Central America in the 17th Century 
Dr. Eduardo Madrigal 
1. A historiographic review 
It has been pointed out that some periods in Latin American colonial history have been 
neglected over time. And many times, historians talk about the 17th century as a “dark 
age”, “the forgotten century” or “the poor relative” of colonial studies, not only 
because of the recessive and decadent character that is often attributed to it, but also 
because it is fairly understudied. Other periods, such as the 16th and the late 17th 
century have historically drawn much more attention, the former because it is the 
conquest century par excellence, and the latter because it is the century of the 
Bourbon Reforms –especially after 1750 or even1770-, that prepares the revolutionary 
era of Hispanic American Independences. Whatever lays in the middle is still badly 
known. This reality has started to change recently, nonetheless, as new generations of 
historians have been interested in this neglected epoch1. 
The region we call nowadays “Central America”, which is roughly the ancient 
kingdom of Guatemala -or the five countries that arised from its disintegration, plus 
the nowadays Mexican state of Chiapas-, is no exception. Few studies have focused 
exclusively in this particular century. Usually, it deserves a chapter in some books. Even 
though many other works, with a larger time span, do mention or somewhat treat the 
period –often in the form of scattered mentions all over the text-, as can be seen in the 
further reading section, the works written with an explicit temporal delimitation 
between 1600 and 1700 –or covering a time span slightly up and down of these dates- 
for the region do not reach the twenty-five. Many of these works are either 
unpublished thesis, fairly specialized scientific review articles, or chapters in scholarly 
compilations. Only a few are full letter books, available for broader audiences. 
Moreover, it seems visible that not all countries in the region have deserved 
the same attention of scholars. Actually, the two most studied countries -but also the 
most studious- in the region have historically been Guatemala and Costa Rica. Even in 
the present times, the most part of historiographical production in the region comes 
from these two countries –and is written about them- and the majority of historical 
research institutions are located within their frontiers. Foreign scholars are responsible 
for a great deal of studies focused on the region as well. 
After Murdo McLeod published he’s classical work entitled Spanish Central 
America, a Socio-economic history (1520-1720)2 in 1973, some authors have stood out 
in the field. Among the most important authors dealing with this obscure century that 
can be cited it is possible to find Stephen Webre, who has worked about the town 
council (“cabildo”) of Santiago de Guatemala3; and Paul Lokken, who has written on 
the African populations in the province of Guatemala4. Of course, the Guatemalan 
Severo Martínez-Peláez, who wrote about the creole world vision after the thought of 
colonial historian Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán in his classical book “La 
Patria del Criollo”5, cannot be forgotten whatsoever. Other author have to be 
mentioned as well, for instance, Rina Cáceres who deals with African slavery in Costa 
Rica6; Claudia Quirós who has written on the institution of “encomienda” in the same 
country7. Also, Elizet Payne and Carmela Velázquez have written still unpublished 
thesis on the period, for Costa Rica as well8. Finally, Eduardo Madrigal has written, in 
the same way, about subjects such as power, miscegenation and cacao production in 
the century, always for the case of Costa Rica9. The most part of the other works cited 
in this account either cover the century within larger time spans, or mention it as a 
part of broader subjects. 
2. The primary sources 
The main feature of the primary sources of this century as to do undoubtedly with 
reading difficulties due to the extended use at the time of chained court or procedural 
writing at the epoch. This is not the case, however, with parish archives, whose 
documentation is much more readable. Actually, this is probably another reason why 
some historians prefer to avoid getting too close to this period10.  
 The archives in the region are not very easy to access or work in, neither. 
Probably the most important archive of the former kingdom of Guatemala is the 
“Archivo General de Centroamérica” (AGCA), located in the ancient capital city, 
Guatemala, and containing information about all other provinces of the zone. It is 
followed by the Costa Rica National Archive (ANCR), an institution that stands out in 
the region as an example of order and professionalism since its foundation in 1881, 
and is nowadays the main collection of costarrican historical documentation. The 
ecclesiastic archive Bernardo Augusto Thiel of Costa Rica has been following this 
example recently, and stands out as an important institution on the field. The 
Ecclesiastic Archive of Guatemala and that of Chiapas –located in San Cristóbal de las 
Casas- have to be mentioned as well. On their side, the National Archives of Honduras 
–situated in the former presidential house and nowadays founded with a larger 
institution called “Centro Documental de Investigaciones Históricas de Honduras 
CDIHH-HONDURAS”- and the “Archivo General de la Nación” of El Salvador, exist in the 
same way, but guard collections with an amount rather small of documents of the 17th 
century, the latter mainly in its “Colonial” and “Tierras” sections. Concerning 
Nicaragua, only the ecclesiastic archive of the Cathedral of León survives, and contains 
nowadays only a fraction of the documentation it once had since the most part of it is 
hopelessly lost. Until recently, the archives in the region used to keep their collections 
in a rather disordered state, but not long ago they have started to take efforts to 
improve this situation. Few of them are investing, however, in the conservation and 
restoration of their documents (with the exception, perhaps, of the ANCR). Of course, 
the “Archivo de Indias”, in the city of Seville, Spain, is the most important European 
collection of documents on the region and period, which can be found under the 
signature “Audiencia de Guatemala”. 
Finally, some collections of historical documents and other primary sources 
containing information about the period have been published, as is the case of the 
“Colección de Documentos para la Historia de Costa Rica”11, the Somoza Collection of 
documents for Nicaraguan History12, or some town council records13, or the works of 
some historians of the colonial times14, just to mention a few15. Some reviews 
published by the archives in the region even since the 19th century often contain 
modern transcriptions of documents of the period16.  
3. Central America in the 17th Century 
Visions of a century 
How to characterize a whole century? Throughout the period, it seems clear that all 
major forces structuring society, from political power to economic organization are 
already in place and at work in the whole kingdom17. To begin, it is clear that the whole 
region assumed the traits of a dependent economy. On the other hand, colonial 
political systems and socio-economic schemes were already solidly implanted in the 
kingdom since they had already underwent enough testing all over Hispanic America18. 
The fluctuations of world and intercolonial markets and the daily struggle for the 
subsistence of human beings in a context of brutal social asymmetry framed the lives 
of human beings in Central America during this period. After the upheavals of the 
conquest, an aura of drowsy stability seized the social climate of the time, therefore, 
the 17th century can be characterized as a century of consolidation and stabilization. 
Meditating in the same direction, an intriguing fact, which seems to cross the 
period transversally in all fields appear: the 17th century seems to be of hybrid century. 
Situated between the 16th and the 18th, it seems to be encrusted between modernity 
and premodernity in many ways. For instance, it presents a hegemony of commercial 
capital -with an elite of merchants associated with mercantilist thinking in the 
foreground-, coexisting with institutions and usages of strong feudal mood such as the 
encomienda19. Hibrids are always as interesting to study as hard to understand; that is, 
in fact, what makes them such a challenging research subject.  
Another characterization that historiography traditionally has made of this 
period of time departs of the idea that the 17th century was a century of crisis. 
 Crisis or no crisis 
In fact, the idea of this century as a crisis period has been managed for European 
history of the same time and seems to have been applied to the colonial domains as a 
result. Many historians have employed the same approach for the region. McLeod, for 
instance, places the beginning of this crisis around 1630, when the fall of the 
indigenous population became more noticeable, the failure of commercial indigo and 
cacao crops launched since the previous century and, especially, the slowdown and 
decline of the fleet system implanted by the Spanish crown since the end of the 16th 
century. According to McLeod20, the peak of the process would be in the 1650s and 
after 1680 the first signs of recovery would begin to be seen. Cardoso and Pérez 
Brignoli also endorse the theses of a western world crisis –affecting its colonial 
domains- the in the 17th century21. In general, these authors conceive the epoch as a 
period of stagnation and recoil in nearly all aspects of life, especially as far as economic 
development is concerned. They tend to speak about a ruralization process according 
to which powerful Spaniards would have deserted the main cities in the kingdom 
because of the economic crisis they were enduring, and fled to the countryside, where 
living conditions were easier. 
However, some historiographical tendencies have recently tended to put this 
assertion into examination. Palma Murga has stated that, more than a crisis, a process 
of accommodation of all aspects of the newly born colonial society seems to operate: 
the construction of political institutions, the structuration of economy in all its 
concerns (production for internal markets, exports canalizing local wealth to the 
metropolis, as well as intercolonial trade), social and ethnic groups… Aspects such as 
demography, trade, crown finances, mining and the so called “ruralization” are still to 
be studied in depth. Reading this author, the conclusion to extract is that the marginal 
character of the colony can be a factor that produces the impression of general 
recession throughout the century, but this might not be but an impression22. Newson 
is not sure either to find a process of ruralization in the case of Honduras, since it is 
true that many Spaniards abandoned the cities in search of subsistence, but others 
obtained a considerable amount of wealth through economic activities such as, indigo 
or cacao planting and cattle growing23. 
 Actually, the peripheral position of the kingdom in the context of the empire 
necessarily pushed it into a dynamic of poor economic momentum and preindustrial 
dynamics of extensive economic growth, by aggregation of factors, inevitably slowed 
down economic growth, not only in the region, but in the Western World as a whole. 
Moreover, subjection to economic cycles coming from the outside used to provoke 
severe oscillations of local economy, determining the weakness and uncertainty of 
internal economy. In the case of Costa Rica, It can be noticed that successive crisis 
moments –not a single secular crisis- are followed by equally successive solutions 
proposed by the local elite to overcome difficult times. The crisis of the “encomienda” 
as a modus vivendi towards 1610 is followed by a turn to food production and 
commerce directed to the isthmus of Panama. When these activities decline around 
1650, a new alternative appeared: cacao, always directed towards southern markets. 
When this new possibility was exhausted, the turn to smuggling became noticeable 
after 168024. So, a succession of crisis moments –instead of a single secular crisis- in 
the context of a peripheral economy seems to be the case. 
Society and Demography 
Undoubtedly, 17th century Central American society was based on racial segregation, 
with tendencies to merging between ethnic groups.  
Destructured indigenous peoples reorganized for the benefit of the conquering 
system, were managed largely through coercion. In order to justify this from the legal 
point of view, the aborigines were defined by the colonial system as minors, to make 
them fit as tuteled beings in the current legal system25. But in the background of all 
this lay a blunt reality: indeed, the main goal of the colonial system was the extraction 
of surplus and the appropriation of the labor force of the indigenous community26. In 
fact, they provided the base for the rest of social stratification in the kingdom27. 
Concerning demography, more studies have to be made but, judging by the 
augmentation of indigenous tributary population, everything seems to indicate that 
population underwent a slight rise during the century, after the fall experimented over 
the 16th century28. However, by the end of the century the indigenous population 
decline in some regions, such as Costa Rica, was catastrophic29. In Honduras, on its 
side, it apparently stabilizes, after the catastrophic descent of the previous century30, 
although epidemics, miscegenation and alteration of their living patterns continued to 
provoke a sustained diminution of their numbers all over the century31. Finally, in the 
Guatemalan Cuchumatanes region it has been documented that demographic losses 
were enormous over the century due to the same factors32. 
At the top of the social framework, and certainly at the opposite side of the 
natives, a reduced Spanish elite, thirsty for wealth, controlled not only the major 
sources of enrichment in the kingdom –especially foreign trade and commercial 
capital-, but the access to the summit of political and military power, knowledge and 
social connections, since most of them were tied-up to each other through kinship 
relations, forming a tight group of dominant families33. The merchant sector of this 
group used to control the direct producers of the most productive branches of the 
kingdom -landowners and miners, the other sector of the dominant elite-, mainly 
through the granting of loans (given in goods rather than money), to finance their 
production, which they had to deliver almost entirely when canceling the obligation 
year by year34. Members of these dominant families were situated in the Audience, 
town councils, corregimientos, royal treasure, and the church35, a dynamic reproduced 
by local elites in nearly in all regions of the kingdom. Summing up to the group of 
European colonizers, a mass of Spanish immigrants looking for fortune but harshly 
excluded of it, inhabited the kingdom as well. For example, at the end of the century, a 
sector of creole impoverished peasantry can be detected in the country side and the 
city of Cartago, Costa Rica, alternating with the half-blood sectors in the world of work 
at the time36. 
