Liberals, the Church, and Indian Peasants: Corporate Lands and the Challenge of Reform in Nineteenth-Century Spanish America

The control and use of land were fundamental issues throughout Spanish America in the nineteenth century. The seven original essays in this volume are the first comprehensive treatment of how governments and local officials, following the tenets of economic liberalism, forced changes in land ownership after Independence and what resulted from their reforms. Leaders in newly independent countries in Mesoamerica and the Andean region attacked as inherently unproductive the large land holdings of the Church, charitable institutions such as orphanages, and Indian communities. Liberals believed that breaking up communal land holdings and selling these to individuals spurred economic development and modernization. Each chapter addresses how transfer of ownership occurred and what economic effects followed. The social and political changes associated with land tenure reforms are also carefully considered.