IAR 221: Hacienda Communities

Haciendas 

Ancient Hacienda, Yucatan.

• Haciendas usually specialized in certain things.
• Slaves that resided in the Haciendas were usually bound to that Hacienda forever.(Ching, 557
• The word Hacienda comes from the Latin word focere which means "to make something".(Ching, 557)

Haciendas go back to the 1500's made to be communities that were mostly populated by slaves. The slaves that made up these Haciendas were usually African and Native Americans. The reason why I also refer to Haciendas as communities is because not only did the slaves work there, they also lived there. The Mexican people had to ensure that the people and themselves got what they needed since the Haciendas were far from metropolitan centers.

Panoramio, Ancient Hacienda

For this reason Haciendas varied in size. Some Haciendas had its own market place, cemetery, jailhouse, etc. I feel that another reason they built a little community is because the slaves and their descendants were stuck there. There was porbably children  and older people there and they also had to be some sort of order.  All these communities focused on producing things. Things like coffee, sugar cane, cotton, food, etc.

Cotton

Present Day

Haciendas in my opinion remind me of big factories. Factories all over America rarely make everything. They usually specialize in one or two things. My aunt used to work at UNIFI. UNIFI made yarns and fabric for textile products. My aunt would spin yarn for ten hours because that was her job. They provided areas where they could eat or rest . As far as the architecture, factories and Haciendas are very large in size. The spaces within these structures a made for production and easy traffic flow.

Sources:

http://www.colonial-estates.pvoss.de/mexico-historical-haciendas.htm

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/23870526

http://kaufmann-mercantile.com/organic-cotton/