The lack of labor force due to the decline of indigenous population was partially 
solved by the importation of African slaves37. Groups of slaves brought from Africa to 
the main enclaves of economic activity such as mines and plantations, or just to work 
as domestic servants to the Spanish, to meet the needs of labor force where 
indigenous population was absent or severely diminished. Many of them were 
liberated by their masters, constituting a mass of poor salaried workers, surviving in 
the countryside and cities on their own. They entered the world of salaried work and 
established relationships with people from other ethnic groups, giving place to 
miscegenation.  
Apparently, before 1587, the African presence in the province of Guatemala 
was rather rare. However, after that year and up to 1640 important groups of slaves 
arrived to the region, most of them through Honduran Caribbean ports although, after 
1603, some had been coming in through the port of Santo Tomás de Castilla. By the 
middle of the century, they were working in cattle growing farms (“estancias”) and 
indigo processing facilities (“obrajes”), in several regions of Guatemala38.  
A tiny but growing half-blood population made out of the mixtures of all these 
settlers added-up to the social complex and constituted a significant component of the 
world of labor and social marginality, since they were not considered full letter 
members of the “Two Republic” society and, thus, socially underestimated. The 
mixture of Spanish and indigenous was the “mestizo” population. The half-blood 
African inhabitants were the so-called “mulatos” and “pardos libres” of the 
documentary record. Slave and free African-blooded sectors lived in the cities, and 
served as labor providers for the Spaniards. In the same way, some economic and 
social activities -such as rural production, handcraft and the army- were spaces for 
social mobility for these populations39.  Actually, it has been pointed out that 
miscegenation arose wherever there were important economic activities that required 
labor and where people from all ethnic groups converged in search of work. This 
includes domestic servitude in the homes of powerful Spaniards. Honduran mines, 
Guatemalan indigo processing facilities (“obrajes”), and farms all over the kingdom 
were the scenery of this process40. Thus, the emergence of half-blood groups 
undermined the segregated colonial system of “Two Republics” established by the 
Spanish and created a social layer condemned to exclusion and marginality41. As a 
matter of fact, these marginal groups –impoverished Spanish, free afro-descendants 
and half-blood people- were dispersing throughout the kingdom looking for a living, 
and thus constituted floating populations, fairly difficult to control for the colonial 
authorities. 
In Costa Rica, according to parish christening books, the proportion of half-
blood population was rather weak42. It has been documented that, in this province, 
half-blood population born of the mixture of indigenous and Spanish (“mestizos”) was 
rather rare during the century, and “mulato” population (mixture of Africans and 
Spanish) was more abundant. The cause of this situation was, apparently, the drastic 
segregation put in place by the Spanish over the indigenous population –confined 
within their “pueblos” and, thus, impeded to mix with the Spanish- as well as its 
catastrophic demographic decline, due to overexploitation. The most important era for 
miscegenation in Costa Rica would be, therefore, the 18th century43.  
This is the social landscape of the kingdom of Guatemala in the period, but 
other landscapes are also to be taken into account. 
A fragmented space 
The fragmentation of the space is a major characteristic of Central America in nearly all 
times in its history44. The region, in fact, was constructed as a set of enclaves 
determined by a particular economic activity, thought up by the Spaniards of every 
particular region to solve strategic problems of survival and foreign trade. They were 
thus defined according to survival needs, but also in relation to productive capacities 
and the need to satisfy external demands. From these criteria were defined the 
dynamics of appropriation of the territory by the Spanish and the organization of 
indigenous populations45. Indigo, cacao and indigenous labor force were undoubtedly 
the main columns that gave support to the whole colonial economy. This dynamic 
determined the existence of an internal production destined to be consumed by local 
markets and exportation products, directed to a broader world economy, subjected to 
economic cycles46. Thus, the kingdom was made out of a set of territories created by 
several groups of conquerors, later on assembled under the authority of the same 
Audience, but lacking the unity created by and economic integration or 
interdependence. It Included the provinces of Guatemala, Chiapas, Honduras, El 
Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, each one of them divided into several economic 
regions, not always well connected among each other47. All of them were framed, 
however only thanks to the political administration. 
The political order 
The regime of government of the Habsburg dynasty was the main framework of 
colonial life during the 17th century. It was defined by a practice that can be 
characterized as a real “legation of sovereignty”48, where the authority of the crown 
was handed over to local elites as long as they ruled in the name of the monarchy, in 
exchange for the granting of political favors. The Habsburg dynasty was rather weak, 
since distance made communications between colonies and mother country a real 
odyssey, and so the crown depended largely on local elites to sustain its power beyond 
the Atlantic. In this context, the crown acted as a mediator between the interests of 
various groups, and relied on both written laws and unwritten customs to govern49. 
Therefore, the loyalty of local elites to the empire was maintained through a pattern of 
exchange of favors against services50. This is why the Habsburg crown depended 
almost entirely of local interests to exert its power and nearly any attempt to change 
established order was immediately rejected and definitely blocked by local elites51. 
In this context, some aspects have to be pointed out in order to understand the 
mechanisms of politics in this period, since some features of absolutist state were 
fairly different to the state of modern times. First, it has to be outlined that political 
offices were reserved for the members of the dominant families, but a drip of Spanish 
immigration from the mother country brought about a new group of Spaniards from 
the peninsula (“peninsulares”) that started competing for it with the old families, 
although they were frequently united to the oldest conquistador group by means of 
marriage52. As a result, the use of political positions for personal enrichment by the 
royal employees was not seen as corruption, but as a legitimate way to reward the 
devoted service of faithful vassals. Plus, it is necessary to understand that, at this time, 
there the division of powers, typical of the modern state, did not exist so all 
institutions were legislative, executive and judicial at the same time.  
The main governing institution of the epoch as the Audience and, as it can be 
easily guessed, it was located in Santiago de Guatemala, since it was the capital city of 
the kingdom. In the political field, the 17th century initiates with the addition, after 
1609 of military functions to the presidency of the Audience53. It is important to 
outline as well the role of the real treasure officials (in charge of the tax 
administration) and the notaries (“escribanos”, in charge of manage the legal affairs of 
the population and institutions). By 1646, the territory of the Audience was composed 
of four governments (larger territories under the authority of a governor), eight 
“alcaldías mayores" (relatively small jurisdictions with indigenous and half-blood 
population, under the command of an “alcalde mayor) and sixteen “corregimientos” 
(territories under the control of a “Corregidor”, populated only by indigenous peoples). 
All of them were strongly military in character, and were assisted by the army. All 
three charges seemed to be similar in fonctions, although governments were 
considered more outstanding than the others, and therefore, was endowed with a 
higher salary and a better pomp54. A process of transformation led by the crown during 
the second half of the century, ended up with the fusion of several corregimientos and 
alcaldías mayores and to a concentration of their appointments in royal hands, so the 
presidents of the Audience lost the power to appoint these charges that they used to 
have before55. 
 On the opposite extreme, in the lowest level of colonial administration, town 
councils (or “cabildos”) were responsible for the administration of urban aggregates 
where they had municipal functions. Therefore, they were the transmission band 
communicating superior orders to people, in a time where modern bureaucracy did 
not exist. They were divided into two groups: the councilmen (“regidores”), who 
bought their position from the crown and exercised it in perpetuity, and the annual 
judges (“justicias”), who were elected each year by the regidores to be in charge of 
justice, representation and economic administration of the town. They used to be the 
“alcaldes ordinarios” (in charge of the justice within the urban perimeter) the “alcaldes 
de la Santa Hermandad” (in charge of justice outside the town limits), and other 
municipal charges such as the “mayordomo de propios” (administrator of the 
economic income of the town council) and the “procurador síndico” (representative of 
the interests of the population before the town council.56 These entities became an 
exclusive power space for the most powerful Spanish families of each city, who 
assumed the representation of the rest of inhabitants. This created what was called in 
the jargon of the epoch the “republic”, a mixture between the fact of living in a 
politically organized community (“vivir en policía”, as it was usually said) and a set of 
diverse inhabitants of the urban space itself. This determined a visible weakness and 
dependence of the crown towards local power groups, since the higher authorities 
needed them to make their orders put into practice in the local level57. The cabildo was 
as well a main space for controlling the economic resources of the colony, especially 
trade58.  
After 1600, a predominance of an elite of merchants endowed with 
“encomiendas” over those who were only “encomenderos” and of a group of 
European Spanish (“peninsulares”) married to Creole heiresses over the locally born 
creoles among the regidores of the cabildo of Santiago de Guatemala can be detected. 
As the century progressed, a diversification of the economic activities of this group 
becomes evident, but trade stands out as the main socio-economic basis of belonging 
to the institution59. 
Military forces started being created as well. At the beginning, they were 
formed out of the conquerors’ group but, as the century progressed, other social 
groups such as Spanish dwellers or half-blood African (“mulato”) population were 
recruited. The mission of these forces was to protect the kingdom mainly against 
internal revolts of indigenous or Africans, but especially against piracy, a practice that 
gained importance as the century progressed60. As it can be expected, Spanish elites 
took the possession of military ranks as a source of pride to nourish their symbolic 
power61. 
Concerning church, very much like in all catholic countries of the time, the 
religious institution was a major political institution, and used to be an integral part of 
the government system, in charge of guarantee ideological unification and social 
cohesion62. The church served as a maintainer of the established social order and as a 
social glue especially between the power and the lowest sectors of society- especially 
through religious charitable institutions such as hospitals and convents- in a way the 
crown was unable to do63. 
Two major levels characterized the ecclesiastic organization: the regular clergy, 
constituted by the monastic orders frequently dedicated to missionary labors among 
the aborigines, and the secular clergy, destined to the parishes and bishoprics and 
acting as another component of colonial government along with the crown 
authorities64. During the whole century, the regulars conserved by far a dominant 
position in number and power as well, in relation to secular clerics. And the most part 
of them were local born, very often from the most powerful families65. Rivalries 
between regulars and seculars as well as between higher and lower clergy were not 
infrequent, especially as far as tributes and control over indigenous communities ware 
involved66.  
Both the church and private clerics receive income from tithes, fees for masses, 
christenings, services to brotherhoods, and chaplaincies67. Pious donations, the sell of 
ecclesiastical bulls, and dowries payed by nuns to be admitted into convents were 
sources of income too68. It was not rare that particular clerics owned slaves and 
country estates also, and religious orders, despite their individual poverty vows, were 
allowed to possess properties as groups. It was through this mechanism that orders 
like the Dominicans could own extended rural estates dedicated to produce sugar in 
Verapaz and Chiapas, all of them operated by aborigine labor force, of course69. The  
Holy Inquisition was not absent, although the local commissioners depended on the 
central court located in Mexico70.  
Urban life 
Urban nucleus were the axis of colonial power and implantation71. However, since the 
16th century, the kingdom of Guatemala showed a rather weak urban settlement 
pattern72.   
Traditionally, historiography has pointed out that a ruralization process, with 
the Spaniards abandoning the urban centers to settle in their haciendas fleeing the 
higher cost of life in the cities and the pirate attacks in an epoch of crisis, operated at 
this time, and no new urban nucleus or indigenous villages were founded during the 
century73. According to this interpretation, cities were depressed, so their wealthy 
dwellers went away to escape from high cost of living in the cities and lack of food 
supply 74. Sometimes, the flight to the countryside of the Spanish city-dwellers was due 
to natural disasters as well75.  
However the case might be, it has been documented that Guatemala city had 
almost 7000 inhabitants at the beginning of the century76, 33000 in 165077, and almost 
60000 by the end of the century, being one of the most populated of the continent78. 
Colonial cities in the region, as in nearly everywhere in Hispanic America, were 
structured as a central adobe and tile cores reserved for the main Spaniards, wrapped 
around a main square (“plaza de armas”), surrounded also by the town hall, the church 
and other buildings, with straight streets plotted in a checkerboard fashion. According 
to the chroniclers of the time, the city of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala had 
churches, government buildings, convents, plazas, water fountains, prisons, butchers, 
