted heiruse (Mathewson1984, 17-20; Orellana1984, 69; Wilken1971,435-36). t s likelyhat ablon ystemsonsti-tutedmanyf hegardens escribednSpanishaccounts.Theprincipal rops grownwere thoseprev-alent throughout he highlandsof Meso-


16/25

416 WhitmorendTurneramerica.Accordingo Feldman1985, 6), atleast evenvarieties f maize, hree f squash,nine of beans, tobacco, and,perhaps, weetpotatohavebeenidentifiednLosAltos n pre-historic ontext. Studies of highlandMayacommunities y Stadelman 1940)and othersindicate he presence f much reater arietyofmaize,muchof which s assumedto havebeen presentnantiquity.The LakeAtitlan asinwas a microcosm fthehighland andscapes ngeneral t contacttimes, ncludingts ccupation y t east hreeMayagroups: he Cakchiqueln the north ndeastsides,theTzutujuil n the south ide andPacific lopes, and theQuiche on the northand west ides Lothrop 933, ).Thecultivatedlandscapehereappeared as a mosaicof prac-tices ssociatedmorewith lopethanwith li-maticvariationr with levation. he upper,broad slopes of the basin were apparentlyunder ntensive ainfedultivation,ompletewithcascading monotonesand camellones.Further own the basin,where drainage ys-temsfacilitatedrrigationutthesteepness fslope increased significantlyparticularlynthenorthernideof he ake), anks f erracedtablones continueddown towards he lake.Near lake level, lmost ll the smalldeltasofthe drainageswere also converted nto tab-lones (see Mathewson 984).

The Fateofthe CultivatedLandscapesThe repercussionsf the Conquest spreadswiftly hroughoutMesoamericaduring hefirstenturyftheHispanic ra, eaving ew,fany, ultivatedandscapesuntouchedButzer1991).Theconquerors eapportionedand ndlabor under conditions f rapidAmerindiandepopulationand reconstitutedgriculturethroughhe ntroductionfEuropeanechnol-ogies and biota. The conquered retained,wherepossible and appropriate,heir ropsandcropping echniques.Ultimately,owever,both onquerorsndconqueredborrowedx-tensively,fdifferentially,rom ne another,and thereconfiguredandscapes hat esulted

were not so muchone culture's ultivatedlandscape replacingnother's uttheir nionon "hybrid"andscapes.8

CausesoftheTransformationsThe ConquestofMesoamerica et n motiona series of processes, ntentionalnd other-wise, hat enetratedvery acet f hephysical

and spiritualworld of the Amerindian, ithmany f the results aving ignificantamifica-tions n cultivatedandscapes.Wecannot reatall ofthese processeshere,butfocus n threeclustersf hem hatwereespecially ignificantina directway: theAmerindianepopulation,the ntroductionf exoticbiotaandtechnolo-gies, and thereorderingf land and the ruraleconomy.The scale ofAmerindian epopulation hataccompanied he introductionf Old Worldpathogens y heSpaniardssnothinghort fphenomenal, emaining nparalleledndemo-graphic istorysee Lovell hisvolume).9 hisdemographicragedyffectedgriculturenatleast two ways.The landesque capital terrac-ing, rrigation, etland ystems) f the inten-sivecropping ystemsftheAmerindianouldnotbesustainedwith uch osses n abor, ead-ing othedecayofmany ultivatedandscapes(CookandBorah 979, 69),with he concom-itant nvironmentalegradationhat ypicallyfollows rom he lack of upkeep.Thisdecaycontributedothe arger rocessof and ban-donmentwhich, nturn,weakened Amerind-ianclaims o land and led to Spanish andap-propriatione.g., Licate 981).The introductionf Old Worldbiota andtechnologies, art fwhatCrosby 1972)callstheColumbian xchange, adwide-rangingm-pactson the landscapebecause of the newland-uses ssociatedwith hem nd theexpan-sion of these uses into areas extensivelyti-lized byAmerindians. mongthe most dra-maticwerethoseofrange ivestock, reviouslyunknownnMesoamerica. hepopulationx-plosion fgrazingnimals arlyn he ixteenthcenturysclaimed ymanyohave ontributedto accelerated rosion on agriculturalands,increasedsiltation,more frequent nd pro-found looding,nd losses of harvests ue topredatoryerds ndthephysical ramplingfthefieldsBrand 961, 33; Chevalier 963, 3;Cook andBorah 979, 69; Crosby, 972, 6-77;Gibson 964, 05;Morrisey951, 16; Simpson1952; Super 1988,26). Chevalier 1963, 93)claims that entirecommunitiesn the MesaCentralwereforced o move, npartbecauseof ivestockamage ocroplands,ndthe and


