The Haciendas of Yucatán

Haciendas

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PRESENTATION

The haciendas of Yucatán are a living example of the history of our State: they preserve the occupations, trades and culture of the individuals who people a past of conquest and want, but also of glory. The book Haciendas of Yucatán: chronicle of a Renaissance offers a guide to the different haciendas of Yucatan, looking at their diverse origins, history and modern roles. The text constitutes a testimony to the rebirth of the haciendas, allowing us to discover the current state of the buildings, activities that are carried out in each one and the location of the most important examples in the State. This book explains the integration of the social, ecological and cultural life of our society; and contributes to our culture by reclaiming the importance of the haciendas as a fundamental element of the country, of our Yucatan.

INTRODUCTION

As witnesses to a recent past – as architectural monuments in some cases, as examples of what is now called “historical heritage”, or even as potential sources of income for the State – the old buildings which housed the haciendas of Yucatán today comprise a rich cultural treasure whose value has only recently begun to be recognized. In synthesis, the life – or “lives” – of the haciendas of Yucatán could be summed up by saying they began as stretches of land and modern buildings designed for working the land – first manually, then with machinery - , they then spent decades and decades as ruins until today, when post-modernity has opened our eyes to the past in its quest for preservation of ever-endangered identity.

HISTORIAL BACKGROUND

Situated in the south-east of Mexico, the Peninsula of Yucatan must be considered the land of the hacienda par excellence, given the large number of plantations that proliferated at the end of the 19th century, when the majority focused their production on the exclusive cultivation of sisal.

However, their origins could be traced back to several points in history. Before the conquest, the pre-Hispanic period, the plant known as “ci” or “ki” was already used to provide fibers and to manufacture ropes, cloth and other products; in addition, the Maya extracted liquid from it was consumed as a refreshing drink.

Towards the mid-19th century, the old techniques for extracting fiber was the same as it had been for many years: the spear was cleaned by hand before dawn or in the early morning before being stripped and left to dry, thus producing the raw material for manufacturing finished products.

The sisal hacienda was the best known and most fully developed, reaching its peak between 1880 and 1910, and displacing the cultivation of maize and sugar cane, which were also exploited in Yucatan. The so-called “sisal zone” covered the northwest part of the Peninsula and encompassed around 60 percent of the area of the State.

Thanks to a variety of historical and economic factors, the export of fiber and manufactured products grew from 1000 tons in 1810 to over 200000 in 1916, marking the definitive placement of the product in the world economy, and at the same time bringing Yucatan an era of prosperity reflected principally the urban development of Merida and the port of Progreso. However, following the Mexican Revolution, the situation of the haciendas changed noticeably, as happened in many areas of exploitation of natural resources.

Later on, at the end of the first half of the 20th century, the haciendas were expropriated as part of Lázaro Cárdenas agrarian policies. Then, in the 1060s, as a consequence of fierce competition from artificial fibers, and of various political factors that determined new ways of managing resources, the end finally came for the once splendid sisal industry, named after the port from which ships originally departed carrying the precious agave aboard, although the departure point was later transferred to the port of Progreso, which was much close to the capital of Yucatan.

The architect Marco Tulio Peraza Guzmán writes that today the haciendas are an integral part of the countryside, typical of the traditional agrarian Yucatan; they are also, because of their productive an elitist origin, witnesses to the development and evolution, not always upwards, of the State´s economy; but also, and especially today, to the State´s culture and its most valuable architectural heritage.

He adds that the deserted architecture of the haciendas represents today not only the splendor of an epoch, but also its passing, “and moreover, a kind of unpleasant reminder of a past which was splendid yet also socially unjust, which we claim to have left behind”.

Cattle Ranches

Yucatan, a land apparently poor, without mines, woods or rivers allowing for traditional exploitation, turned out to be ideal for cattle ranching, which required less investment and could function on its mediocre soil, and with minimal labor: the ranch owners found an alternative for investing the profits obtained from the tribute handed over by the Indians.

Thus the cattle ranches came into being, growing through the 17th century both in size and number, and appearing in areas ever more distant from the main population centers; however, their main activity was still cattle raising, with an incipient apiculture as a secondary activity, producing honey and beeswax.

The sisal Hacienda

The transformation of the panorama of Yucatan haciendas began in the second half of the 19th century, driven by the old families descended from the original landowners, who had possessed great expanses of land since colonial time. The heirs of these families, as well as new groups with wealth built up from commerce also participated in this transformation.

The decline in cattle raising and the production of sugar cane as export products, and the vigorous factors: mainly, according to Ancona Riestra, to three events: the Caste War, the invention of the scrapping machine for shredding the fiber, and the great demand for rope stemming from the invention of the McCormick corn harvester in the United States in 1878.

The bloody Caste War, which began in 1847, was considered the cause behind the destruction of the sugar industry and other crops in the east and south of the present state of Yucatan, due to the loss of the sugar cane and corn haciendas and ranches around Tekax and Campeche, and the fact that the production of Merida and Izamal was consumed by the population and the military forces. Against this background, the production of sisal for foreign markets became