markets, squares and schools79. The Franciscan order gave impulse to the foundation 
of hospitals such as that of Fray Pedro de Betancourt in Guatemala (1667)80. 
Naboríos or laboríos, indigenous groups -submitted to tribute through payment 
in cash- inhabited as well the urban nucleus in special quarters reserved for them 
(“barrios de naboríos”). Therefore, they were forced to sell their labor force to the 
Spanish for a salary (unlike their rural peers of the “pueblos”)81, which they used to 
earn through the work in craftsmanship82. Urban centers were also frequented by the 
indigenous population of the countryside. 
Much in the same way, colonial cities in the kingdom had segregated African 
people neighborhoods known as “Pueblas de Pardos”, settlements that became major 
suppliers of artisan work and human elements for the army, since it was fairly common 
to create military companies made out entirely of African-blooded population 
(“milicias de pardos”). These militias became another mechanism of social mobility for 
the “pardos” (free African-blooded population), which had the possibility of climbing 
positions in society by obtaining military ranks, although colonial legislation prevented 
them from ascending beyond the rank of captain. Some members of this group worked 
as well as artisans, personal servants and domestic workers for the Spanish (Rina, 87-
116). 
Craftsmanship was also a feature of urban life. Mechanical crafts and arts  
existed and were organized in guilds by the municipalities, mainly in Guatemala City. In 
order to be part of a guild, it was necessary to be examined by the masters of it, as 
well as by the “fiel ejecutor” of the town council. Blacksmiths, tailors, carpenters, 
cobblers, silversmiths, masons, surgeons and apothecaries (as well as painters, 
architects and musicians) are mentioned in the documentary record, and abundance of 
workshops could be found with no difficulty in the cities. The craft sector was fueled by 
the royal policy of stimulating the arrival of peninsular artisans to the New World83, 
although the coexistence of different ethnic groups associated to the craftmen’s world 
gave birth to an intense miscegenation process among this social group84, and many of 
them were women.85 Artisans existed also in the city of Cartago, Costa Rica, but as far 
as documentation allows to see, they were not organized in guilds, although the 
structure of officials and apprentices can be detected, and the cabildo used to 
distribute youngsters –frequently orphans- among experienced artisans, to make them 
learn the job86. Many of these artisans worked in agriculture as well, so that their work 
in craftsmanship was only part time. It has been documented that, in 1691, thirty-one 
artisans lived in Cartago. Some of the raw materials empoloyed by these workers were 
available only through foreign trade, although many of them could also be found in the 
internal market87.  
 Rural life  
Appropriation of the land through the mechanism of land purchase of individuals with 
the crown (“composición de tierras”) was the main mechanism to have legal access to 
land in this period. Apparently, the most part of land compositions during the century 
can be found in Guatemala, diminishing in amount and intensity towards the southern 
regions of the kingdom88. Cacao, indigo and cochineal were the main exportation 
products, meanwhile corn and wheat were consumed locally in Honduras89. 
Production of wheat, corn, sugar cane, fruits and vegetables as well as cattle, mules, 
horses and chicken growing characterized these rural estates (“haciendas”) all over the 
kingdom, nearly all of them in the hands of wealthy Spaniards, many of which were 
operated by indigenous (either salaried or in “repartimiento” –a system that will be 
explained later- conditions) and African (slave or free) labor force. Sugar mills were not 
absent from the country landscape. In the Central Valley of Costa Rica, agriculture and 
livestock were produced to export to Panama and on the Pacific side, livestock. Sugar 
cane was cultivated. Mule growing was also important to supply the demand of mule 
trains for the transisthmian traffic in Panama. This trade of agricultural goods declined 
by 167090. 
 Ecclesiastical property was important as well, since religious orders used to 
accumulate land through the mechanism of pious donations and purchase, thus 
managing to build important estates. This is the case of the sugar producing estates of 
the Dominican order in the Guatemalan Verapaz region, where the religious also used 
to grow horses and mules. Many clergymen were also important land owners 
themselves91. 
The catholic brotherhoods (“cofradías”; associations of individuals dedicated to 
the worship of a Saint) used to own agricultural and cattle-growing lands as well. They 
were, then, important accumulation spaces, which even served as lenders, since the 
Christian creed allowed them to lend money at up to 5% interest, because exceeding 
that figure constituted usury and was considered sinful92. 
 Chaplaincies (“capellanías”) were also a mechanism of accumulation for the 
clergy. Usually, a member of the major dominant families established a chaplaincy 
which consisted of a payment to a priest for him to preach masses for the salvation of 
the founder’s soul, to be extracted from the interests charged on a specific property, 
destined to this purpose. This was, then, a major source of income for many clergymen 
or seminar students. Often, chaplaincies lasted even for centuries, being inherited to 
subsequent descendants of the founder’s family, or transferred to others, changing 
also the priests in charge as time went by93. 
Many African blooded people populated also the countryside looking for a 
living in agriculture and cattle growing, activities through which some achieved a 
humble degree of fortune. Those who established themselves in the rural space also 
became a problem for the authorities that had trouble controlling them94. In fact, 
African slave presence has been studied in the region of Amatitlán, where sugar 
producing farms used to employ their labor force. An increasing flow of African slaves 
can be detected in the region from the beginning of the century. Many of them 
worked also in rural dwellings, wheat farms (“labores de pan llevar”), indigo processing 
facilities (“obrajes de añil”), and cattle farms. African slave imports diminished 
drastically after 1640 due to the interruption of the trade with Portugal (the so called 
“asiento”) and never recovered their previous level, but slave labor force kept strong 
after 1660, when most farms were in the hands of religious orders. However, by the 
end of the century, the most part of enslaved labor force was already half-blooded and 
free95. Meanwhile, in the Pacific coast and the eastern region of Guatemala, many 
slaves were brought in the first half of the century. By the end of it, an increasing 
“mulato” population was already working in “haciendas” and “obrajes”, constituting a 
wandering population, largely liable to fall into illegality and criminal activities96. 
In Costa Rica, it has been documented that African slaves were brought after a 
basic accumulation of capital occurred at the end of the 16th century, that allowed the 
Spanish dwellers to afford their importation. Plus, the province was located near the 
port of Portobello, a major emporium of slave selling at the time, therefore placing this 
jurisdiction into the Lima route of slave trade. Transactions with slaves became fairly 
common in the province throughout the century and Africans became important as 
labor force in the economic activities of the province. Most of them were employed for 
their personal service by the Spaniards while others worked in their “haciendas”97.  
As a result of miscegenation and population increase, in the countryside, 
extended regions called “Valles” or “Pajuides” (straw hamlets) started to be populated 
by half-blood and Spanish impoverished populations, which became a problem of 
social control for the Spanish authorities that made constant efforts to gather them in 
villages they could control98. Small rural properties, inhabited by less fortuned people, 
called “chacras”, “bohíos” or “ranchos”, often the product of race mixtures, developed 
as well in the countryside. Wandering populations associated to economic enclaves 
and wherever the socially excluded could find a job. Violence, unemployment, 
alcoholism, and illegality, in other words, social marginality, were the tonic in these 
social environments, since these populations were excluded from all recognition as 
part of colonial society99. 
Mining was practiced basically in Honduras, where silver veins were found in 
the 16th century, but faced enormous problems of labor force. These veins were 
exploited with African slaves and Spanish immigrants since the Spanish authorities only 
allowed indigenous to work in the surface. Indigenous labor force under the 
“repartimiento” system (a form of exploitation explained lines bellow) started to be 
permitted after 1645100, but Honduran miners also had to invest important resources 
to buy African slaves or employ salaried half-blooded people101. Actually, mining 
became the main Honduran economic activity, and its influence shaped the traits of 
the country until present times. Because of the weight of mining in Honduran 
economy, the city of Tegucigalpa, main center of the activity, started disputing the 
place of principal city in the province to the administrative capital, Comayagua102. 
Silver was extracted by means of the amalgam procedure. However the lack of capital 
was, along with the labor force problem, a big handicap for Honduran silver mining103. 
The Honduran silver production, however, never went above a 5% of all mining 
production in the New World and104, thus, the kingdom of Guatemala functioned 
almost permanently in the context of a demonetized economy105, because of the lack 
of locally minted money and tesorization. Most of the currency circulating in the 
kingdom was coined in Peru106. Cacao beans were used as coins very often, but 
bartering was the basic way to trade107. Over the century, Honduran mining was a 
space for fraud, smuggling, tax evasion, mistreatment of workers and corruption. 
Although, it also stimulated other activities such as stockraising in neighboring regions 
to supply meat, leather, tallow and candles to the mines. It also created a fluid 
wandering, lawless and mobile society of workers moving around mines in search of a 
living108. Thus, Honduran mines were permanently populated by vagabonds, burglars 
an marginal people (Barahona,194-5). 
After the end of the previous century, the most part of African immigration to 
the kingdom seemed to be directed towards the Honduran silver mines and to the 
province of Nicaragua. However, as Honduran mining declined, new flows of Africans 
were sent to the sugar producing lands near Santiago de Guatemala109.  
 The indigenous community  
In the conquered aborigine world, the way of life and exploitation structures, did not 
change significantly in relation to the precedent century. Indigenous tribute continued 
to be extracted by the crown authorities and the encomienda owners 
(“encomenderos”). The indigenous tribute was payed in kind at this time110. Moreover, 
the encomienda kept being the main legal way to privately exploit indigenous labor 
force. The vacant “encomiendas” were appropriated by the crown after the death of 
the “conquistadores” and their heirs, but granted as a prize to particulars, in exchange 
for services provided to the crown111. Some vacant encomiendas were reassigned, 
however, to other owners during the century112. The “encomienda” declined because 
the crown appropriated the vacancies to extinguish it, but it is noted that they were 
also distributed to individuals throughout the century. The indigenous labor force was 
exploited also through the “repartimiento” system, which consisted of a distribution 
by the authorities of groups of workers (between 18 and 60 years of age) coming from 
the indigenous villages (“pueblos”), among the Spanish producers, either miners or 
landowners113. This obligation forced the indigenous communities to neglect the work 
for their own subsistence, affecting their way of life114.  
Consequently, if production for subsistence and tribute payment were the main 
concerns of indigenous economy and it was submitted to such a quantity of 
obligations, their survival conditions were precarious. They had no more than a 
minimum of time and resources for their own maintenance. In fact, after paying the 
colonial tribute, they did not always manage to satisfy their needs which used to cause 
great suffering to the communities115. 
In this harsh context, land owning was a major factor of social cohesion for the 
indigenous communities116. Indigenous villages used to be endowed with a square 
league of land as “ejido” property, and were allowed to buy community lands to the 
crown or particular individuals as well117. These lands were an important source of 
resources and identity for the aborigines at this time. The basic products of the 
indigenous villages were corn, beans, chicken, chile, cacao, honey and textiles. They 
were consumed internally, but also delivered to the Spanish (either “encomenderos” 
and crown authorities) as tribute and, afterwards, sold at auction to the benefit of the 
royal treasury. Fish, cacao, indigo, salt, wheat, ceramics and leather were also given as 
tribute by the indigenous communities118. Also, apart from agricultural production, 
they dedicated the land to cattle growing, an activity unknown in pre-Hispanic 
times119. These products of the indigenous communities were directed to trade or to 
supply the Spanish settlements120. This situation has been detected also en the case of 
Costa Rica121, where, due to the diminution of indigenous population, the value of 
their tributes only diminished throughout the century, until losing any profitability122. 
On the other hand, invasions of indigenous lands by Spaniards and mestizos 
were frequent, affecting the possibilities of reproduction of the indigenous 
communities123. Land composition by the Spanish landowners created conflicts 
between them and the aborigines, since often their lands were not respected and sold 
to the dominant group124. This is also the case for the African origin half-blood 
population (“mestizo” and “mulato” as well). Many of their members started invading 
indigenous properties in several regions of the kingdom, overwhelming the indigenous 
economic life125. 
As a result of these exploitation structures, the everyday environment within 
the villages was basically oppressive. As well as the tribute, they had to pay for the 
maintenance of the friars (that lived in their villages to preach the gospel to them) and 
for the religious festivities of the villages126, not to mention that they had to assume 
the usual works of repair of the churches and other buildings of the Spanish towns127.  
Exploitation by the corregidores was also common. They exploited the 
indigenous by forcing them to buy merchandises –such as clothes and tools- the 
aborigines frequently did not need, in order to pay their debts with merchants of the 
capital city, Guatemala. These royal employees  used to acquire these debts in order to 