17/25

Landscapes of Cultivation n Mesoamerica 417so abandoned maywell have contributedothe growth in cattle and sheep estancias(ranches)during he early ixteenth entury(Chevalier 963, 3; Licate 981, 14-15).Such impactsmay have been moreshort-livedthanconventional isdom sserts.Gib-son 1964, 81), mong therse.g., Butzer ndButzer, ersonalcommunication), otes thattheSpanishCrown nvoked awand policy i-rected tpreserving merindianands nd cul-tivation, lthough hese efforts ere appar-ently todds with he forces fdepopulation,resettlement,and bandonment,nd ocal p-propriationLicate 981, 13).Discovery f sil-ver n henorth nd thecattle roducers' dap-tions f their roductiontrategieso the newlands, ed to a livestockndustryhat preadnorthwardnto ands hatwere ess ntensivelyused in pre-Columbianimes,producing neconomy hatwas relativelyntune with heenvironmentsnquestion ButzerndButzer).The critical ointforourdiscussion s thatmuch and thatwas once underAmerindiancultivationin the highland omain) or wassparsely tilizednorthfMesoamerica roperor in landsabandonedbecause ofdepopula-tion)was rapidly ut oa new, xoticuse.Theland-covermpacts ssociatedwith his and-use changeare vividlyllustratednthe GulfCoastarea,where attle ndsheep productionwas pursuedon pastures reatedby burningforest nd on former etland ields; neithercase, these were formerly merindian ulti-vated andscapes, ltered onewuse (Siemens1992).Hispanic rop introductionslso redefinedthe andsto be cultivatednd theform fcul-tivationnthemHassig 985, 21).Theuse ofplow and draftnimals, or xample,placedapremium n levelorgentlyloped landswithgood soil depthand drainage nd largefieldsize (Cook and Borah1979,171). In contrast,pre-Columbianoa-based cultivationas par-ticularlyuitablefor use in shallow oilsandsmall ields,nd on steep slopes.10heshift oplow cultivationndtheabandonment f cul-tivatedands wing odepopulationnd reset-tlementmayhavealtered he overallpropor-tion fvalley ottom oupper lopecultivationrelativeo pre-Hispanicimes.Spanish referencesor uropean oods lsoplayeda part.Wheatcultivation as carriedacross the altiplano from the Puebla basin tothe northernilvermines Gibson1964,322;

Chevalier 963, 1-54;Super1988, 2) becauseofthe demandforwheat bread. This pursuitled the Spaniards o introducerrigationn theBajro nd other rid ands on the margins fMesoamerica, nd to rework merindianrri-gation ntheBasinof Mexico to allowwinter(dry season) cultivationChevalier1963, 70;Butzer nd Butzer;Davis1990).The environ-mental mpacts f these shiftsn agricultureare insufficientlyocumented so thatmorepointed ssessments onstitutepeculation.Plantationropsfor rans-Atlanticommerceemerged n the owlands, lthough arge-scaleplantations ere not the norm Butzer 991,210).The most mportantf the crops n termsof andscape hangewassugarcane,which heSpaniards introducedwhereverecologicallysuitable Chevalier 963, 4). Corteshimselfs-tablished sugarcaneplantationn the low-lands west of Tuxtla s early s 1528 Barrett1970, 1). For hemost art, ugarcane roduc-tion n the tierra alientewas undertaken nsmallestates, s was Spanish-controlledro-ductionof cacao, cotton, obacco, and dyes(MacLeod 1973, 220-24).By the close of thesixteenthentury,ugarcaneproductionlsospread ntowarmer pland ocales,such as inMoreloswhere arge-scale lantations erees-tablishedBarrett970, ; Super1988, 7),andwhere tmayhavehelped o displaceAmerind-iancultivationChevalier 963, 2).Thesechangeswere intertwinedith hosestemming rom he reordering f land andlabor.By hemid-sixteenthentury,ignificantland holdingshad accrued to the Spaniardsand, nterestingly,o Amerindianlites n omeareas Gibson 964;Licate 981; Simpson 952).Amerindianaborwas siphoned ff orwork nlarge Spanish estates, and the encomienda(grants or the controlofAmerindianabor)refocusedproductiongoals, and in somecases,the ocation fAmerindianettlements.Aftermid-century,ull-blownresettlementschemes the ongregacion)elocatedmuch fthe remaininguralpopulation Cline 1949).The impacts f these activities ere to reduceAmerindianultivationn some locales and in-crease andpressures n others.Landscapes ransformednd TraditionsRetained

Threevery roadpatternsf transformationofcultivatedandscapesfollowed hroughout


18/25

418 Whitmorend TurnerMesoamerica nd beyond. The humid tierracaliente save the northern ucatan)wasvirtu-ally bandoned, llowingmajor orest egener-ation.The fewremaining merindiansntheselowlands, rmedwith he ntroductionf steelcuttingtools, increasinglymoved towardslabor-saving widden cultivation. he Span-iards, on the other hand, introduced mall-scaleestates evoted oplantationrops,bothintroduced nd native, ollowedby livestockproduction.The tierra empladawitnessedwide-spread bandonment nd destructionfAmerindian griculturalandscapes and theemergence f new ones. Thegeneralpatternof thistransformationnvolved he disuse ofsome land,thedisproportionaledistributionofother ands otheSpaniards,ndan invest-ment n arge-scale lowand wheat ultivationandlivestock roduction rawingn Amerind-ian labor see Prem, hisvolume).Finally,ul-tivation nd livestock earing xpandedintothe morearidsegments f Mesoamerica ndthe andsbeyond, speciallyothenorth,ndlater ntoCentralAmerica.Indigenous andscapesdominated y abor-intensive ultivation,specially erraces ndwetland systems,were particularlyffected.Terrace ystemswereabandoned throughoutthe upper piedmonts f the Mesa Central fMexico Cortes ransect), os AltosofGuate-mala Alvarado ransect),nd somewhataterinthepiedmontf heGulf oast Cortes ran-sect) (Donkin1979,35-36).Theseextensivelydistributedystemsfslopemodificationim-plycould not be maintainedn the face ofAmerindiandepopulation and relocation(Cook and Borah1979,168; Donkin 979,36)andwith he ncreasingocusofcultivationnvalleys nd lowerbasins.Similarly,etland griculture,he produc-tiveheart fsomepre-Columbianandscapes,also faded nsignificance.t did so for everalreasonsbeyondthoseofpopulation ollapseand labor shortage. ndigenouswetland gri-culture was not well understoodby theSpaniards,was not central o theirvision ofappropriateanduse, andwas notsuitedforplowor wheatproduction.Moreover,toccu-pied lands potentiallyuitableforplow andlivestockproduction, f properlydrained(Cook and Borah 979, 71; Hassig1985, 21).Interestingly,eteriorationftheAmerindiansystems pslope ead to increased edimenta-tion and otherproblems hat pparentlye-

