| Sumario: | This paper reveals several levels of Indian participation and products in commercial channels in Las Huastecas (mainly Villa de Valles and Huejutla), a social setting where Indians coexisted with Mulattos, Mestizos and white people. Commercial activities were not only shared in social and ethnic terms, and in cross-cultural relations, but also in the occupation of territories by several actors: Haciendas, Indian towns, mission towns, barrios, rancherías and farms. This study stresses economic geography and the role of piloncillo (raw sugar) not only as a means of commercial exchange, but as merchandise needed for tribute, for the repartimiento de mercancías (merchandise distribution) and for ecclesiastical perquisites. The authors also reveal the characteristics of the repartimiento and suggest that the relations established by historians between tribute and repartimiento should be nuanced.
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