pay for their charges to the crown. They did this frequently  with the complicity of the 
indigenous authorities themselves. Frequent measures were taken by the higher 
authorities to eliminate these practices, and even several corregimientos were 
suppressed as a result, as happened in the province of Costa Rica -where all 
corregimientos were suppressed in the decade of 1660-, but they could never be 
totally erased128.  
Community chests were also an important source of resources and identity for 
the indigenous. They were nourished out of contributions of all inhabitants of each 
village, sale of products, and land rental, and were used to afford religious feasts, 
tribute paying, local public works, and salaries for priests, notaries and school 
teachers129. However, the goods of these community cases as well of those of the 
aborigine brotherhooods used to be illegally appropriated by civil and ecclesiastic 
authorities as well130. 
The natives were also the subject of several personal service mechanisms such 
as debt peonage131. Many aborigines were employed also as “tamemes” (chargers) or 
private servants by Spanish of all sectors132. In the province of Costa Rica, it has been 
documented that several personal service mechanisms were employed by the Spanish 
and allowed by the authorities. For instance, licenses were given for aborigines to 
repair houses, indigenous of an encomienda were rented to another when the second 
one was lacking of labor force (“indios alquilones”), illegal employment of the 
indigenous as workers in rural estates or as muleteers in the intercolonial trade with 
Panama (“arrieros”) was made, and they were employed also in tile elaboration in the 
provincial capital city (Cartago)133. These mechanisms of exploitation have been 
documented also in Honduras134. This overexploitation provoked a catastrophic 
demographic diminution among the indigenous population in most regions of the 
kingdom. This, indigenous salaried work frequently obligated them to stay away from 
their villages, affecting even more their economy135. This has been fairly well 
documented for Costa Rica136. In this context, many aborigines abandoned their 
culture to learn and live according to Spanish moods (or became “ladinoized” in the 
jargon of the epoch, the word “ladino” meaning a non Spanish person having acquired 
Spanish customs) after fleeing their villages to work in haciendas, “obrajes” or Spanish 
towns137. In doing so, they contributed to the miscegenation process, becoming the 
main source of “mestizo” population. 
The lack of labor force due to the decline of indigenous population was partially 
solved by the expeditions to unconquered regions to bring more aborigine workers 
(known as “entrada y saca” raids at the epoch)138. In fact, in Costa Rica the conquest of 
the southern Talamanca region became an alternative against the demographic fall of 
the indigenous population of the Central Valley between 1600 and 1610. The city of 
Santiago de Talamanca was founded in 1605, but soon it was destroyed by an 
indigenous rebellion in 1610139. Other “entrada y saca” expeditions were conducted to 
the northern Votos zone during the 1620’s and 60’s140. 
Given these evidences, it can be stated that everything in the colonial system 
conspired to maintain the exploitation of indigenous labor force141. As a result, 
indigenous rebelions in the villages were not absent and used to explode everytime 
the Spanish authorities, civil an ecclesiastic as well, or their African servants surpassed 
the thin line that separated indigenous communities from the unbearable142. 
Economic cycles 
As a colonial economy dependent on foreign markets to secure its income and with a 
marked extractive character, favorable to the interests of the metropolis and local 
dominant groups, the colonial kingdom of Guatemala was subject to a series of boom 
and bust economic cycles, as the profitability of some products in the external market 
collapsed and had to be replaced by others. Plus, the region never enjoyed of the 
existence of a single product common to all regions with the ability to unify all its 
locations and make the economy of the entire region revolve around it. This 
determined the existence of several economic circuits and successive economic cycles.  
A commercial circuit directed southwards and including a significant part of 
Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, gravitated towards the Panamanian ports of 
Portobello and Panama. Food and mules were the main exports sent to these cities 
that desperately needed them in order to calm their hunger (since they had 
abandoned nearly all subsistence production to the favor of trade) and to transport 
merchandises across the isthmus, either coming from or going to the colonial mother 
country. Even if the Guatemalan port of Santo Tomás de Castilla (established 1605) 
seemed to become an attractive possibility for external trade, the fleet system created 
by the crown in 1561 draw the totality of foreign commerce of Hispanic America to the 
main ports of Veracruz and Portobello, leaving the Central American region deprived 
of all possibility of participating directly of the world economic circuits143. Anyway, 
Santo Tomás de Castilla, formed, along with Trujillo and Puerto Caballos, served as a 
small Caribbean trade system for the kingdom, reaching the main populations through 
the rivers, for a short period at the beginning of the century144. It has been calculated 
that between 1680 and 1750, only 42 ships departed and returned between Honduras 
and Spain, Puerto Caballos, Santo Tomás de Castilla or Trujillo145. At the beginning of 
the century, basic grains and other kinds of food were sent from the Suerre port, on 
the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, to Portobello as well. Mule trains were used to travel 
the land routes to the ports of Portobello and Veracruz146.  
A second economic circuit, gravitating towards de north, to the Mexican port of 
Veracruz and other regions in the neighboring viceroyalty, was strong in the cacao 
producing region comprising from Soconusco (Chiapas) to Nicoya, a region that shifted 
to indigo production after 1600, when cacao cycle came to a close147. Actually, the 
ports of the Pacific side enjoyed of a much more intense commercial activity. 
Sonsonate (El Salvador) was a main exporter of indigo to Quito and Perú148, receiving 
oil and wines in exchange. El Realejo (Nicaragua) used to send pitch and tar to more or 
less the same destinies, where they were used in the ship construction and wine 
producing industries149. Caldera (Costa Rica) exported leather and tallow to southern 
ports as well. All this activity, however, was severely limited by taxes and commercial 
restrictions to intercolonial trade, imposed by the metropolis, but, even like that, these 
movements were largely bigger that those accounted for the Caribbean side150. 
Actually, search for ports on both oceans to mobilize the local exports to México, Perú 
and the Antilles, kept being a major concern along the century. Tied to this context, 
the El Realejo port in Nicaragua became the center of a small shipbuilding industry 
until 1601, but it was quickly surpassed by competence from shipyards in Guayaquil151. 
A small shipbuilding industry operated in the Gulf of Nicoya as well, until 1610, when it 
was also affected by the competence of Guayaquil152. 
Economic cycles were also a main feature of the Central American economy of 
the period153. Alternations between rise and fall of different products characterize the 
dynamics of the region154. Cacao was a main export at the first half of the century, 
especially in Soconusco and Suchitepéquez (Guatemala), regions that used to sell it in 
the New Spain, before an excess of competition from other regions made it 
unprofitable155.  
Indigo (“añil”, also called “jiquilite” in the region) became important during the 
late 16th century, its exportations being directed towards Spain through the port of 
Veracruz, until its first crisis, during the decade of 1630. This plant was cultivated 
mainly in Guatemala and El Salvador, that became the major producing region, but 
also, at a lesser extent, in Honduras and Nicaragua and became, by the middle of the 
century –especially after the retreat of cacao-156, the main export of the kingdom, 
becoming a real substitute of it157, and was produced even by some indian villages. It 
was sent to Spain through the port of Veracruz but some amounts were sold in Perú, 
Cartagena and the Antilles. The production was made largely by means of indigenous 
labor force in “repartimiento” conditions, in big rural estates; but it was produced also 
by “poquiteros”, small often half-blooded farmers. Once cropped, the plant was 
processed in “obrajes”, small facilities, worked by indigenous, slave, and half-blooded 
labor force, for the most part. Work conditions in the obrajes were frequently 
unhealthy158. 
The rise of indigo carried the creation of a nucleus of merchants associated to 
the crop and gathered in the city of Guatemala159. Some of them were absentee 
planters themselves, but most direct producers lived in El Salvador (McLeod 181). 
Since indigo producing zones abandoned nearly all other crops, neighboring regions 
were stimulated to produce supplies such as basic grains and meat for the indigo 
producing regions160. A large amount of these supplies were controlled by the 
Guatemalan merchants and, thus, were a mechanism for them to dominate the direct 
production161. 
In the El Salvador region, indigo initiated a new rise period during the second 
half of the 17th century162. A small indigo trade with the Caribbean islands was 
conducted also at a little extent from Honduras and smuggling –especially with the 
british- became a major form of trade as well163. A brief rise of cochineal production 
took place between 1617 and 1621 in several regions of Guatemala and northern 
Nicaragua164. 
Between 1630 and 1680, the arrival rhythm of galleon fleets to the Portobello 
port slowed down significantly, affecting deeply the economy of the whole kingdom165. 
Silver production in the Alto Perú (nowadays Bolivia) mines drastically diminished as 
well, drawing down the whole complex of the Panama isthmus trade circuit and, 
therefore, the economy of all Central American regions depending on it. Wars among 
European powers as well as the rise of piracy, impeded the Spanish to bring security to 
the fleets, and were major causes of this process. This lead to an increase of trade on 
the Pacific side of the kingdom. Production for internal trade and smuggling had a rise 
as well. Central American ports on both oceans were fairly active at the time for both 
exports and imports exchanged with other colonial jurisdictions. Central American 
brea, brazil stick, wheat, tamarind and achiote were sent to the south as Peruvian 
merchandises such as wine, oil, olives and capers came over to the isthmus166.  
Due to the absence of a single export product to unify the isthmus, many 
specific economic “boomlets” happened in the region. Chiapas developed cochineal 
production as well as cattle, mule and horse growing. The surroundings of the Fonseca 
gulf in the Honduran region of Choluteca experienced a rise of mule growing to supply 
transisthmian trade in Panama, as did Nicaragua and Costa Rica. This latter province 
also became a supplier of basic foodstuffs for merchant cities of Panama and 
Portobello, sending them tallow, suet, hides, biscuit and flour in ships coming out the 
small ports of Caldera and Suerre167. During the first years of the century (up to 1610-
1620), most of this production came directly from encomienda indigenous tribute, but 
afterwards, Spanish rural estates starting meeting the demand. Purple dyes and 
perling were practiced at a tiny extent in the Fonseca and Nicoya gulfs168. This caused 
many regions of the kingdom to become separate compartments, isolated and non-
dependent from the others, thus constituting self-sufficient economic units on their 
own169. 
The Nicaraguan region of Rivas and Costa Rica (in the Caribbean Matina region) 
started producing cacao as well in the second part of the century, but directing their 
exports towards the south. After 1660, a cycle of cacao production took place in the 
province of Costa Rica170. At the beginning costarrican cacao plantations worked with 
“repartimiento” labor force. Enslaved and free labor force were used in small amounts 
by the owners of these plantations and these workers enjoyed a fairly independent 
life171. The Costarrican production was also affected by competition. Cacao kept being 
produced by some indian villages in Guatemala to be consumed in the internal market. 
Other spices or flavorings for chocolate were also produced in small amounts as a 
result of cacao production. This was the case of sugar, achiote and vanilla172.  
By the end of the century, smuggling became a clear alternative face to the lack 
of markets and capital, the excessive taxation and the commercial restrictions imposed 
by the Spanish monarchy. Corruption was a major aid for those interested in cheating 
the crown’s control. The presence in the coasts of Europeans from other countries 
provided the perfect opportunity for the practice, although the inhospitable nature of 
the coastal regions was a non-negligible obstacle.173 
 Geopolitics 
Since it was deprived of the wealth level of the biggest Spanish viceroyalties of the 
time, the Kingdom of Guatemala had mainly a strategic importance for the Iberians, 
being a very narrow territory joining the two major jurisdictions of Peru and New 
Spain, and a passage area between the two major oceans in the planet. For the 
Spanish empire, allowing a foreign European power to gain possession of this land was 
unthinkable, since it would have opened the possibility of cutting the empire in two, 
and of making the crossing from one ocean to the other, leaving Spanish ports in the 
Pacific unarmed against attacks174. Since most of the population and economic activity 
of the kingdom was located in the Pacific side, where the most part of prehispanic 
indigenous peoples were as well, the Caribbean side stayed largely unoccupied, serving 
thus as a buffer territory protecting the land from external agressions, which were not 
infrequent at all. The dutch, for instance, attacked Santo Tomás de Castilla in 1606, 
and the Trujillo fort was destroyed in 1643175. 
This, on the other hand, allowed imperial European powers such as England 
and the Netherlands, to invade these regions and establish alliances with local 
indigenous peoples to harass Spanish settlements. The British took advantage of the 
absence of Spanish in the Caribbean side to create settlements of their own, taking 
advantage of their alliance with the indigenous peoples and, as a result, British villages 
were established in Santa Catalina (Providence) island, and Roatán, in front of the 
Honduran coast. European enemies of Spain established in the Mosquito Coast 
(covering from Honduras, where it is called the “Taguzgalpa” to Nicaragua, where it is 
called the “Tologalpa”) during the decade of 1630176. Although the English were 
expelled from these settlements by the Spaniards in 1641 and 1643 respectively, the 
Mosquito coast became a major nucleus of British presence in the region and, from 
there, the invaders used to launch attacks -but also smuggling operations- to the 