graded omewetland ystems elow (Gibson1964,305; Lopez Rfos 988). Owing to theseand otherfactors, etland griculturelmostdisappeared from he Mesa Central Cortestransect), xcept forthe chinampas f LakesChalco andXochimilconthe Basinof Mexico(whichwould decay slowly) nd the drainedfieldsn theTlaxcalan alley.Wetland ystems,other han ephemeralflood-recessionalrac-tices, lso disappearednthe GulfCoastPlain(Cortestransect),lthough heirdemisemayhavebeen underwayreviousotheConquest.Inthe YucatanMontejo ransect),heSpan-iardsdevelopedextensive attle states,utiliz-ing both Maya agriculturalands and forest(Farriss 984, 32).11This not only disrupted thewell-developed ultivated andscape of theMaya,but, longwith epopulation,he ntro-duction f steelcutting ools,and Maya es-cape"to theforests utside f Spanish ontrol,probably ed to thedisintensificationf Mayacultivation rom otational o shiftingultiva-tion.12 he rearrangedandscape was com-posed oflarge states nterspersed ith mallvillages, ollowing form f milpa cultivationthathas continued othepresent.Most of the cultivated andscapes that es-caped major change lay on the margins fSpanishnterestsrcontrol. or xample, gri-culturenthe expanse of the lowland ropicalforest etween heMaya highlands Alvaradotransect)nd northern ucatanMontejo ran-sect)remainedmoreor less as ithad been atcontact, hat s extensive widden ultivation.One landscape prizedbythe Spaniards hatsurvivedmore r less in tspre-Hispanicorm,at least under he firsthaseofSpanishdomi-nation,was that fthecacao-producing ocaCosta and Soconusco (Alvarado ransect). heSpaniards erequick orealize he mportanceof cacao amongMesoamericansnd, later,tsvalue for nternationalrade Hamilton 976,860-61).They ookcontrol fcacao producingzones largely hroughheencomienda, he ef-fect f whichwas to leave the form fproduc-tion argelyntact.The reconfiguringf the cultivated and-scapes did notmeanthatAmerindiangricul-turalpractices nd technologieswere lost;many urviveds integral omponents f thenew andscapes. erhapshemostmportantfthesewas theomnipresentalmil. mallhouse-hold gardensremained entral o Amerindianandpeasant griculturehroughouthecontact


19/25

Landscapes of Cultivation n Mesoamerica 419and colonialperiods and arestillmaintained),albeitwith uropeandditions. ield-scaleur-facemodifications,specially amellones ndmontones, lso enduredwell, specially heremaizecultivationersistedwithout heplow.These featureswere so common nthe MesaCentralnthe sixteenthenturyhat nyparcelofcultivatedandwasreferredoas a camellonand even abandoned landswere knownas11acamellonada"i.e., filled with plantingmounds) (Rojas Rabiela 1988, 42-43). Themetapantlimaguey-anchorederraces) lsosurvivedPatrick977), erhaps ecause of heease of upkeep of the retainingall, lthoughit was much morespatially estrictedhan nprecontact imes Donkin 1979). Vestigesofdrained ields, aisedfields,nd tablones lsoweathered he conquest, butin highlyocal-ized areas. The survivalfthetabl6n nGuate-mala Alvaradoransect) as due inpart o itsuse on steepand narrow ands not suitedforother orms fcultivation,nd,as Mathewson(1984, 4-25) mplies, ecause tmay avebeenappropriated ythe Spaniards or heir wnhorticulturaleeds. Finally,arious xtensiverotationalystems ontinued o be employed,especiallyn hetierraalientend n reasthatwereand remainedparsely tilized.nsomecases,extensivegriculture ayhave been in-troduced new in so-calledrefuge reas-re-gionswhere he ndigenous opulation led oavoid Spanish aws, axes,or culture, uch asthe parselynhabitednteriorf heMaya ow-lands.TheseAmerindianystemswere combinedwithHispanic nes to create henew ultivatedlandscapes f NewSpain.In somecases, sys-temsof either riginweredistributedcrosslandscape ccording o thedifferingocioeco-nomic ndenvironmentalircumstancesres-ent e.g., Spanish-dominatedottomands ndAmerindian-dominatedlope lands). Morecommon,however,hevarious ystemshem-selveswere modified yexchanges n biotaand technology.The new cultivated and-scapes, therefore, ere a product fagricul-tural ystems ost, added, modified hroughexchange,nd redistributedcross he errain.TransformationsnPerspective

