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The King's Copper Mine: Inguarán in New Spain*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Elinore M. Barrett
Elinore M. Barrett*
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Extract

Long before the Spanish conquest, mines in south-central Michoacán were worked to provide native people with copper for tools and ornaments. (See map.) After the Conquest Spaniards went after gold and silver but left copper mining to the Indians. However, Indians were eventually divested of control of this resource as they were of so many others. Evolution of the pattern of copper mine ownership and the securing of a labor force are the topics of this paper, particularly as they are illustrated in the case of the Crown's mine, San Bartolomé Inguarán.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , July 1981 , pp. 1 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1981

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Footnotes

*

Abbreviations

AGI Archivo General de Indias, Seville

AGN Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico

AHH Archivo Histórico de Hacienda, Mexico

CDH Centro de Documentación Histórica, Biblioteca del Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, México

References

1 Pérez, Pedro R. Hendrichs, Por Tierras Ignotas, Viages y Observaciones en la Región del Río de las Balsas (México, 1945), v. 1, pp. 192–211.Google Scholar Kelly, Isabel, Excavations at Apatzingán, Michoacán, Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology No. 7 (New York, 1947), pp. 138–139,Google Scholar 142–143. Moreno, Wigberto Jiménez “Historia antigua de la zona tarasca,” El occidente de México, Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, Cuarta Mesa Redonda (México, 1948), pp. 146–157.Google Scholar Relación de las ceremonias y ritos y población y gobierno de los indios de la provincia de Michoacán. Kirchoff, Paul, Tudela, José and Núñez, José Corona eds. (Madrid, 1956), pp. 83,Google Scholar 158, 192, 198, 268, 272. Warren, Fintan B. ed., “Minas de Cobre de Michoacán, 1533,” Anales del Museo Michoacano 6 (1968): 36,Google Scholar 42, 46–48, 50.

2 Cortés, Hernán, Cartas y relaciones de Hernán Cortés al Emperador Carlos V(Paris, 1866), pp. 311–312.Google Scholar Epistolario de Nueva España, del Paso, Francisco y Troncoso, , ed., 16 vols. (México, 1939–1942), v. 3, p. 17.Google Scholar

3 Bargalló, Modesto, La minería y la metalurgía en la América española durante la época colonial (México and Buenos Aires, 1955), p. 30.Google Scholar Borah, Woodrow and Cook, Sherburne F., The Aboriginal Population of Central Mexico on the Eve of the Spanish Conquest, Ibero-Americana: 45 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1963), pp. 131,Google Scholar 134 and end map. Preconquest copper tribute items were paid by villagers in the districts of Tepequacuilco and Quiauhteopan. (See map.)

4 y Troncose, Paso, Epistolario, v. 3, p. 9.Google Scholar Belmonte, Fernando y Clemente, , Colección de Documentos Históricos, Noticias y Extractos, 5 vols. (Sevilla, 1886) v. 1, f. 154r, 162.Google Scholar

5 Papeles de Nueva España, y Troncoso, Francisco del Paso, ed., Second Series, 7 vols. (Madrid, 1905–1906), v. 1, p. 80.Google Scholar El libro de las tasaciones de pueblos de la Nueva España, siglo XVI ( México, 1952), p. 146.

6 The following discussion of the copper mining situation in 1533 is based on AGI, Indiferente General, leg. 1204 published by Warren, in Anales del Museo Michoacano (1968),Google Scholar no. 6, except where otherwise noted.

