Vexatious Outsiders: The Shaping of Colonial Spaces in Tlaxcala, New Spain, 1550-1590

R. Jovita Baber

This paper examines the development of race laws in colonial Latin America, and the use of those laws by a native community in New Spain (now, Mexico), called Tlaxcala. It aims to understand, first, how the activities of Tlaxcalans shaped the formation of law, and, second, how law and their use of law shaped the racial landscape of Tlaxcala. Toward the end of the century, the native population fell to its nadir—as thousands of native people died from plagues; concurrently, the Spanish population increased significantly—as Spaniards bought, rented, and settled on uncultivated lands. Although the shifts in the racial composition of the region were particularly notable at the end of the century, racial transformations had begun with contact. With the arrival of Cortés in 1519, the native nobility gifted several of their daughters to Cortés and his captains to secure an alliance between the two peoples. After the conquest, they married their daughters to Spanish conquistadors and, later, to low-ranking Spanish officials. Many Spaniards settled in Tlaxcala with the implicit consent of Tlaxcalans. Some lived with Tlaxcalan commoners. These mixed-race couples begat mestizo (Spanish/Indian mixed-race) children, in and out of wedlock. Thus, by the end of the century, the mestizo population had increased considerably. Despite these demographic shifts, the leaders of Tlaxcala insisted that the community was an “Indian” (indio) community, and petitioned for laws to prohibit Spaniards, mestizos, and other races, and frequently sued to evict Spaniards from the community. Rather than being against Spaniards, however, I show that Tlaxcalans opposed recalcitrant Spaniards who refused to conform to community norms and authorities. Using the laws strategically, they shaped the racial landscape of the region. Moreover, I show that culture and identity—not race, as scholars generally argue—defined the separate Repúblicas for Indians and Spaniards.

[WP# 04013]