What became known s La leyendanegra(theBlack egend) ncapsulatedong-standing

beliefs boutSpanishcivilizationnd itscon-quests n theNew World, erhaps verstatingitsbarbarismnd brutalityelative o other o-cieties. nrecent ears, notheregendrelatedto the ColumbianEncounterhas emerged:what might e called La leyendaverde. ThisGreen Legendmythologizeshe achievementsandqualities fAmerindianultures, speciallytheir griculture. uch interpretations,spe-ciallynthepopular iteraturee.g., Sale 1990;Weatherford988), ttribute merindianeci-sion makingnagriculturend landscape lter-ations o cultural alues placedon the conser-vation f nature r on theneed forharmonywithnature s much as or more than to theneed for ood,fiber, nd tribute,he desireforwealth, or the response to sociopoliticalconflictnd change.An idealizedAmerindianexperience f usingnaturena benignway scontrastedwith a European penchantforcontrollingr rapingnaturefor profit. hispolarizationrrs n severalfundamental aysas applied to the cultivated andscapes ofMesoamericand New Spain. Itfails o appre-ciatesufficientlyhe nature nd scale ofagri-cultural production n preconquestMeso-america nd, hence,the scale and magnitudeof ts ssociated nvironmentalhanges, nd ittends o inflate he environmentalamageas-sociatedwith he cultivatedandscapes fNewSpain.Thepeoplesof Mesoamerica ngineered a-ture nto egionalmosaics omprisedfdiversesystemsfcultivationhich ontributedoex-tensive and modificationnd conversion. heparticularystems nd the andscapes nwhichtheywere embedded werethe result f realandperceived eedsinthecontext fthe cul-turalndenvironmentalonstraintsndoppor-tunities. hesesystemservedfirstofeedthelarge opulations,ut lso to sustain lites ndoppressive oliticaltructures,ngage n com-merce, nd pay ribute. olities oughtne an-other or hecontrolfthe and ndthewealththat came from its cultivation. roductionshortfalls,ven prolonged amines, erecom-mon throughoutMesoamerica e.g., Hassig1981),and changesin socioeconomiccondi-tions ed to localized ecay, bandonment,ndreplacement f particular griculturaland-scapes,ofttimeseading o environmentaleg-radatione.g., see Williams972).The ColumbianEncounter onstitutednabrupt,even brutal, hange in population,


20/25


21/25

Landscapes of Cultivation n Mesoamerica 421cate major root crop cultivation,xistforthelowlandMaya realm t this ime.7. Fordescriptionsf contemporarywidden gri-culture hroughoutheMaya owlands,ee Car-ter1969;0. Cook 1921; Emerson nd Kempton1935; Hester1954; Higbee 1948; Redfield ndAvilla 934; Roys 943.8. Licate 1981, , 133)refersothishybridizationsgiving ise o "Mexican" andscapesnthe MesaCentral.We have refrainedrom sing his ermbecause two of our transects eal with ulturalor political nits hat re notMexican.9. Perhaps ueledbythecontroversyhat till ur-rounds he scale of the Amerindianepopula-tion,the literature elated o the Amerindianpopulation ecline s too large o fully itehere.See Denevan 1976, 992)for useful ibliogra-phy nd a thorough verview f the ssue. Sim-ulation exercises indicate that depopulationprobably approached 90 percent by 1600(Whitmore991, 992).10. Aprevalentheme sserts hatAmerindiansyp-ically avored etlands ndslopes becausenon-inundated, evel terrain between slope andshore)was notsuited o theirnonplow ultiva-tion echnologies.his ssessments toosimple.Nonplow cultivatorsre known o have culti-vated almost very onceivable errainTurnerandBrush 987), iven he need to do so.11. The development f agriculturalstates or hemonocropping f henequen (sisal) did notemerge ntheYucatan ntil he nineteenthen-turyFarriss984, 4).12. We are notcertain f the mpact f metal oolson thefrequencyf widden rmilpa ultivationinthe region. ne argument olds hat he aseofcuttingreeswith teeltools promotedmoreextensive ystems f cultivation,nd thatthemore strenuous abor nvolved n felling reeswith tone tools would have favoredmorefre-quentcultivationf thesameplot. ncidentally,Landa Tozzer 941, 21) reportedhat heMayahad metal atchets,ut t s not ertain hat heywere used inagriculture.

ReferencesAcosta, Joseph de. 1880 [1590]. The natural andmoralhistory f the Indies. London: HakluytSociety. 1880.Alcorn, Janice B. 1984. Haustec Mayan ethno-botany. Austin: Universityf Texas Press.Altee, Charles B., Jr. 1968. Vegetable productionin Guatemala. Washington: U.S. Agencyfor n-ternationalDevelopment.Andrews, AnthonyP. 1983. Maya salt productionand trade. Tucson: Universityf Arizona Press.Apenas, Ola. 1943. The pond in our backyard.Mexican ife 9(60):15-18.Armillas, Pedro. 1949. Notas sobre sistemas decultivo en Mesoamerica. Anales del InstitutoNacional e AnthropologiaHistoria:85-113.

1971. Gardens on swamps. Science174(4010):653-61.; Palerm, Angel; and Wolf, Eric R. 1956. Asmall irrigation ystem in the valley ofTeotihuacan. merican ntiquity1(4) 396-99.Bancroft, Hubert H. 1914 (1887). The historyofMexico,being popularhistoryf the Mexicanpeople from arliest rimitiveivilizationo thepresent ime. an Francisco: ancroft o.Barlow, .H. 1949. The xtent f he mpire ftheCulhua Mexica. bero-Americana8. Berkeley:Universityf California ress.Barrett,Ward. 1970. The sugar hacienda of theMarqueses el Valle.Minneapolis:UniversityfMinnesota ress.Bergmann, ohn . 1969. The distributionf cacaocultivationnpre-Columbianmerica. nnals ftheAssociation fAmerican eographers9:85-96.Bernal, gnacio. 1973. Mexico beforeCortez:Arthistorynd legend.New York:DoubledayAn-chorPress.Brand,Donald D. 1961. The earlyhistoryftherange attle ndustryn northernmexico.Agri-cultural istory5(3)132-39.Butzer, arlW. 1991. Spanish olonizationf thenew world: Cultural ontinuitynd change nMexico.Erdkunde5(3):204-19.1992. Transferf the Mediterraneanive-stock conomy o NewSpain: Adaptationsndconsequences. Paper presented t the SCOPEScientificymposium n Principles, atterns,and Processes: ome Legacies ftheColumbianEncounter,evilla, pain.and Butzer,Elisabeth. 1992. Personal com-munication,anuary.Calneck, dward . 1972. Settlementatternsndchinampa griculturet Tenochtitldn.mericanAntiquity7(1) 104-15.Carter,William . 1969. New lands and old tradi-tions:Kekchi ultivatorsnthe Guatemalanow-lands.Latin merican onograph. Gainesville:Universityf Florida ress.

