An Outpost of Colonialism: The Hispanic Community of Mérida, Yucatán, 1690-1730

Using the categories of status, political power, and wealth, Robert W. Patch shows how Hispanic society in Mérida, Yucatán was stratified into upper, middle, and lower classes. Lacking any exportable resource except cotton textiles extracted from Maya people and exported to northern Mexico, the Hispanic community earned enough through those exports to import the material goods necessary to maintain a "Spanish" identity. The only productive economic activity of the Hispanic people was cattle...