Spanish Pacific side. Its inhabitants were known as the “Mosquito Indians”, because 
many of them came from the region surrounding the Mosquito river, located in the 
border between Honduras and Nicaragua.  
These contacts induced an enormous cultural change among the indigenous of 
these zones177. Many times, submitted indigenous population used to escape from the 
villages, fleeing to unconquered regions often inhabited by unsubmissive indigenous 
peoples, turning them into refuge zones178. This situation happened in Honduras179, 
and Costa Rica180. 
The situation was aggravated when ships transporting slaves from Africa 
wrecked in front of these coasts, causing the surviving Africans to reach the land and 
mix with the indigenous populations, giving birth to a new ethnic group known as the 
“zambos mosquitos”, “zambos” being the Spanish term to name the mixture between 
Africans and American aborigines181. The bishop of Nicaragua, Benito Garret and 
Arloví, reported that in 1641, a ship loaded with slaves was shipwrecked off the 
Caribbean coast of Nicaragua and Honduras. The castaways dispersed along these 
coasts, entering into conflict with the natives, but then were assimilated by them, 
giving rise to the zambo ethnic group182. The zambos and mosquito Indians became 
ever since important allies of the English since all of them hated the Spanish. Even an 
autochthonous mosquito kingdom was created by 1687 or even before183. This 
multiethnical presence in the Caribbean region gave birth to an extremely rich cultural 
mixture combining and confusing European (from several nations), native and African 
elements in a fairly particular way, significantly different from the one that can be 
found in the rest of the region. This process gives this part of Central America an 
intensely distinct flavor and a special proud identity until today. 
 Very much tied to these geopolitical conflicts, pirate activity protagonized by 
the buccaneers and filibusters became intense after 1670, especially because the rise 
of the English colony in Jamaica. British settlements were established in Belice, Gracias 
a Dios cape, Las Perlas lagoon and Bluefields as well. Pirate attacks occurred in 
Granada (Nicaragua) in 1665 and Costa Rica in 1666184. As a result, the San Carlos fort 
was constructed in the middle course of the San Juan River in Nicaragua (a river that 
leaves to the entrance of the lake of Nicaragua) in 1675. Nueva Segovia was also 
sacked as well in 1676. Afterwards, buccaneer attacks were launched in the Pacific 
side, as the invaders succeeded in reaching the other side of the isthmus, and the town 
of Esparza, in Costa Rica, was destroyed in 1681. The pirates attempted to take the 
Nicaraguan port of El Realejo in 1684 and 85. French pirates attacked the Pacific coast 
as well, making raids in Nicaragua and Guatemala, destroying the village of Nicoya in 
1686185. 
On the other side, Caribbean ports (such as Puerto Caballos, Santo Tomás de 
Castilla and Trujillo) existed and had to be protected, as well as the small trade that 
passed through them, so volunteer militia companies were created and sent to the 
region186. Roads and forts were built in the zone to transport and give shelter to these 
military groups. Since the crown did not provide funds to finance many of these 
defense efforts, some of these expenses had to be payed by the powerful group of 
Guatemalan merchants, convinced by the presidents of the Audience of the 
importance of giving their money for the defense of the kingdom, an effort they did in 
exchange for some commercial advantages and legal flexibility on the side of colonial 
authorities187. 
Along with the Mosquitia, the Talamanca (Costa Rica) and El Petén (Guatemala) 
regions were also frontier zones, outside the control of the Spanish and inhabited by 
indigenous non conquered peoples188. These bordering regions used to become refuge 
zones for conquered indigenous fleeing from the Spanish possessions189.  
Missions were sent to most of these regions in order to incorporate their 
dwellers to Christian faith, but also to extend the political hand of the empire over 
them. The Honduran regions of Taguzgalpa, Yoro and Olancho as well were the subject 
of these efforts between 1604 and 1612, 1614 and 1623, and from 1687 on, especially 
by the Franciscan friars190. Later on, the Franciscan order gave impulse to the 
establishment of missions in frontier areas during the rise of the “Colegios de 
Propaganda Fide”, institutions created by papal order, after 1680191. In 1685, fray 
Antonio Margil de Jesús arrived to Guatemala and started an intense missionary labor 
in the frontier regions of Talamanca, where he went in 1689, establishing several 
mission villages192. In the Guatemalan El Petén region, the maya, manché, chol and 
lacandón population were still far from the Spanish domination, and used to harass the 
conquered indigenous of the neighboring zones, as well and be allied to the English 
enemies193. All attempts of the missionary to pacifically conquer the region through 
faith failed. In the northern part of the territory, the iztá group maintained still a 
prehispanic way of life in the Tayasal island (located in a lake), and were even 
governed by elites descending from ancient maya kings. By the end of the century 
(1695), a Spanish expedition was launched to violently conquer the region. This 
expedition failed but, finally, in 1697, another Spanish raid launched from Yucatán 
succeeded, and the region was incorporated to Spanish rule194. 
Culture  
Catholic church was the main source of cultural values and practices at the time195. 
Therefore, art, architecture and music were strongly tied to religious activities or, in 
any case, influenced by religious thought and practices. The clergymen were, by far, 
the most educated social layer at the time, but education was also at the reach of 
colonial secular elites. All arts in this period had the mission to transmit messages of 
power and domination through religious thought to the subjects of the king. The 
baroque style was the main paradigm for all artistic manifestations during the century. 
Music was practiced in cathedrals and missions. In the former, religious services 
were in charge of the chapel master (“maestro de capilla”) –who used to play the 
organ and compose new repertoire for the church- and by the chanter and sochantre 
(members of the cathedral cabildo), in charge of the teaching of music to children, as 
well. Composers such as the Spanish Pedro Bermúdez (1558-1605) and the 
Guatemalan Gaspar Fernández (died 1629), were active in the city of Santiago de los 
Caballeros196. In the latter, missionaries from the religious orders taught the European 
music to the aborigines, who learned to play European instruments and to write music 
according to European formulae. Musical manuscripts have been found in the 
Huehuetenango region, where composer Tomás Calvo, presumably and aborigine, was 
chapel master in the village of San Juan Ixcoy at least until 1635. Vernacular forms of 
the Castilian “Villancico” can be found in these regions197. The indigenous, 
brotherhoods and other groups used to participate in religious processions playing 
music and dancing. Music was also omnipresent in civil festivities, in the army and 
judiciary ceremonies and, of course in friendly parties of Spanish and half-blood people 
as well198. 
In the plastic arts field, it can be mentioned that some painters such as Pedro 
de Liendo (died 1657) and sculptors such as Quirio Cataño (died 1622) were important 
in the kingdom, as well as the architect José de Porras (died 1703)199. The possession 
of paintings and other art works was not scarce among the religious spaces, not to 
mention the rich sacred objects that could be found in churches and convents200. Also, 
imagery workshops of Santiago de Guatemala were famous all over the kingdom. 
Architecture was also a main artistic feature of Central America at the time. 
Watching the nowadays remnant colonial edifications in the most part of the region, it 
is visible that most of the infrastructure dates from the 18th century. That might 
indicate that constructions in the 17th were rather weak in their structure, and did not 
last. However, the middle of the century knew a constructive boom in Santiago de 
Guatemala, because at that time an important economic capacity was reached by the 
church201. For instance, the Royal Palace (also known as the “Palacio de los Capitanes 
Generales”) and the Cathedral of Santiago de Guatemala (constructed beween 1669 
and 1680), date from this period; the Cathedral of León, the capital city of Nicaragua 
was constructed between 1621 and 1624. In Costa Rica, a small church in the 
indigenous village of Ujarrás was finished by 1690202.  
Concerning literature, Sor Juana de Maldonado y Paz (died 1638) is one of the 
few examples of poetry writers born in the kingdom, since most of the literary 
production is composed of catechisms and other devotional books203. Historians like 
Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán (1642-c1699), author of a treatise on 
Guatemalan history entitled “Recordación Florida”, existed as well in Guatemala and, 
in Costa Rica there is evidence that another conqueror descendant creole named Juan 
López de Ortega was commissioned by the town council of Cartago to write a history 
of the colony by the 1660s204. These authors can be situated in the context of a 
movement known as “criollismo” (creolism) or “patriotismo criollo” (creole patriotism) 
since they aimed to elevate creole pride and identity in the face of the newly arrived 
peninsular Spanish that used to rival them the power in the kingdom205. 
Schools were rare and illiteracy was majoritary. However efforts to develop 
educational institutions were not absent. For instance, in 1602, the king Phillip II 
ordered to establish a grammar school in Honduras206. The Jesuits established a college 
in Santiago de Guatemala in 1606, and another one in Chiapas in 1678. The former 
would become the San Carlos University in 1676 and finished by absorbing the college 
of Santo Tomás, created by the Dominicans a century before. A seminar was founded 
in Chiapas also in 1678207. A seminar for priest education was created in Nicaragua in 
1680: the tridentine seminar of San Ramón Nonato208. Also, the crown ordered the 
establishment of a Tridentine seminary, called the Seminary College of San Agustín, in 
Comayagua, Honduras, in 1679209.  
On the side of the dominated, things must be said as well. The indigenous 
village became a space of resistance at this time. Within its frontiers, the aborigines 
managed to conserve the scarce remnants of their culture still in place through several 
mechanisms. For instance, frequently the aborigines still spoked their own 
languages210, or used indigenous last names211. Also, members of the old indigenous 
elites still survived, and occupied the main positions of these institutions, being 
frequently used by the Spaniards as those in charge of collecting taxes and maintaining 
the colonial order within their own villages212. In the economic field, their community 
lands (ejidos and “tierras del común”), as well as their community savings (“cajas de 
comunidad”), were sources of common identity. In the same way, their syncretic 
religious practices, tolerated by the missionaries in order to gain their confidence and 
fidelity, acted as trenches where ancestral culture survived and mixed up with the 
dominator’s. Ritual and cultural life in indigenous villages was, therefore, fairly rich. 
Indigenous town councils (“cabildos”) and brotherhoods (“cofradías”) were the main 
institutions in charge of this popular religiosity and used to organize the feasts of local 
patron saints, as well as processions and prayers in times of catastrophes or external 
threats213. Also, many religious images to which miraculous properties were attributed, 
and popular devotions were abundant among the indigenous, who used to celebrate 
them in their religious feasts214.  Some native dances and traditions survived as well, 
although very mediated by the dominant Spanish culture215. Religious syncretism 
between ancestral indigenous religions and imposed Christianity was frequent in these 
practices, so the friars often accused them of superstition and witchcraft216. 
Documentary references to the practice of African dances (danzas negras) in 
the sugar producing farms in Guatemala suggest that they did not suffer a complete 
cultural loss either217. Of course, for the half blood people no other alternative was 
open but the loss of ancestral moods (deculturation) and the interiorization of the 
dominant’s culture, always in a context of lack of self-esteem and social problems that 
have been characterized as the culture of poverty218. 
4. Digital materials 
Digitalized primary sources are not a common resource in the region. However, the 
Archives of the Indies in Seville offer access to sources about the kingdom under the 
signature “Audiencia de Guatemala”, and can be found in the PARES (Programa 
Archivos Españoles en Red) program. http://pares.mcu.es/ 
The most part of the archives in the región do not offer the possibility of 
consulting their sources on the web. However, the National Archive of Costa Rica has 
its catalogue on line under its service of “consulta de documentos del archive 
histórico/consulta de base de datos referencial del archivo histórico”. 
http://www.archivonacional.go.cr/ 
Besides this, secondary sources such as books, art works, maps and other 
materials, can be found in the following institutions: 
• Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Antropológicas y Arqueológicas (IIHAA).  
Escuela de Historia.  Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. 
http://iihaa.usac.edu.gt/sitioweb/  
• Programa Universitario de Investigación en Historia de Guatemala.  Dirección 
General de Investigación (DIGI).  Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. 
http://digi.usac.edu.gt/sitios/historia/index.html 
• Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica (CIRMA). 
http://cirma.org.gt/ 
• Academia de Geografía e Historia de Guatemala. 
http://academiageohist.org.gt/ 
• El Centro Documental de Investigaciones Históricas de Honduras (CDIHH). 
http://www.cdihh.ihah.hn/ 
• El Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua y Centroamérica (IHNCA). 
http://www.ihnca.edu.ni 
• El Centro de Investigación en Identidad y Cultura Latinoamericana Universidad 
de Costa Rica (CIICLA). http://www.ciicla.ucr.ac.cr 
CIRMA, in particular, has performed and interesting work rescuing and 
conserving sources about the region. Researchers on 17th century Central America can 
be contacted in these institutions as well. 
For the case of Nicaragua, there is also the “Colección Somoza”. 
https://www.enriquebolanos.org/media/publicacion/coleccionsomoza_ 
5. For further reading 
Cáceres-Gómez, Rina. Negros, mulatos, esclavos y libertos en la Costa Rica del siglo 
XVII. San José, Costa Rica: Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, 2000. 
Casasola, Silvia, "La élite urbana de Santiago de Guatemala (1623-1775), un estudio de  
Redes". In Revista de Historia. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional 
y Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica. N°38, july-december (1998): 63-85. 
 
