Editing New Spain (section)

====Valley of Oaxaca====
[[Image:SantoDomingo12-05Oaxaca109.jpg|thumb|[[Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán (Oaxaca)|Church of Santo Domingo]], [[Oaxaca City]]]]
Since [[Oaxaca]] was lacking in mineral deposits and it had an abundant sedentary indigenous population, it developed without European or mixed-race population and large-scale Spanish haciendas, so the indigenous communities retained their land, indigenous languages, and distinct ethnic identities. Antequera ([[Oaxaca City]]) was a Spanish settlement founded in 1529, but the rest of Oaxaca consisted of indigenous towns. Despite its remoteness from Mexico City, "throughout the colonial era, Oaxaca was one of Mexico's most prosperous provinces".<ref>{{harvp|Baskes|2000|p=186}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Brian R. Hamnett says that "José de Gálvez considered Oaxaca one of New Spain's richest provinces".<ref>{{harvp|Hamnett|1971|p=40}}</ref>|group=Note}} In the eighteenth century, the value of crown offices (alcalde mayor or corregidor) were the highest for two Oaxaca jurisdictions, with Jicayan and Villa Alta each worth 7,500 pesos, Cuicatlan-Papalotipac, 4,500; Teposcolula and Chichicapa, each 4,200 pesos.{{#tag:ref|The crown sold public offices, with their purchasers expecting to quickly recoup the costs. For a complete chart, see {{harvp|Hamnett|1971|p=16}}.|group=Note}}q

The most important commodity for Oaxaca was [[cochineal]] red dye. Cochineal's commodity chain is interesting, with indigenous peasants in the remote areas of Oaxaca ultimately linked to Amsterdam and London commodity exchanges and the European production of luxury cloth.<ref>{{harvp|Marichal|2006}}</ref> The most extensive study of Oaxaca's eighteenth-century economy deals with the nexus between the local crown officials (alcaldes mayores), merchant investors (''aviadores''), the repartimiento (forced labor), and indigenous products, particularly cochineal. The rich, color-fast red dye produced from insects, was harvested from [[nopal cacti]]. Cochineal was a high-value, low-volume product that became the second-most valuable Mexican export after silver. Although it could be produced elsewhere in central and southern Mexico, its main region of production was Oaxaca. For the indigenous in Oaxaca, cochineal was the only one "with which the [tributaries] maintain themselves and pay their debts" but it also had other advantages.{{#tag:ref|Baskes suggests the crown restricted its production to Oaxaca until 1819, which likely contributed to artificially high prices.<ref>{{harvp|Baskes|2000|p=185}}</ref>|group=Note}} Producing cochineal was time-consuming labor, but it was not particularly difficult and could be done by the elderly, women, and children.<ref>{{harvp|Chance|1989|p=121}}</ref> It was also important to households and communities because it initially did not require the indigenous to displace their existing crops or migrate elsewhere.<ref>{{harvp|Baskes|2000|pp=18–19}}</ref>

Although the repartimiento has historically been seen as an imposition on the indigenous, forcing them into economic relations they would rather have avoided and maintained by force,<ref>For instance, {{harvp|Chance|1989|pp=121–122}}.</ref> recent work on eighteenth-century Oaxaca analyzes the nexus of crown officials (the alcaldes mayores) and Spanish merchants, and indigenous via the repartimiento. cash loaned by local crown officials (the alcalde mayor and his teniente), usually to individual Indians but sometimes to communities, in exchange for a fixed amount of a good (cochineal or cotton mantles) at a later date. Indigenous elites were an integral part of the repartimiento, often being recipients of large extensions of credit. As authority figures in their community, they were in a good position to collect on the debt, the most risky part of the business from the Spanish point of view.