Environment, Technology, Agriculture, and Water in Latin America: Pre-Columbia to Independence
Updated: May 27
For pre-Columbian Natives and post-Columbian peoples alike, environment, agriculture, water, and technological innovations had large impacts on their lifestyle, religion, political beliefs, and motivations, ultimately leading to colossal changes in society.
Pre-Columbian Natives had differing ways of life depending on the region and their residing civilization's size.
Non-sedentary people constantly moved around based on readily available resources, but unlike the semi-sedentary, did not set up villages. That's because most semi-sedentary people lived in abundant, diverse forests with adequate rainfall. They learned to create garden plots, clear them when necessary, or completely move their established village if need be (Chasteen 2016, 37-48).
Sedentary people usually lived in massive empire city-states. For example, the surrounding environment quite literally shaped the Aztec Empire's culture. The capital of Tenochtitlan adapted to and resided on top of Lake Texaco, shaping their religion, culture, and success (Chasteen 2016, 37-48). However, torrential flooding was a major concern. So, they did what any logical person would do back then... hold customary human sacrifice rituals so the Gods would stop the floodwaters from destroying their lives! Economically, textiles from raw cotton production stapled trade. Likely impacted by torrential flooding, the land was fertile enough to produce hefty amounts of cotton, as estimations show Natives produced 50,000 metric tons of cotton before the conquest (Wolfe 2017).
Moving into the period of conquest, Natives used that fertile land to grow cotton and produce textiles, selling them among trade routes. However, the land's ability to produce that. much cotton, along with other various agricultural products, turned conquest into colonialization. In Mexico, rivers formed shifting branches which created incredibly fertile lowlands. A region of specific interest would be the "Laguna," an area within Durango and Coahuila. The soil here had great farming potential, as flooding from the Nazas and Aguanaval Rivers gave it sedimentary qualities. Rain and temperature in the Laguna also heavily impacted residents, water bodies held vast wildlife forms, many of which were essential protein sources for peoples in the region. (Wolfe 2017).
Once New Spain was established, Alexander von Humboldt visited in 1803 through 1804 and made accounts stressing the cotton production potential. He specifically noted that in 1791, New Spain had exported six times more cotton than the United States. However, that stressed observation aged sourly, as the U.S. cotton gin, invented in 1793, got rid of time-consuming tasks, like manually separating seeds from lint. Though, technology and agricultural theory continued to advance in Mexico. In 1885, the Ministry of Industry and Development published a manual made by a Laguna farmer, Donato Gutierrez of Durango, explaining how to grow the desired cotton plant. The best method described was to plant in rows, so the farmers could make necessary calculations more accurate (Wolfe 2017).
Farmers planting in muddy clay-like soils started planting a type of cotton that could withstand harsher conditions, but with the disadvantage of annual replanting (1880s). The new cotton genus yielded 250 kilograms of cotton per hectare, compared to the 54 kilograms produced by the previously most popular genus. The new strain also needed more irrigation and water, leading to long-term disputes. The first federal water law was passed in 1888, granting water allowances to the new, politically-connected Mexican company, Tlahualilo. As the new company emerged, so did an era of technologically superior agriculture, called aniego. This form of agriculture conserved water and the soil's moisture alike, and farmers would extend their land's irrigation by implementing small diversion dams, and canals (Wolfe 2017).
In 1892, Mexican President Porfirio Diaz received investigative reports on how to resolve disputes (from the Nazas River Inspection Commission that Diaz himself established) between Tlahualilo (upriver) and downriver water users. An engineer in the commission named Marroquin y Rivera noted it was an "indisputable fact the material forming the present terrain in the region was to a great depth deposited by the waters of the Nazas... layered with three to four inches of sediment." During this time of aniego, farmers also rearranged irrigation methods based on specific ecological conditions. In the 1880s, so going back just a few years, railroads arrived. The expansion of the rail system also brought along expansions in aniego, simultaneously creating a national market for not just the agricultural sphere, but an emerging industrial frontier. As aniego expanded, so did conflicts among water users. The Federal Law on General Means of Communications (1888) extended federal jurisdiction over the road and railways to differing international border waterways. Congress then proceeded to pass regulations in 1891, 1895, and 1909... each of which came from a deeper understanding of the Nazas River's hydrology. These regulations established a group of elite policymakers, designed by Porfiria Diaz's regime (Wolfe 2017).
By Independence in 1821, the Nazas and Aguanaval Rivers had been transformed (in comparison to pre-Columbian times) by an exclusive hydrological system, where irrigation systems within streams connected the two major flows. High land fertility from differing water levels made for fertile lands, which in this case, was gold for cotton production. As Fransisco Madero noted, the Nazas' effect on land and its ability to produce profitable crops turned Torreon (originally a small village) into a fast-paced rail entrepot within fifteen years. Even before Independence, Madero observed the Nazas importance within Mexico, wanting to build a dam and resolve water disputes between landowners (Wolfe 2017).
The 1895 regulation passed by Congress took the Tlahualilo Company's water distribution from 200 million cubic meters to 22 million, which downriver users thought of as a personal success. While the company proceeded to overlook the regulation, downriver users largely began using innovative hydraulic methods to increase their cultivation, which created even more water scarcity. Once investigators found that Tlahualilo had made false claims regarding profits, American and British investors gained control of the company, not helping ease any tensions. In 1908, an executive order was issued, forbidding upriver users from diverting river flow during September, so downriver users could use the entirety.
In 1909, Francisco Madero, the prominent leader of the Revolutionaries fighting against Porfiria Diaz's autocracy (Library of Congress), proposed his desired dam as part of a new Mexican political economy. However, the proposition was denied. In 1911, the Supreme Court made a final ruling against the Tlahualilo company, which did rule in Diaz's favor. However, the sense of victorious closure did not last long, as Madero's Revolutionary forces triumphed over the armies of Porfiria Diaz and the state in critical battles, leading Profiria to resign and flee to France (Wolfe 2017). Ultimately, water disputes among Mexican landowners along the Nazas and Aguanaval Rivers were powerful influences on Porfirias autocracy, as political backings by farmers compounded not just frustrations with the state over water, but also other underlying and more direct issues.
Works Cited
Chasteen, John Charles. “The Fall of The Aztec and Inca Empires... The Birth of Spanish America.” Sections. In Born in Blood and Fire, 38–47. WW Norton Co, 2016.
This textbook gave me information on how pre-Columbian peoples were affected by
their environment and how they either adapted to it or conquered the difficulties.
“The Mexican Revolution and the United States in the Collections of the Library of Congress the Rise of Francisco Madero.” Library of Congress. Accessed September 4, 2022. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mexican-revolution-and-the-united-states/rise-of-madero.html.
This article gave me more insights into Francisco Madero, specifying his importance
beyond his dam proposal.
Wiles , Kate. “The Map: Tenochtitlan, 1524.” History Today, October 2016. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/cartography/map-tenochtitlan-1524.
The image provided in the source gives visual context key to the discussion of Lake
Texaco impacted the people of Tenochtitlan.
Wolfe, Mikael. Watering the Revolution: An Environmental and Technological History of Agrarian Reform in Mexico. Durham: Duke University Press, 2017.
Information from this source makes up the vast majority of my essay, as all facts and
insights beyond (in regard to my discussion's linear format) conquest and excluding
further specification on Madero's importance came from this content.
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