Floyd, Troy S. La Mosquitia, un conflicto de imperios. San Pedro Sula, Honduras: Centro 
Editorial, 1990. 
 
Fonseca Corrales, Elizabeth. “Economía y Sociedad en Centroamérica (1540-1680).”  
In Historia general de Centroamérica, 95-150. Madrid, Spain: Facultad Latinoamericana 
de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) y Sociedad estatal V Centenario, 1993, vol. II  
 
Madrigal, Eduardo. Cartago república urbana: elites y poderes en la Costa Rica colonial 
(1564-1718). San José, Costa Rica; Toulouse Francia: EUCR, Presses Universitaires du 
Midi, 2020. 
 
Madrigal, Eduardo. “Solidaridades afromestizas: compadrazgo y padrinazgo entre la 
población de sangre africana en el primer libro de bautizos de Cartago (1594-1680)”. In 
Caravelle, Cahiers du monde hispanique et luso-brésilien, 121-146. Toulouse, France: 
Université de Toulouse II-Jean Jaurès, 106 (2016). 
Madrigal, Eduardo. “Una elite colonial frente a las coyunturas de crisis: Costa Rica, 
1600-1720”. In Revista Estudios, vol.26, Nº1 (2013): 13-25. 
Madrigal, Eduardo. “Los lazos sociales en la dinámica de un grupo subordinado en una 
sociedad colonial periférica: los cacaoteros de Costa Rica, 1660-1740”. In Mesoamérica 
53 (2011): 106-132. 
 