7 Further evidence of the importance of south-central Michoacán as a center of copper mining is provided by the Lienzo de Jucutacato. The interpretation of the Lienzo used in this paper is that presented by Moreno, , “Historia antigua de la zona tarasca,” El occidente de México, pp. 146–157.Google Scholar This post-Conquest codex shows the migration of a group of Toltecan metalworkers from central México into Michoacán where they settled in Jicalán, possibly in the twelfth or thirteenth century. One trip made by these people from Jicalán, perhaps for the purpose of locating mines, took them to La Huacana, Tepulan, Churumuco, and Sanchiqueo. Drawings accompanying the last three locations show people coming out of hills carrying something, an activity that might indicate mining although the text does not say so. Mines are definitely named at a place called Xicalhuacán, located in the general vicinity of Huetamo in southeastern Michoacán. The drawing for this place also shows people carrying something out of a hill. Because of its location between La Huacana and Churumuco, Tepulan might be considered to be in the vicinity of the place later called Inguarán. Sanchiqueo, known from later colonial documents to be a copper mining center, is located in the same general area described for Cocian in the 1533 reports. Jicalán is not mentioned specifically in these reports, but three Spanish witnesses mentioned that they had heard of copper mines near Uruapan, a principal village located a short distance from Jicalán. The Indians of Jicalán are described in later colonial documents as miners and refiners of copper. Information derived from the Lienzo de Jucutucato thus appears to support the general pattern of location of copper mines presented in the 1533 reports.

8 Papeles de Sueva España, v. 1, p. 294. Libro de tasaciones, p. 187. The amount of yearly tribute was listed as 40 bricks (ladrillas) every 40 days or a total of 360. A ladrilla is interpreted by this writer to be the same as a tejuelo and converted at the rate of 25 tejuelos to the carga. Amounts described as a piece (pedazo) were also considered to be equivalent to a tejuelo. The tejuelo was variously described as the size of a large hand or a medium plate and two fingers thick. About 20 to 30 of these units constituted a carga. The carga, which in one instance was described as a carga de tameme or the amount that an Indian bearer (tameme) could carry, was set at 50 Castilian pounds (libras), the equivalent of 50.7 U.S. pounds or 23 kilograms.

9 Papeles de Nueva España, v. 1, pp. 191, 256. Libro de tasaciones, pp. 190–191.

10 In 1533 women were helping in the mine, carrying out waste material or soft ore. The context in which the phrase “sacan la tierra” is used leaves the term tierra open to either interpretation. ( Warren, , “Minas,” p. 49.Google Scholar)

11 In converting monthly production to an annual basis, it is assumed that the Indian witnesses referred to months of 20 days and 80 days meant 4.5 times per year. The fragmentary and, at times, contradictory quantitative data in the 1533 reports make it impossible to obtain more than a tentative idea of the amount of copper produced at that time.

12 AGN, Minería, v. 132, exp. 1, f. 28.

13 AGI, Patronato, leg. 184, ramo 27.

14 AGI, México, leg. 1088, ramo 3.

15 AGI, México, leg. 324.

16 The following description of conditions in 1599 is based on AGI, México, leg. 258, unless otherwise noted.

17 AGN, General de Parte, v. 5, exp. 1427, f. 324v; exp. 1428, f. 325.

18 CDH, Michoacán, roll 3.

19 Bernal stated that the Indians owed him 600 caballos of ore. One caballo of ore was equal to one carga of 10 arrobas, or 250 Castilian pounds of ore. The quintal was equal to 100 pounds. (AGN, General de Parte, v. 5, exp. 1428, f. 325.)

20 CDH, Michoacán, roll 5.

21 The hill was compared to a fortress made of stone and mortar (cal y canto) in which the ore was the mortar. This description is remarkably similar to that made by a geologist in the mid-nineteenth century when he stated that the ore occurred as a stockwork, “as if the rock had been broken up into coarse fragments, and recemented by having all its interstices filled with copper ore.” (Mexican Pacific Coal and Iron Mining and Land Company, Reports of the Exploring Expedition to the States of Guerrero and Michoacán, Republic of México, 1856–1857 (New York, 1858). pp. 42–43.)

22 AGN, General de Parte, v. 5, exp. 1428, f. 325. AGN, Reales Cédulas Duplicadas, v. 5, exp. 662, ff. 161v–162v. The 2 pesos per carga that the Crown paid for copper ore was the same price paid by private individuals.

