The ‘Landlords’ and the operation of meat supply in Tlaxcala in the sixteenth century

Abstract

In the 1570s, in the province of Tlaxcala, Viceroy Martin Enriquez implemented an ordinance which banned the sale of meat in Indian villages. The prohibition intended to secure the meat supply for the Republic of the Spaniards at a time of cattle shortage. But the prohibition had different angles. In Tlaxcala the ordinance took the form of a state meat monopoly that was wrested from indigenous control, rather than a prohibition. This constituted a revocation of the ordinance, clearly benefiting Spanish meat merchants. However, the Indian Council insisted on restoring the ban. In the same decade, a serious struggle still existed between the Tlaxcalan Indian farmers and the cattle ranchers, over the animals’ intrusions to farmlands. In this context, the prohibition would serve the Tlaxcalan ruling elite as a barrier to keep cowherds off the farmlands, a problem that had affected the Indian farmers for at least two decades.