THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



39 



no specific indication that Totonac actually were 

 included. 



These measures likewise were ineffectual, and 

 efforts were intensified during the viceroyalty of 

 the Count of Monterrey. During his era, the 

 congregaciones were important and widespread in 

 Totonacapan. In 1598, Cristobal Garibay was ap- 

 pointed to study the problem in southern Totona- 

 capan and adjacent areas, and his journey of 

 inspection was to include specific pueblos, many 

 of them outright Totonac or containing Totonac 

 segments of population — Jalapa, Tlacolulan, Mi- 

 santla, Actopan, "Cempoala," and La Rinconada 

 (AGN, No. 16) . The same year, Rodrigo de Zarate 

 was appointed for a parallel mission to a zone 

 which included many Totonac pueblos of the 

 Sierra — Hueytlalpan, "Jicotepec" (now Villa 

 Juarez), Papalo, Chumatlan, Zozocolco, "Tona- 

 tico," Jonotla, and Jalacingo (AGN, No. 15). 

 However, reducciones could not have been effective, 

 for a few years later there were further com- 

 plaints concerning dispersal of population (cf. 

 Mot a y Escobar) . 



POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONGREGACION 



The scattering of population and the system of 

 congregaciones eventually destroyed what re- 

 mained of native political organization. 



The reasons are clear. The Totonac, widely dis- 

 seminated, presumably discarded, more or less 

 rapidly, the political aspects which had been part 

 and parcel of their complicated social organization. 

 We know nothing of their readjustment. But in 

 Tajin today, as in Eloxochitlan, in the highlands, 

 the term "kolopusko" (literally, the oldest man) 

 is used to designate the jefe politico, or presidente, 

 of the modern community ; this rather suggests that 

 patriarchal authority once was current. 



Congregaciones formed by the Spaniards fol- 

 lowed a type of organization then prevalent in 

 Spain. The new authorities were chosen in free 

 election by adult males. Although, socially, the 

 ancient chieftains retained a large part of their 

 privileges and their personal property and were 

 able to transit them by inheritance, their political 

 power was seriously shattered. Nevertheless, the 

 first elections were purely formal, and leaders were 

 chosen from the ancient ruling class. These In- 

 dian officials were given Spanish designations of 

 alcalde and regidores, and above them in authority 



was an Indian governor, appointed by the Span- 

 iards (AGN, Nos. 9, 13). A Crown official, the 

 corregidor, directly supervised the functioning of 

 political organization in pueblos of native peoples. 

 In general terms, this organization did not undergo 

 major change during the colonial era, nor was it 

 altered significantly by Mexican Independence. 



As mentioned previously, in prewhite days, 

 Totonac organization revolved about large towns, 

 to which various small, nearby settlements were 

 subject. That this system — including original 

 boundaries, as well as land, water, and fishing 

 rights — was preserved by the Spaniards is con- 

 vincingly demonstrated by the abundance of dis- 

 putes registered in the Archivo General de la 

 Nacion. 



OTHER ASPECTS OF COLONIZATION 



A number of phases of Spanish occupation 

 which have not been considered as yet will be 

 treated here. 



In the first place, Totonacapan is not rich in 

 minerals (cf. Aguilera), and during the colonial 

 epoch there is no mention of mines of any impor- 

 tance. The exploitation of oil deposits is, of 

 course, an essentially recent development. In 

 other parts of New Spain, Spanish and mestizo 

 cities flourished in mining zones — Pachuca, San 

 Luis Potosi, Guanajuato, and Zacatecas — and 

 Totonacapan lost interest in Spanish eyes pre- 

 cisely because of its lack of exploitable mineral 

 wealth ; not one smelting town was founded in 

 Totonac country during the sixteenth century. 



In the second place, although Totonacapan was 

 the first coastal area to pass firmly under Spanish 

 control, it had limited importance as a base of com- 

 munications — both with the interior, by land, and 

 abroad, by sea. Totonacapan proper lay between 

 the two main Spanish lines of communication with 

 the coast: in the south, Veracruz-Jalapa-Perote, 

 and Veracruz-Cordoba-Orizaba; in the north, 

 Tuxpan-"Jicotepec"-Huauchinango. 



Furthermore, the difficulty of north-south com- 

 munications within Totonacapan emphasized its 

 isolation, which only in very recent times is com- 

 ing to an end. Although a late eighteenth-century 

 map (AGN, No. 6) depicts a north-south road, 

 along the low country of the coast, this route 

 appeal's never to have attained great importance. 

 In part, water communications compensated for 



