This book examines the dramatic impact of Spanish rule on Mexican society and agriculture, in terms of the demands of world capitalist development.

Part I. The impossibility of the dual economy: 1. Introduction: the economic genesis of social institutions; 2. 1521-1548: the encomienda; 3. 1548-1575: the repartimiento; Part II. The development of the hacienda: 4. 1575-1580: demographic and economic crisis; 5. Growth of the latifundium: alternative theses; 6. 1580-1630: profit-generated latifundium growth; 7. Commercial crop and livestock production; 8. The monopolization of land; 9. The organization of labour; 10. Some characteristics of the hacienda.