| Resumo: | This is an analysis of the political and economic factors than allowed the keeping of a herd of goats as communal property from the república de indios of the colonial period until municipal administrations at the beginning of the twentieth century in the region called the Mixteca Alta.The case of Tepelmeme, Oaxaca, is the basis of an account of the economic importance of communal property in the local governments of villages and municipios, as well of the opposition of villages to liberal laws of the nineteenth century.In short, during the colonial period and part of the nineteenth century, communal property was the main economic support of Indian villages. Not only was this property equivalent to communal savings kept for critical moments, but also an economic means that allowed financing public administration and paying for religious services. Moreover, it was a factor that gave cohesion to these villages and inserted them into a regional economy.
|