38 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 13 



DISPERSAL OF POPULATION 



Major demographic changes took place in Toto- 

 nacapan as the aftermath of the Conquest. Obvi- 

 ously, there was a high mortality from disease and 

 excessive toil, although that resulting from mili- 

 tary impact was relatively slight. The demo- 

 graphic aspect which interests us most, at the 

 moment, is the broadcast dispersal of the Totonac 

 who fled from the Spanish yoke to take refuge in 

 the more remote and inaccessible areas. 



The zone which suffered the sharpest reduction 

 in population was, at the same time, the richest 

 and the most densely populated — namely, the coast 

 belt and the adjacent hinterland. There, such 

 important Totonac centers as "Cempoala," "Quia- 

 huixtlan," and "Tuzapan" virtually disappeared 

 (pp. 8-10) . The highlands were by no means im- 

 mune, but suffered to a lesser degree. There is a 

 direct and positive correlation between intensity 

 of population reduction and intensity of Spanish 

 occupation. In southern Totonacapan, Negro 

 slaves (Aguirre Beltran, pp. 210, 217-218) and 

 Mexicanos were used to fill, in part, the gap left 

 by native peoples ; and in the north and west, there 

 are indications of an infiltration of Mexican and, 

 on a small scale, of Otomi-speaking peoples. 



With the wide scattering of the Totonac, major 

 changes in culture were unavoidable. At the time 

 of the Conquest, native culture was urban and 

 highly complex. Transplanted to scattered ham- 

 lets, in isolated and inaccessible areas, it seems evi- 

 dent that there must have been a genuine loss of 

 culture. When, in time, pueblos in Totonacapan 

 rose to importance, their ethnic character no longer 

 was native, but dominantly mestizo. 



We have mentioned above that the dispersal of 

 population must have made the process of evan- 

 gelization difficult. It also retarded accultura- 

 tion to Spanish norms, and the relative isolation 

 in which the surviving Totonac lived permitted 

 the survival of certain basic elements of native 

 culture to modern times. 



REDUCCIONES, CONGREGACIONES, AND 

 CORREGIMIENTOS 



To impede further flight of Indians from Span- 

 ish-controlled zones and to concentrate already 

 dispersed elements of population, recourse was 



had to reducciones. This term was applied to 

 clusters of families, obligated to live in a certain 

 spot. The same settlements likewise were known 

 as congregaciones ; 70 and later, when official ad- 

 ministration was placed in the hands of a special 

 functionary, known as a corregidor, the same na- 

 tive congregations came to be called corregi- 

 mientos (Ots Capdequi, p. 40) . In short, the three 

 terms are roughly synonymous. 



The original objective of the congregation was, 

 then, to concentrate the population and thereby to 

 facilitate the task of the missionaries, as well as 

 of the encomenderos and the tribute collectors. 

 All these elements were interested in the develop- 

 ment of the congregation, although occasionally 

 members of the religious orders protested. Ad- 

 verse opinions were based on the fact that changes 

 in residence worked hardship on the Indians. 

 Without entering deeply into the matter (cf. L. B. 

 Simpson, 1934) , it is undeniable that the congre- 

 gaciones left Indian lands vacant and that the 

 Spanish colonists lost no time in gaining control 

 of them. 



Early attempts to concentrate the population 

 were not effective, and the problem of dispersal 

 remained so acute that, in 1592, the viceroy, Luis 

 de Velasco, resorted anew to reducciones. 11 There 

 is mention of two, on the fringes of our area, 72 but 



70 A detailed study of congregaciones has been published by 

 L. B. Simpson, 1934. 



"A royal order of 1607 (AGN, No. 4) discusses the aims and 

 difficulties of the reducciones. Thus : "El yntento principal que 

 se a tenido en esas Reduziones se a encaminado a que todos los 

 naturnles partizipen de la policia cristiana espiritual y temporal 

 con la menor descomodidad suya fuese posible y asi se ayan 

 removido de sus lugares casas y asientos . . ." 



The order makes it clear that depopulation has taken place in 

 established communities (". . . lugares formados donde havia 

 Yglesias doctrina y casas bien fabricadas y hasiendas asentadas y 

 beneflciadas . . .") and attempts to protect the Indians from 

 further hardship (". . . que lo que se haze para el bien espiritual 

 y temporal de los yndios no les resulte en mayor dafio suyo . . ."). 

 However, scattered natives (". . . los yndios que estan de- 

 rramados en las quebradas montes y soledades sin poblaziones 

 . . .") are to be concentrated in settlements (". . . a Poblaziones 

 donde puedan ser bien doctrinados y vivir con pulicia en temples 

 conformes a los en que an bivido . . ."). 



At the same time, an effort was made to correct the wholesale 

 seizure of Indian lands : ". . . si algunas personas se hubiesen 

 metido y apoderado de las haziendas de los yndios que de unos 

 pueblos an sido reduzidos a otros aunque sea con lizencia y merced 

 particular de los Vireyes vuestros antecesores y vos se las qui- 

 tareis y desposeereis dellas luego dexandolas gozar a los dueCos 

 que fuesen dellas . . ." 



73 Velasco established Mexicanos, Otomf, and Tepehua in Huaya- 

 cocotla and, in the same year, there were reducciones in Chiconte- 

 pec (AGN, No. 11). Both these pueblos are on the fringes of 

 Totonacapan, and it is not impossible that peripheral Totonac 

 were affected. 