Martínez Peláez, Severo. La patria del criollo: ensayo de interpretación de la realidad 
colonial guatemalteca. San José: Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana (EDUCA), 
1979.  
 
Romero Vargas, Germán. Las sociedades del Atlántico de Nicaragua en los siglos XVII y 
XVIII. Managua: Fondo de Promoción Cultural BANIC, 1995. 
 
McLeod. Murdo J. Spanish Central America: a socio-economic history (1520-1720).  
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. 
 
McLeod, Phillip. "Auge y estancamiento de la producción del cacao en Costa Rica,  
1660-95.” In Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos. vol. 2, fascículo 1 (1996): 83-107. 
 
Palma Murga, Gustavo. “Economía y Sociedad en Centroamérica (1680-1750)." In  
Historia general de Centroamérica, 219-306. Madrid: FLACSO and Sociedad estatal V 
Centenario, 1993, vol. II. 
 
Payne Iglesias, Elizet. Organización productiva y explotación indígena en el Área  
Central de Costa Rica (1580-1700). Universidad de Costa Rica: Thesis of Licenciatura in 
History, Univerisyt of Costa Rica, 1988. 
 
Payne Iglesias, Elizet. “Actividades artesanales en Cartago. Siglo XVII (maestros,  
oficiales y aprendices).” In Sibaja, Luis Fernando (ed.). Costa Rica Colonial, 39-60. San 
José: Ediciones Guayacán, 1989. 
 
Quirós Vargas, Claudia. La era de la encomienda. San José: EUCR, 1992. 
Velázquez Bonilla, Carmela. Las actitudes ante la muerte en el Cartago del siglo XVII.  
Universidad de Costa Rica: thesis of maestría in History, University of Costa Rica, 1996. 
 
Velázquez Bonilla, Carmela. El Sentimiento y la práctica religiosa en la diócesis de  
Nicaragua y Costa Rica, siglos XVII y XVIII. Universidad de Costa Rica: PhD thesis in 
History, University of Costa Rica, 2004. 
 
Webre, Stephen. "Antecedentes económicos de los regidores de Santiago de 
Guatemala, siglos XVI y XVII: una elite colonial." En: Webre, Stephen (ed.). La sociedad 
colonial en Guatemala: estudios regionales y locales, 219-189. Guatemala, Guatemala: 
CIRMA, 1989. 
 
Webre, Stephen. "Poder e Ideología en la Consolidación del Sistema Colonial (1542- 
1700)". In Historia general de Centroamérica, 151-218. Madrid, Spain: FLACSO y 
Sociedad estatal V Centenario, 1993, vol. II. 
 
Webre, Stephen. "Antecedentes económicos de los regidores de Santiago de Guatemala,  
siglos XVI y XVII: una élite colonial", 189-219. In Various. La sociedad colonial en 
Guatemala: estudios regionales y locales. Vermont: Plumsock Mesoamerican Studies, 
1989. 
 
Webre, Stephen. The social and economical basis of cabildo membership In XVIIth  
centuryGuatemala. Tulane: Phd thesis, Tulane University, 1980. 
 
 
 
1 Lavallé, Bernard. “A propósito del primer siglo XVIII en el Imperio español de 
América”. In lavallé, Bernard (ed). El primer siglo XVIII en Hispanoamérica, 7-8. 
Toulouse, France: Méridiennes, 2012. 
2 McLeod. Murdo J. Spanish Central America: a socio-economic history (1520-1720),. 
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. 
3 Webre, Stephen. The social and economical basis of cabildo membership In XVIIth  
centuryGuatemala. Tulane: Phd thesis, Tulane University, 1980. 
4 Lokken, Paul.  “Angoleños en Amatitlán: azúcar, inmigrantes africanos y gente ladina 
en la Guatemala colonial”. In La negritud en Centroamérica: entre raza y raíces, edited 
by Gudmunson, Lowell, and Wolfe, Justin, 35-74. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial de la 
Universidad Estatal a Distancia, 2012; Lokken, Paul. “Una aproximación a la historia de 
la gente de ascendencia Africana en el oriente Guatemalteco en el siglo XVII”. In La 
época colonial en Guatemala, estudios de Historia Cultural y Social. edited by Robinson 
Herrera and Stephen Webre, 43-69. Guatemala, Guatemala: Editorial Universitaria de 
la Universidad de San Carlos, 2013. 
5 Martínez Peláez, Severo. La patria del criollo: ensayo de interpretación de la realidad 
colonial guatemalteca. San José: Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana (EDUCA), 
1979.  
6 Cáceres-Gómez, Rina. Negros, mulatos, esclavos y libertos en la Costa Rica del siglo 
XVII. San José, Costa Rica: Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, 2000. 
7 Quirós Vargas, Claudia. La era de la encomienda. San José: EUCR, 1992. 
8 Payne Iglesias, Elizet. Organización productiva y explotación indígena en el Área  
Central de Costa Rica (1580-1700). Universidad de Costa Rica: Thesis of Licenciatura in 
History, Univerisyt of Costa Rica, 1988; Velázquez Bonilla, Carmela. Las actitudes ante 
la muerte en el Cartago del siglo XVII.  
 
Universidad de Costa Rica: thesis of maestría in History, University of Costa Rica, 1996. 
9 Madrigal, Eduardo. Cartago república urbana: elites y poderes en la Costa Rica 
colonial (1564-1718). San José, Costa Rica; Toulouse Francia: EUCR, Presses 
Universitaires du Midi, 2020; Madrigal, Eduardo. “Solidaridades afromestizas: 
compadrazgo y padrinazgo entre la población de sangre africana en el primer libro de 
bautizos de Cartago (1594-1680)”. In Caravelle, Cahiers du monde hispanique et luso-
brésilien, 121-146. Toulouse, France: Université de Toulouse II-Jean Jaurès, 106 (2016). 
Madrigal, Eduardo. “Una elite colonial frente a las coyunturas de crisis: Costa Rica, 
1600-1720”. In Revista Estudios, vol.26, Nº1 (2013): 13-25; Madrigal, Eduardo. “Los 
lazos sociales en la dinámica de un grupo subordinado en una sociedad colonial 
periférica: los cacaoteros de Costa Rica, 1660-1740”. In Mesoamérica 53 (2011): 106-
132. 
10 Although 16th century sources are even more difficult to work with. 
11 Fernández, León. Colección de documentos para la historia de Costa Rica. Madrid: 
1882. 
12 https://www.enriquebolanos.org/media/publicacion/coleccionsomoza_ 
13 see Libro segundo del cabildo de Santiago de Guatemala de la ciudad de Santiago de 
la provincia de Guatemala comencado a xxvii de mayo de mdxxx años. Wendy Kramer, 
coordinator of the edition. Guatemala, Guatemala: Wellfleet, MA ; Plumsock 
Mesoamerican Studies, Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamerica CIRMA, 
Academia de Geografia e Historia de Guatemala AGHG, Universidad del Valle de 
Guatemala UVG, Hispanic Society of America HSA, 2018. 
14 See Juarros, Domingo de. Compendio de Historia del Reino de Guatemala, 1500-
1800. Guatemala: Piedra Santa, 1981. 
15 An exhaustive account escapes the space possibilities of this publication. 
16 See the Revista de los Archivos Nacionales of Costa Rica and the Boletín del Archivo 
General del Gobierno (BAGG) of Guatemala. 
17 Palma-Murga, Gustavo. “Economía y Sociedad en Centroamérica (1680-1750)." In   
Historia General de Centroamérica, vol. II, edited by Julio Pinto-Soria, 225. Madrid: 
FLACSO and Sociedad estatal V Centenario, 1993. 
18 Ibid., 226-228. 
19 Webre, Stephen. "Antecedentes económicos de los regidores de Santiago de 
Guatemala, siglos XVI y XVII: una elite colonial." In Webre, Stephen (ed.). La sociedad 
colonial en Guatemala: estudios regionales y locales, 192-204. Guatemala: CIRMA, 
1989. 
20 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 375. 
21 Cardoso, Ciro F. S., and Pérez Brignoli, Héctor. Centroamérica y la economía 
occidental (1520-1930), 70-3. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa 
Rica (EUCR), 1977. 
22 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 222-223. 
23 Newson, Linda. El costo de la conquista, 202. Tegucigalpa, Honduras: Editorial 
Guaymuras, 2000. 
24 Madrigal, Eduardo. “Una elite colonial frente a las coyunturas de crisis: Costa Rica, 
1600-172”. In Revista Estudios, vol.26, Nº1 (2013): 13-25. Similar tendencies are 
 
noticed for the whole kingdom by M. McLeod in his classical book; McLeod, Spanish 
Central America. 
25 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 288. 
26 Ibid., 262-263. 
27 Ibid., 302.  
28 Ibid., 229; McLeod, Spanish Central America, 343-344. 
29 Quirós Vargas, Claudia. La era de la encomienda, 231-241. San José: EUCR, 1992. 
30 Newson, El costo, 434. 
31 Ibid., 457. 
32 Lovell, George. Conquista y cambio cultural: la Sierra de los Cuchumatanes de 
Guatemala, 1500-1821, 153-167. Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala: Centro de 
Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica, Plumsock Mesoamerican Studies, 1990. 
33 Madrigal, Eduardo. Cartago república urbana: elites y poderes en la Costa Rica 
colonial (1564-1718), 269-319. San José, Costa Rica; Toulouse Francia: EUCR, Presses 
Universitaires du Midi, 2020. 
34 Of course, it is important to notice that many of those that historiography calls 
“merchants” were landowners and miners as well. 
35 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 286. 
36 Quirós, La era, 273-287. 
37 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 298-300.  
38 Lokken, “Angoleños”, 243-47 
39 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 287. 
40 Barahona, Marvin. Evolución histórica de la identidad nacional, 169-175. Tegucigalpa, 
Honduras: Editorial Guaymuras, 1991. 
41 Wortman, Miles. Gobierno y sociedad en Centroamérica (1680-1840), 79. San José, 
Costa Rica: Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica, Editorial Universitaria 
Centroamericana, 1991. 
42 Quirós, La era, 242. 
43 Quirós, Claudia, and Bolaños, Margarita. “El mestizaje en el siglo XVII: 
consideraciones para comprender la génesis del campesinado criollo del Valle Central”. 
In Costa Rica colonial, edited by Sibaja, Luis Fernando, 61-78. San José, Costa Rica: 
Ediciones Guayacán, 1989. 
44 Fonseca-Corrales, Elizabeth. “Economía y Sociedad en Centroamérica (1540-1680).”  
In Historia general de Centroamérica, vol. II, 130. Madrid: FLACSO and Sociedad Estatal 
V Centenario, 1993. 
45 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 225. 
46 Fonseca,  “Economía y Sociedad…”, 130. 
47 see McLeod, Spanish Central America, 309 
48 Fernández Molina, José Antonio. "La dinámica de las sociedades coloniales 
centroamericanas (1524-1792). In Vannini, Margarita (ed.) Encuentros con la 
Historia,101-144. Managua, Nicaragua: Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua, 1995.  
49 Wortman,  Gobierno y sociedad, 20. 
50 Ibid., 41; see Webre, Stephen. "Poder e Ideología en la Consolidación del Sistema 
Colonial (1542-1700)". In Historia general de Centroamérica, vol II, 164.  Madrid: 
FLACSO y Sociedad estatal V Centenario, 1993.    
51 Wortman,  Gobierno y sociedad, 36-37. 
 
