This dissertation is a social and economic history of the Toluca region of central Mexico during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Toluca’s proximity to Mexico City greatly affected its social, political, and economic organization over the course of the colonial era. By the late eighteenth century, changes in social complexity and economic differentiation were evident, as population growth, the expansion of commercial activity, and a growing local market led to an increasingly multifaceted and consolidated local society.

The study’s principal objective is to detect and analyze changes and continuities in social relations, work, business and commercial activities, agricultural production, and market development in this important subregion of central Mexico during a period of accelerated political, economic, and social change. The findings are based on an intensive use of original archival sources, especially notarial documents and census data, and also parish, sales tax, and tithe records. The study employs both quantitative and qualitative sources, which provide different but complementary dimensions to the analysis. A career pattern approach was used to follow individuals and families from different social groups. Serial data were analyzed to reveal patterns in commercial activity and agricultural production. Owing to the nature of the sources used, the emphasis is on the Hispanic sector in the valley; however, the continuity of indigenous structures is also examined. Substantive chapters examine the populations of the town of Toluca in 1791 and 1834, the largely indigenous barrios and pueblos in Toluca’s environs and rural areas, commerce and the estate system, and artisans.

To the degree allowed by the sources, this study elucidates processes of change at all levels of Toluqueño society, going beyond an analysis of the local elite to include more humble sectors of society. The dissertation contributes to our knowledge of central Mexico’s demography, society, and ethnicity, with implications for other regions of Latin America. In its periodization, this study crosses the traditional divide of national independence, a time of political unrest and economic uncertainty.

Complete dissertation available for download here (PDF).