<P> 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, 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 . </P> <P> The Isthmus of Tehuantepec region of Oaxaca was important for its short transit between the Gulf Coast and the Pacific, facilitating both overland and sea trade . The province of Tehuantepec was the Pacific side of the isthmus and the headwaters of the Coatzacoalcos River . Hernán Cortés acquired strategically located holdings entailed in the Marquesado including Huatulco, once the main Pacific Coast port before Acapulco replaced it in 1563 . </P> <P> Gold mining was an early draw for Spaniards, who directed indigenous labor to its extraction, but did not continue beyond the mid-sixteenth century . Over the long run, ranching and commerce were the most important economic activities, with the settlement of Tehuantepec becoming the hub . The region's history can be divided into three distinct periods, an initial period of engagement with Spanish colonial rule to 1563, during which there was a working relationship with the Zapotec ruling line and the establishment of Cortés's economic enterprises . This early period came to a close with the death of the last native king in 1562 and the escheatment of Cortés's Tehuantepec encomiendas to the crown in 1563 . The second period of approximately a century (1563--1660) saw the decline of the indigenous entailed estate (cacicazgo) and indigenous political power and development of the colonial economy and imposition of Spanish political and religious structures . The final period is the maturation of these structures (1660--1750). The 1660 rebellion can be a dividing line between the two later periods . </P> <P> The Villa of Tehuantepec, the largest settlement on the isthmus, was an important prehispanic Zapotec trade and religious center, which was not under the jurisdiction of the Aztecs . The early colonial history of Tehuantepec and the larger province was dominated by Cortés and the Marquesado, but the crown realized the importance of the area and concluded an agreement in 1563 with the second Marqués by which the crown took control of the Tehuantepec encomienda . The Marquesado continued to have major private holdings in the province . The Villa of Tehuantepec became a center of Spanish and mixed - race settlement, crown administration, and trade . </P>

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