52 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 317-323. 
53 Webre, “Poder e ideología”,  156. 
54 Wortman,  Gobierno y sociedad, 27. 
55 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 158. 
56 Madrigal, Cartago, 41-96 . 
57 Ibid., 165. 
58 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 285; studies on cabildos other than Guatemala’s and 
Cartago’s are a desperate necessity in the region. 
59 Webre, "Antecedentes económicos”, 198-219. 
60 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 182. 
61 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 201. 
62 Wortman,  Gobierno y sociedad, 49-50. 
63 Wortman,  Gobierno y sociedad, 58. 
64 Ibid., 50; Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 166. 
65 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 173-174. 
66 Wortman,  Gobierno y sociedad, 58. 
67 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 174-175. 
68 Wortman,  Gobierno y sociedad, 61-72. 
69 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 176. 
70 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 177-179. 
71 Wortman,  Gobierno y sociedad, 87. 
72 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 108. 
73 Ibid., 140-149. 
74 McLeod, Spanish Central America,  227 and 300-302. 
75 Ibid., 220 and 290; however, as it is discussed above, this notion has been discussed 
by recent historians such as Palma Murga. 
76 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 280. 
77 Lokken, Paul. “Angoleños”, 41. 
78 Samayoa-Guevara, Héctor. Los gremios de artesanos en la ciudad de Guatemala 
(1524-1821), 22. Guatemala: Editorial Piedra Santa, 1978. Studies on urban history of 
other Central American cities of the time are, as usual, thoroughly urgent. A classical 
study on demography in Santiago de Guatemala has been written by Lutz, Christopher. 
Historia sociodemográfica de Santiago de Guatemala, 1541-1773. Antigua Guatemala, 
Guatemala and South Woodstock, Vermont, USA: Centro de Investigaciones 
Regionales de Mesoamérica (CIRMA), 1982. 
79 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 281. 
80 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 180-181. 
81 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 122-123. 
82 Payne Iglesias, Elizet. “Actividades artesanales en Cartago. Siglo XVII (maestros,  
oficiales y aprendices).” In Sibaja, Luis Fernando (coord.). Costa Rica Colonial, 41.  San 
José: Ediciones Guayacán, 1989. 
83 Samayoa, Los gremios, 17-23; this is, actually, another poorly known subject in the 
region and period. So far only studies for Guatemala city and Costa Rica are available. 
Studies on the subject are needed for other jurisdictions of the kingdom. 
84 Payne, “Actividades artesanales”, 41, 46. 
85 Ibid., 51. 
 
86 Ibid., 39-55. 
87 Ibid., 48-50. 
88 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 238-244. 
89 Newson, El costo,  200-218. 
90 Quirós, La era, 257-272. 
91 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 113. 
92 Ibid., 114-116. 
93 Ibid., 116. 
94 65-64. 
95 Lokken, “Angoleños”, 35-65. 
96 Lokken, “Una aproximación”, 48-69. 
97 Cáceres Gómez, Rina. Negros, mulatos, esclavos y libertos en la Costa Rica del siglo 
XVII, 40-86. San José, Costa Rica: Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, 2000.  
98 Barahona, Evolución histórica, 175. 
99 Ibid.,193-222. 
100 Newson, El costo, 228-229. 
101 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 119; Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 265. 
102 Newson, El costo, 243. 
103 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 266. 
104 Newson, El costo, 219. 
105 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 267. 
106 Newson, El costo, 226. 
107 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 280-287. 
108 Ibid., 253-263. 
109 Lokken, “Angoleños”, 39. 
110 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 245. 
111 Quirós, La era, 175-176. 
112 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 292-293. 
113 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 246. 
114 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 121-2 
115 Ibid., 113. 
116 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 112. 
117 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 231 
118 Ibid., 264. 
119 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 112. 
120 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 262-263. 
121 Quirós, La era, 139-156. 
122 Ibid., 177-190. 
123 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 22-23; they have been documented for Honduras, 
Newson, El costo, 287-291. 
124 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 109. 
125 Ibid., 112. 
126 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 290. 
127 Ibid.,232. 
128 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 248; McLeod, Spanish Central America, 314-317; for 
the case of Honduras, see Barahona, Evolución histórica, 129-130. 
 
129 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 264. 
130 Quirós. La era. 107-110, 127. 
131 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 225-226. 
132 Ibid., 297. 
133 Quirós, La era, 195-215. 
134 Newson, El costo, 245-277. 
135 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 122-123. 
136 Quirós, La era, 119-131. 
137 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 227; Newson, El costo, 283-284. 
138 Ibid., 298-300. 
139 Quirós, La era, 165-170. 
140 Ibid., 197-198, 219-227. 
141 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 250. 
142 Ibid., 294-301. 
143 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 199-201. 
144 Ibid., 154-159. 
145 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 273. 
146 McLeod, Spanish Central America,  159-160. 
147 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 133-136. 
148 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 195. 
149 Ibid., 276. 
150 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 273-274. 
151 McLeod, Spanish Central America,  276. 
152 Quirós, La era, 139-156. 
153 These economic cycles are also synthetically reviewed by Ciro Cardoso and Héctor 
Pérez Brignoli, Centroamérica y la economía, 73-85. 
154 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 135-136. 
155 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 254; see McLeod, Spanish Central America,  233-252. 
156 Ibid., 301 
157 McLeod, Spanish Central America,  176-182. 
158 Ibid., 183-187. 
159 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 302. 
160 Ibid., 256-261. 
161 Ibid., 302. 
162 Ibid., 240. 
163 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 128-135. 
164 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 172-173. 
165 see Ibid., 197. 
166 Ibid., 264-273; Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 137-140; studies of this internal, 
intercolonial and smuggling trades are still to be done in the region. 
167 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 273-275. 
168 Ibid., 273. 
169 Ibid., 291. 
170 Ibid., 330-340. 
171 Lohse, Russel. “Cacao y esclavitud en Matina, Costa Rica, 1650-1750”. In La negritud 
en Centroamérica: entre raza y raíces, edited by Gudmunson, Lowell, and Wolfe, Justin, 
 
86-102. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad Estatal a Distancia, 2012; see 
Cáceres, Negros, mulatos, esclavos y libertos, 40-86. 
172 Ibid., 251. 
173 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 348-373. 
174 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 181-182. 
175 Ibid., 184-185. 
176 Newson, El costo, 404. 
177 Ibid., 408-412; the incidents of these geopolitical conflicts between colonial empires 
and the role of the missions in these frontier regions are outlined in broad detail by 
Floyd, Troy S. La Mosquitia, un conflicto de imperios. 11-72. San Pedro Sula, Honduras: 
Centro Editorial, 1990. 
178 Fonseca, “Economía y Sociedad”, 127. 
179 Barahona, Evolución histórica, 127-134. 
180 Solórzano-Fonseca, JuanCarlos. Los indígenas en la frontera de la colonización, Costa 
Rica, 1502-1930,119-175. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad Estatal a 
Distancia (EUNED), 2013. 
181 Offen, Karl. “La geografía de la raza en la Mosquitia colonial”. In La negritud en 
Centroamérica: entre raza y raíces, edited by Gudmunson, Lowell, and Wolfe, Justin, 
126-127. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad Estatal a Distancia, 2012.  
182 Barahona, Evolución histórica,  167-168. 
183 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 185; see McLeod, Spanish Central America, 362. 
184 Ibid., 186-187. 
185 Ibid., 189. 
186 Ibid., 183. 
187 Ibid., 199. 
188 Ibid., 189. 
189 Ibid., 194. 
190 Barahona, Evolución histórica, 15415-8; Newson, El costo, 362-364. 
191 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 180-181. 
192 Ibid., 192-193. 
193 Ibid., 193-195. 
194 Ibid., 196-198. 
195 Ibid., 202. 
196 Lenhoff, Dieter. Creación musical en Guatemala, 37-51. Guatemala: Universidad 
Rafael Landívar/Fundación G&T Continental, 2004. 
197 Ibid., 53-67. 
198 Vargas-Cullell, María Clara and Madrigal, Eduardo. “De rituales y festividades, 
música colonial en la provincia de Costa Rica”. In Revista de Historia. Heredia, Costa 
Rica: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional, EUCR, Nº57-58 (2008): 109-134. 
199 Ibid., 203-204. 
200 Ibid., 176. 
201 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 292. 
202 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 203. 
203 Ibid., 209-210. 
204 Meléndez Chaverri, Carlos. Conquistadores y pobladores: orígenes histórico-sociales 
de los costarricenses,129-130. San José: EUNED, 1982. 
 
205 Ibid., 214-215. 
206 Madrigal, Eduardo. “Elites instruidas en la Costa Rica colonial, 1564-1718)”. In 
Revista de Historia, 86. Heredia, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional, EUCR, 
Nº57-58 (2008): 85-107. 
207 Ibid., 206. 
208 Ibid., 172. 
209 Barahona, Evolución histórica, 146-147. 
210 McLeod, Spanish Central America, 231. 
211 Quirós, La era, 243-245. 
212 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 287. 
213 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 179. 
214 Webre, “Poder e ideología”, 180. 
215 Ibid., 201-202. 
216 Palma, “Economía y Sociedad”, 288; McLeod, Spanish Central America, 231, 307-
308, 327-328 . 
217 Lokken, “Angoleños”, 57. 
218 Barahona, Evolución histórica, 193-222.