Chamberlain, Robert S. 1948. The conquest andcolonization f Yucatan, 517-1550. ublication582.Washington: arnegie nstitutionf Wash-ington.Chase, ArlenF., and Rice, Prudence M. 1985. ThelowlandMayapostclassic.Austin:UniversityfTexas Press.Chevalier, . 1963. Land and society n colonialAmerica,d. L. B. Simpson; rans. yA. Eustis.Berkeley: niversityf California ress.Clendinnen, nga. 1987. Ambivalentonquests:Maya ndSpaniardnYucatan, 517-1570. am-bridge:Cambridge niversityress.Cline,H. F. 1949. Civil ongregationsfthe ndi-ans nNew pain, 598-1606. heHispanic mer-icanHistoricaleview 9(3):349-69.


22/25

422 Whitmore nd TurnerCoe, M. D. 1964. The chinampasof Mexico.Scientificmerican11(1):90-98.Cook, 0. F. 1921. Milpa agriculture: primitivetropical ystem. nnualReport f theSmithson-ian Institution,919:302-26.Cook, Sherburne .,and Borah,W. 1979. Indianfood productionnd consumptionn CentralMexico before nd after he conquest 1500-1650). In Essays n populationhistory, exicoand California.ol. 3. Berkeley:UniversityfCaliforniaress.Cortes,Hernan. 1945. Cartas relaciones. uenosAires:Emec6Editores,.A.Crosby,AlfredW., Jr. 1972. The Columbian x-change:Biologicalnd culturalonsequences f1492.ContributionsnAmericantudies . West-port, T: Greenwood.Culbert, . Patrick. 1973. The classic Maya co/-

lapse. Albuquerque:Universityf New MexicoPress.Davis,Clint. 1990. Water ontrolnd settlementncolonialMexico'sfirst rontier: he bordo sys-temof the eastern ajfo.Yearbook, onferenceofLatinAmericanisteographers6:73-81.Denevan,W. M. 1992 1976]. Thenative opula-tionoftheAmericasn 1492.Madison:Univer-sity fWisconsin ress.Diaz del Castillo, ernal. 1956. The discoveryndconquest fMexico, rans.A. P.Maudslay. ewYork:Farrar,traus nd Giroux.Donkin,R.A. 1979. Agriculturalerracingn theaboriginal ew World. ucson,AZ:UniversityfArizona ress or he Wenner-GrenoundationforAnthropologicalesearch,nc.Doolittle,William . 1990. Canal rrigationnpre-historic exico.The sequence of technologicalchange.Austin:UniversityfTexasPress.Emerson, .A., and J.H. Kempton. 1935. Agro-nomic nvestigationsnYucatan. earbook f heCarnegienstitutionfWashington4:138-42.Evans, usan T. 1990. The productivityf magueyterracegriculturencentralMexicoduringheAztecperiod.Latin merican ntiquity(2):117-32.Farriss, ancyM. 1984. Maya ociety nder o/o-nialrule:The collective nterprisef survival.Princeton, J:Princeton niversityress.Feldman,awrence . 1985. Atumplineconomy.Production nd distributionystems n six-teenth-centuryasternGuatemala. ulverCity,CA: Labyrinthos.Finch,William . Jr. 1965. The karst andscape fYucatan. Ph.D. dissertation,University fIllinois.Folan,W. .; Fletcher,. A.; and Kintz, . R. 1979.Fruit, iber, ark, nd resin: ocialorganizationof a Mayaurban enter. cience204:697-701.Freidel, avidA.,and Leventhal, ichardM. 1975.

The settlementurvey. n A study f changingpre-Columbianommercialystems: he 1972-1973 season at Cozumel, Mexico, ed. J. A.Sabloff,ndW. L.Rathje, p. 60-76.Monograph3. PeabodyMuseum f Archaeologynd Ethnol-ogy.Cambridge:Harvard niversity.Fuentes Guzman,D., and de Francisco, ntonio.1882. Historiade Guatemala,o recordationflorida. atural ecinoy regidor erpetuode lacindadde Guatemala.Madrid:Biblioteca e losAmericanistas.Garcia ook,Angel. 1985. Historiae latecnologfaagrfcolan el altiplanoentral esdeel principiode laagriculturaasta l sigloXIII. nHistoriaela agricultura.pocaprehispinica-sigloVI, d.TeresaRojasRabiela, ndWilliam .Sanders, p.7-75. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional deAntropologfaHistoria.Gasco,Janine. 1987. Cacao and theeconomic n-tegrationfnative ocietyncolonial oconusco,New Spain.Ph.D.dissertation,niversityfCal-ifornia,antaBarbara.and BarbaraVoorhies. 1989. The ultimatetribute: he roleof theSoconuscoas an Aztectributary.n Ancient rade nd tribute,d. byBarbara oorhies, p. 48-94. Provo:UniversityofUtahPress.Gibson,Charles. 1964. The Aztec underSpanishrule:A historyf the Indiansof the valley fMexico1519-1810. tanford, A: Stanford ni-versity ress.Gomez-Pompa, rturo; lores,JoseSalvador;andSosa, Victoria. 1987. The "pet kot":A man-made tropical orest f the Maya. Interciencia12(1) 10-15.; ~~; andAliphat ernandez,Mario. 1990.The sacredcacao grovesof the Maya. LatinAmerica ntiquity(3):247-57.Gutierrez Ruvalcaba, Ignacio. Forthcoming.Ecologfa agriculturan Metztitlan,iglosXVIyXVI. InAgriculturandigena: asadoy presente,ed. by Teresa Rojas Rabiela. Mexico City:CIESAS, ditionese las Casa Chata.Guzman, ouisE. 1962. Las errazas e losantiguosmayas montanieses. evista nteramericaneCiencias ociales,2ndepoch,vol.1(3):398-406.Hamilton,arl . 1976. What henew worldgavetheeconomy ftheold. InFirstmages fAmer-ica, vol. 2, ed. FrediChiappelli,MichaelJ.B.Allen, nd Robert . Benson,pp.853-84.Berke-ley: UniversityfCalifornia ress.Hassig,Ross. 1981. The famine fone rabbit: co-logical ausesand socialconsequencesof pre-Columbian alamity.ournalfAnthropologicalResearch 7:171-82.