23 Previously, in February, 1594, the viceroy had ordered a survey of the jurisdiction of La Huacana, Sinagua, and Churumuco that would serve as the basis of a congregation. (AGN, Indios, v. 6, pt. 2, exp. 857, ff. 211–211v.)

24 Rodríguez estimated that each miner could produce a half carga or 125 pounds of ore in a 6-hour day and the 16 miners working 300 days could thus produce 2,400 cargas of ore which would yield 1,200 qq. of metal. The carga of ore was reckoned at 250 Castilian pounds, not as a carga de temerne of 50 pounds.

25 Rodríguez estimated that each smelter worker could produce 15 pounds of copper ore per day or a total of 480 pounds for the 32 workers, the equivalent of 4qq. when converted at the rate of 120 pounds to the quintal, a value of the quintal peculiar to this situation.

26 One fanega consists of 100 Castilían pounds.

27 This category included: Istaro, Patcuarenbo, Tunácuaro, Parno, Quengaceo, Cuamo, and Panguacio — all located near Ario.

28 Information about the 1605 congregation hearings is based on “La Relación de la Guacana, Michoacán, de Baltasar Dorantes Carranza, año de 1605,” Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación, v. 3, n. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1962): 679–702.

29 A married couple constituted one tributary and, therefore, was roughly equivalent to a household, making the figures in Tables IV and V comparable with those in Tables II and III.

30 According to Dorantes Carranza’s estimate one worker could produce 50 cargas of ore each year or only a third of the amount estimated by Rodríguez in 1599.

31 AGN, Reales Cédulas Duplicadas, v. 16, exp. 346, f. 108.

32 CDH, Michoacán, roll 7.

33 AGN, Reales Cédulas Duplicadas, v. 16, exp. 277, ff. 141–141v.

34 Recopilación de leyes de los reynos de las Indias (Madrid, 1973), libro IV, título XIX, leyes xiv, XV.

35 y Capdequi, José Ma. Ots, Historia del Derecho Español en América y del Derecho Indiano (Madrid, 1969), pp. 254–255.Google Scholar

36 Ponce, Alonso, Relación breve y verdadera de algunas cosas de las muchas que sucedieron al padre fray Alonso Ponce en las provincias de la Nueva Espana, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1873), v. 2, pp. 114–115.Google Scholar Warren, J. Benedict, La Conquista de Michoacán, 1521–1530 (Morella, 1977), p. 283.Google Scholar

37 AGN, Reales Cédulas Duplicadas, v. 5, exp. 660, f. 161,exp. 662, ff. 161v–162v,and exp. 663, f. 162v.

38 Unless otherwise noted, the following discussion is based on: AGN, Minería, v. 22, exp. 3, ff. 75–81, and AGN, Reales Cédulas Duplicadas, v. 16, exp. 344, ff. 101–106v.

39 El obispado de Michoacán en el siglo XVII (Morella, 1973), pp. 93, 94, 125, 126, 185. Places included in Table VII are those previously mentioned in the text for which data are available in this source.

40 AGN, Minería, v. 205, exp. 1, f. 24v.

41 AGN, Reales Cédulas Duplicadas, v. 16, exp. 348, ff. 109v–110 and exp. 350, f. 112.

42 CDH, Michoacán, roll 4.

43 AGN, Minería, v. 22, exp. 3, ff. 75–81. AGN, Reales Cédulas Duplicadas, v. 16, exp. 349, ff. 111–111v.

44 Gerhard, Peter, A Guide to the Historical Geography of New Spain (Cambridge, 1972), p. 75.Google Scholar

45 AGN, Reales Cédulas Duplicadas, v. 16, exp. 347, ff. 108v–109v.

46 AGN, Indios, v. 7, ff. 28–29v.

47 AGN, Indios, v. 7, exp. 74, ff. 35v–38, 52–52v.

48 AGN, Reales Cédulas Duplicadas, v. 16, exp. 359, ff. 117–117v.

49 CDH, Michoacán, roll 4.

50 AGN, General de Parte, v. 7, exp. 337, f. 321v.

51 AGN, General de Parte, v. 7, exp. 337, ff. 231–232.

52 CDH, Michoacán, roll 4.

53 CDH, Michoacán, roll 4. The 8 villages were: Tzintzuntzan, Huiramángaro, Ajuno, Zirahuen, Tumbio, Pichátaro, Sinagua, and La Huacana. (See map.)

