Colonial Negotiation in the Frontier Province of Beneficios Altos

Summary

The frontier location of the Spanish colonial province of Beneficios Altos, Yucatan provides a unique case study for investigation into the lives and strategies of colonial Maya individuals and communities. Given their proximity to a notoriously porous southern border and the documented record of significant numbers of people who escaped colonial authority by crossing that border, those communities and individuals living within the boundaries of Beneficios Altos can largely be considered to have remained by choice. A process of colonial negotiation carried out primarily through daily, mundane interactions between agents representing and/or opposing the interests of the Spanish Empire established the foundation by which residents of Beneficios Altos communities (both Maya and non-Maya) maintained and created distinct cultural and ethnic identities. This paper details the process of colonial negotiation and draws upon archaeological and documentary data to demonstrate examples of its effect on the Beneficios Altos population and landscape during the colonial and early national periods.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Recent Shifts in Maya Archaeology: Investigations of the Colonial and National Periods of the Yucatan   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17341