1985. Trade, ribute,nd transportation.Thesixteenth-centuryolitical conomy f the


23/25

Landscapes fCultivationn Mesoamerica 423valley f Mexico.Norman:Universityf Okla-homa Press.Hester, oseph . 1954. Naturalndcultural asesof ncientMaya ubsistence. h.D.dissertation,Universityf California,osAngeles.Higbee,Edward. 1948. Agriculturen the Mayanhomeland.Geographicaleview 8:457-64.Humboldt, lexander on. 1966. Ensayo oliticosobre el reinode la nuevaEspaha, d. JuanA.Ortegay Medina.MexicoCity:Editorialorrua,S.A.Jones,Grant . 1989 Mayaresistanceo Spanishrule:Time nd historyn a colonial rontier.l-buquerque:Universityf New MexicoPress.Killion, . Forthcoming.Gardens n prehistory.University,L: Universityf Alabama ress.Landa,Diego de. 1937 1566]. Yucatan efore ndafter heconquest.Trans.W.Gates.New York:DoverPublications.Lange,FrederickW. 1971. Culture istoryf theSapoa river alley fCostaRica. OccasionalPa-pers n Anthropology. Beloit,WI: LoganMu-seum ofAnthropology,eloitCollege.Leicht, Hugo. 1937. Chinampasy almdcigosflotantes.Anales del Institutode Biologia(UNAM) 5(3):375-86.Licate,JackA. 1981. Creation fa Mexican and-scape: Territorialrganizationnd settlementnthe astern ueblabasin1520-1605. epartmentof GeographyResearchPapers201. Chicago:UniversityfChicago.

L6pezdeG6mara, rancisco.1964. Cort6s. he ifeofthe onqueror yhis ecretary.rans. nd ed.LesleyByrd impson.Berkeley:UniversityfCaliforniaress.L6pez Rios, GeorginaFlorencia. 1988. Sistemaagricola de chinampa: Perspectiva groeco-l6gica. Mexico City: UniversidadAutonomaChapingo.Lothrop,amuelK. 1933. Atitlan. narchaeologi-cal study fancient emains n the borders fLakeAtitlan, uatemala. ublication44. Wash-ington: arnegienstitutefWashington.MacLeod,MurdoJ. 1973. Spanish entral merica:Socioeconomichistory, 520-1720.Berkeley:Universityf Californiaress.Mathewson, ent. 1984. IrrigationorticulturenhighlandGuatemala:The tabl6n systemofPanajachel.Boulder, O: Westview.Means,Philip . 1917. Historyf heSpanish on-questofYucatannd ofthe tzas.Papers fthePeabodyMuseum fAmericanrchaeologyndEthnology, arvardUniversity,ol. 8. Cam-bridge,MA.Millon,ReneF. 1957. Irrigationystemsntheval-ley of Teotihuacan. American Antiquity

23(2):160-66.1955. Trade, reecultivation,nd thede-

velopment fprivate ropertyn and.AmericanAnthropologist 7(4):698-712.Moriarty,.R. 1968. Floating ardens chinampas)agriculturenthe old lakesof Mexico. AmericaIndigena 28(2):461-84.Morrisey, ichard . 1951. The northwardxpan-sion ofcattle anchingn New Spain,1550-1600.Agriculturalistory5(3):115-21.NationalGeographic ociety. 1989. Land of theMaya map).Washington.1980. Mexico and Central America (map).Washington.Orellana, Sandra L. 1984. The TzutujilMayas. Con-tinuitynd change, 1250-1630. Norman: Univer-sity f Oklahoma ress.Palerm,Angel. 1955. The agricultural ases ofurban ivilizationnMesoamerica. n Irrigationcivilizations:A comparative study,ed. by J.H.Steward, p. 28-42. PanAmerican nionSocialScienceMonographs.Washington.1973. Obras hidraulicasprehispanicasen elsistema lacustre del valle de Mexico. Cordoba,Mexico: Instituto acionalde AnthropologfaHistoria.and Wolf, ric. 1962. Potencial col6gicoydesarrolloculturalde mesoamerica. RevistaInteramerican e Ciencias Sociales, 2nd epoch,1(2):322-45.Parsons, effery . 1971. Prehistoric ettlementpat-terns n the Texcoco region,Mexico. MemoirsoftheMuseum fAnthropology. AnnArbor:Uni-versityfMichigan.1976. The roleofchinampa griculturenthe foodsupply fAztecTenochtitlkn.n Cul-turalchange and continuity:Essays in honor ofJamesBennettGriffin,d. byCharles E. Cleland,pp.233-57.New York:Academic ress.Patrick,. 1985. Agave ndzea inhighlandentralMexico: The ecology and historyof theMetepantli. n Prehistoricntensive griculturenthetropics,ol.2, ed. I. S. Farrington,p. 539-46. Oxford:B.A.R. nternationaleries, 32.1977. A cultural eographyfthe use ofseasonally ry, loping errain: he metepantlicropterraces f centralMexico. Ph.D. disserta-tion,UniversityfPittsburgh.Pohl, Mary. 1985. An ethnohistoricalerspectiveon ancientMayawetland ields nd other ulti-vation ystemsn the lowlands. n Prehistoriclowland Maya environment and subsistenceeconomy,d. M. D. Pohl,Papers f hePeabodyMuseum fArchaeologyndEthnology,arvardUniversity,ol.77, pp. 35-45.Cambridge, A.Redfield, obert,ndAvila, . 1934. ChanKom:AMayavillage. ublication88.Washington: ar-negie nstitutionfWashington.