54 AGN, Indios, v. 11, exp. 343, ff. 277v–279. The 18 villages were: Charo, Etúcuaro, Tiripetío, Turicato, Nocupétaro, Zirándaro, Guayameo, Tancitaro, Jiquilpan, Tarécuato, Jacona, Tingüidin, Zirosto, Tacámbaro, Peribán, Undameo, Capula, and Jasáquaro, (See map.)

55 AGN, Indios, v. 11, exp. 403, ff. 321v–322; v. 12, pt. 2, exp. 143, ff. 254v–255v;v. 13, exp. 37, ff. 61v–62.

56 AGN, Indios, v. 12, ff. 52 and 230–231.

57 CDH, Michoacán, roll 7.

58 AGN, Reales Cédulas Duplicadas, v. 49, exp. 8, f. 306.

59 CDH, Michoacán, roll 7.

60 CDH, Michoacán, roll 8.

61 AGN, General de Parte, v. 19, exp. 46, ff. 31–31v.

62 AGN, General de Parte, v. 19, exp. 96, f. 66v.

63 AGN, Minería, v. 205, exp. 1, ff. 12–12v.

64 AGN, Minería, v. 16, exp. 1, f. 16v.

65 Barrett, Elinore M. “Copper in New Spain’s Eighteenth Century Economy, Crisis and Resolution,” Jahrbuch für Geschichte von Staat, Wirischaft und Gesellschaft Lateinamerikas (1981),CrossRefGoogle Scholar in press.

66 AGN, Minería, v. 205, exp. 1, ff. 3, 7v–8.

67 AGN, Minería, v. 22, exp. 3, ff. 77–79.

68 AGN, General de Parte, v. 24, exp. 167, ff. 106v–107; v. 19, exp. 46, ff. 31–31v.

69 AGN, General de Parte, v. 24, exp. 167, ff. 106–109.

70 AGN, Minería, v. 63, exp. 5, ff. 374–381; v. 181, exp. 6, ff. 11v, 17–17v.

71 AGN, Minería, v. 181, exp. 6, ff. l0v, 17–17v.

72 AGN, Minería, v. 181, exp. 6, ff. 3–17v.

73 The following discussion is based on: AGN, Mineria, v. 181, exp. 7, ff. 1–21.

74 AGN, AHH, v. 455, exp. 8, ff. 40–77v.

75 AGN, Minería, v. 132, exp. 1, ff. 71–94–94v.

76 AGN, Minería, v. 132, exp. 1, ff. 94v–95.

77 AGN, Minería, v. 132, exp. 1, ff. 31–31v.

78 AGN, Minería, v. 132, exp. 1, ff. 53–53v, 55.

79 AGN, Minería, v. 63, exp. 4, ff. 311–339v.

80 AGN, Minería, v. 63, exp. 5, ff. 361–361v; v. 132, exp. 1, ff. 52–52v.

81 AGN, Minería, v. 63, exp. 4, f. 341.

82 AGN, Minería, v. 132, exp. 1, ff. 43v–44.

83 de Fonseca, Fabián and de Urrutia, Carlos, Historia General de Real Hacienda (México, 1850), v. 3, p. 522.Google Scholar

84 CDH, Michoacán, roll 7. Ibarrola was apparently the agent of Juan de Dios de Acha, resident of Pátzcuaro. In 1808 Ibarrola, representing Acha whom he named as owner of the mine called San Bartolomé Inguarán, petitioned the treasury for an increase in the price of refined copper. (AGN, Minería, v. 157, exp. 6, f. 1.)