Concept in Definition ABC

In economic-productive terms, the land can be worked and organized in many different ways. One of the most common ways in Latin America after the Spanish conquest and colonization it was that of the hacienda. Today, in many regions there are still establishments with these characteristics (some in full functioning and others currently used as tourist spaces) that are undoubtedly the mark of the Hispanic presence in these regions.

When we speak of haciendas we must speak of a form of possession of the latifundista land. This means that a hacienda was usually made up of a large number of territories that belonged to a single person or a single family. This has to do with the idea that when America was conquered, the Spaniards divided their territories to their liking, each of them granting the right to use large portions of native lands. They were put into activity through different forms of work, although in most cases we must speak of forms of work exploitative such as slavery, servitude and other forms created by the aborigines themselves to order each other that were later accepted by the Spanish (such as the mita, a system that gave a person people on loan for his activity and as slaves or possessions).

The haciendas were dedicated preferably to work agricultural, which was developed in its great extensions of land. As it happened in Europe during feudal times, in the American agricultural estate there was a central nucleus where the houses were established of the lord or owner and all those constructions referring to their daily life (such as parishes, leisure spaces, etc.) as well as references to the productive process (mills, silos, farms, stables, etc). The workers' houses could also be located in this area. Obviously, the buildings for the home of the lord and his family were the most luxurious and developed.

Due to their size and the extension of land available, the haciendas became the nerve centers of all economy in Latin America and this has to do with the fact that, although the production depending on the weather and the possibilities of each region, the quantity of agricultural products and in some cases cattle ranchers that were generated within a hacienda was undoubtedly of great importance for the economies regional