Rojas Rabiela, Teresa. 1985. La technolograagrfcola esoamericananelSigloXVI. nHisto-


24/25

424 Whitmore nd Turnerria de la agriculturalpoca prehispinica-sigloXVI, ed. Teresa Rojas Rabiela and William .Sanders, pp 129-232.Mexico City: InstitutoNacional e AntropologfaHistoria.* 1988. Lassiembras e ayer:La agriculturaindigena el siglo XVI.Mexico City: ecretarfade Educaci6nPublica y Centro de Investiga-ciones y Estudios uperiores n AntropologfaSocial.Forthcoming.Historia e la agricultura.Epocaprehispanica.nLa agriculturan tierrasmexicanas. e lasorigenes elsigloXX.MexicoCity:Editorial rijalbo .A.Roys, RalphL. 1943. The IndianbackgroundfcolonialYucatan. ublication48.Washington:Carnegie nstitutionfWashington.Sale, Kirkpatrick.990. Theconquest fparadise:Christopherolumbus nd the Columbianeg-acy.New York:A. Knopf.Sanders,William . 1972. Theagriculturalistoryof the basinofMexico. n Thevalley fMexico,ed. EricR.Wolf, p. 101-59.Albuquerque:Uni-versityf New MexicoPress.* 1981. Ecological daptationnthebasin fMexico:23,000BC to present. nArchaeology.Handbook fmiddleAmericanndians, d. J.A.Sabloff, p. 147-97.Austin:Universityf TexasPress.; Parsons, .R.; and Santley, .S. 1979. Thebasin fMexico:Ecological rocessesnthe vo-lutionof a civilization. ew York: AcademicPress.Sauer,Jonathan. 1976. Changing erceptionndexploitationf New Worldplants n Europe,1492-1800.n Firstmages fAmerica ol. 2, ed.FrediChiappelli, p. 813-32.Berkeley: niver-sity fCalifornia ress.Schmidt, eter . 1977. Un sistema e cultivo n-tensivo n la cuenca del rfoNautla,Veracruz.Boletin el Instituto acionalde Anthropologiae Historia(20):50-60.Scholes,FranceV.,andRoys,RalphL. 1968 1948].TheMayaChontal ndians fAcalan-Tixchel:contributiono thehistorynd ethnographyfthe Yucatan eninsula.Norman:UniversityfOklahomaPress.Siemens,Alfred . 1982. Modelling re-hispanichydroagriculturen leveebackslopesnnorth-ernVeracruz,Mexico. n Drained ield gricul-ture n Central nd SouthAmerica,d. J.P.Darch, p.27-54.Oxford: ritishrchaeologicalReportsnternationaleries189.* 1983. Oriented aised ields n central e-racruz. merican ntiquity8(1):85-102.* 1990. Between ummitnd sea. CentralVeracruzn thenineteenthentury. ancouver:UniversityfBritisholumbia ress.* 1992. Landuse successionntheGulf ow-landson Mexico:A longview.Paperpresented

at the SCOPE Scientific ymposium n Princi-ples, Patterns,nd Processes:Some Legacies fthe Columbian ncounter.evilla, pain., et al. 1988. Evidence or cultivarnd achronology rom atterned etlands n centralVeracruz,Mexico.Science242:105-07.Simpson, .B. 1952. Exploitationf and ncentralMexico n the sixteenth entury.bero-Ameri-cana36.Berkeley: niversityfCaliforniaress.Sluyter,ndrew.1990. Vestiges fupland ields ncentral eracruz:A newperspective n its Pre-columbian uman cology.M.A.thesis,Univer-sity f British olumbia.Stadleman,Raymond. 1940. Maize cultivationnnorthwesternGuatemala. Contributions oAmerican nthropologynd History. ublication523, pp. 83-263.Washington: arnegie nstitu-tionofWashington.Stark, arbara . 1974. Geographynd economicspecializationn he ower apaloapan, eracruz,Mexico.Ethnohistory1(3) 199-221.. 1978. An ethnohistoric odel for nativeeconomy nd settlement atternsn southernVeracruz,Mexico. n Prehistoricoastal dapta-tion:The conomyndecology fmaritimeen-tralAmerica,d. Barbara . Stark nd BarbaraVoorhies, pp. 211-38. New York: AcademicPress.1990. The Gulf oast nd central ighlandsof Mexico: Alternative ethods or nteraction.ResearchnEconomic nthropology2:243-85.Stevens, ayfred. 1964. The oilsofMiddleAmer-ica andtheir elation o Indianpeople and cul-tures. n Natural nvironmentsnd early ul-tures,vol. 1, Handbook of Middle AmericanIndians, d. Robert . West,pp. 265-315.Aus-tin: Universityf TexasPress.Stone, Doris. 1977. Pre-Columbian an n CostaRica. Cambridge:HarvardUniversityeabodyMuseumPress.Super,John . 1988. Food, conquest, ndcoloni-zation nsixteenth-centurypanishAmerica. l-buquerque: Universityf New MexicoPress.Tozzer,AlfredM. 1941. Landa's relaci6nde lascosas de Yucatan.PeabodyMuseum, Paper18(translation).ambridge:Harvard niversity.Turner, . L. II. 1983a. Comparisonsfagrotech-nologies ntheBasin fMexico nd centralMayalowlands: ormativeo the lassicMaya ollapse.InHighland-lowlandnteractionnMesoamerica.Interdisciplinarypproaches ed. A. G. Miller,pp. 13-47. Washington: unbartonOaks Re-searchLibraryndCollection.. 1983b. Once beneath the forest: rehis-toric erracingn the RioBec region f theMayalowlands.DellplainLatinAmerican eries 13,

Boulder, O: Westview ress.1990a. Population econstructionor hecentralMaya owlands:1000BC toAD 1500. n


25/25

Landscapes f Cultivationn Mesoamerica 425Precolumbianopulationhistoryn the Mayalowlands, ed. T. P. Culbert nd D. S. Ricepp. 301-24. Albuquerque: Universityf NewMexicoPress.1990b. The rise nd fall f populationndagriculturenthecentralMaya owlands: 00BCtopresent.nHungernhistory:oodshortage,poverty,nd deprivation,d. L. F. Newman,pp. 178-211. ambridge, A: BasilBlackwell.and Brush, . B. 1987. Comparativearmingsystems. ewYork:Guilford ress.andMiksicek, harlesH. 1984. Economicplant pecies ssociatedwith rehistoricgricul-turein the Maya lowlands.EconomicBotany38:179-93.U.S. DefenseMappingAgency. 1978. Operationalnavigationalhart, -25.Washington.1974. Operational avigationalhart, -24.Washington.1965. Operational avigationalhart, -25.Washington.Vivi6Escoto,Jorge . 1964. Weatherndclimateof CentralMexico. n Natural nvironmentndearlyultures,ol.1,Handbook fMiddleAmer-icanIndians, d. Robert . West,pp. 187-215.Austin:UniversityfTexasPress.Weatherford,ack. 1988. Indiangivers:How theIndians f theAmericas ransformedhe world.NewYork:Fawcett olumbine.West,Robert . 1964a. Thenaturalegionsfmid-dle America.n Natural nvironmentsndearlycultures. ol.1, Handbook f MiddleAmericanIndians, p. 363-83.Austin:Universityf TexasPress.1964b. Surface onfigurationnd associ-atedgeology f MiddleAmerica.nNatural n-vironmentsndearlyultures,ol.1,Handbookof MiddleAmericanndians, p. 33-83.Austin:UniversityfTexasPress.and PedroArmillas. 952. LaschinampaseM6xico. Poesfa realidad de los "jardinesflontates."uadernos mericanos0:165-82.Whitmore,homasM. 1991. A simulationfthesixteenth-centuryopulation ollapse in theBasinofMexico.Annalsof the Association fAmerican eographers1(3):464-87.

* 1992. Disease and death n early olonialMexico: Simulating merindian epopulation.Dellplain LatinAmericanGeographySeries.Boulder, O: Westview ress.Wilhelmy, erbert. 1981. Weltund umweltderMaya.Munich:R.Piper nd Co. Verlag.Wilken,Gene C. 1969. Drainedfield griculture:An ntensivearmingystemnTlaxcala,Mexico.The Geographical eview 9:215-41.* 1971. Food-producingystems vailable othe ancientMaya.American ntiquity6:xx.. 1979. Traditionallope management: nanalyticalpproach.n Hill ands:Proceedingsfan internationalymposium, p. 416-21.Mor-gantown:WestVirginia niversityooks.* 1985. Anoteon bouyancynd other ubi-ous characteristicsf the "floating"hinampasof Mexico. nPrehistoricntensivegriculturenthe ropics,d. I. S. Farrington,p.31-48. nter-national eries232.Oxford:Britishrchaeolog-icalReports.* 1987. Goodfarmers:raditionalgriculturalresourcemanagementn Mexico and CentralAmerica. Berkeley: University f CaliforniaPress.Wilkerson,. Jeffrey. 1983. So green ike gar-den: Intensivegriculturen ancientVeracruz.InDrained ield griculturenCentral nd SouthAmerica,d. J.P.Darch, p.55-90. nternationalSeries 189. Oxford: British rchaeological e-ports.

Williams,arbara . 1972. TepetatentheValley fMexico.Annals f theAssociation f AmericanGeographers2(4):618-26.Wilson, ugeneM. 1980. Physicaleographyf heYucatan eninsula.nYucatan, worldapart,d.E.H. Moseley ndE.D. Terry, p. 5-40. Univer-sity, L: UniversityfAlabama ress.Wolf, ricC., and Palerm,Angel. 1955. Irrigationinthe old Acolhuadomain,Mexico.Southwest-ernJournalfAnthropology1:265-81.ZamoraAcosta, lias. 1985. LosMayas e las tierrasaltas n el sigloXVI.Tradici6ncambio n Gua-temala. evilla:Diputaci6n rovinciale Sevilla.

me so american horticulture

Documents