What is a Hacienda?
In Spanish speaking countries, a hacienda is a large estate, often covering a huge amount of land. The term is also used to refer to the house of the owner, which is often built on a large scale designed to impress and awe visitors. The hacienda system was widespread throughout the Spanish colonies at one point, and its legacy can be felt by many modern day residents. Many cultures have an equivalent to the hacienda system, although these equivalents are known by different names. In most cases, the true hacienda has disappeared, although some people do live in large houses on modest estates which could be considered a modern day hacienda. The origins of the hacienda can be found in the Age of Discovery, when many Europeans were exploring the New World. As an incentive, the Spanish government granted large tracts of land to members of the minor nobility. These haciendas were huge; some of the land grants exceeded the size of modern Mexican states. Along with the land grant went rights t
The Mexican hacienda was a giant farm, under the absolute domination of an individual with powers often running back to a royal grant. Due to the underdeveloped transportation lines, the haciendas had to be self-sufficient. Along with the grant of land went a grant of Indians. As farm laborers they worked the lands and produced their own food; as carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, potters, weavers, they erected the buildings, kept them in repair, and fabricated all necessary tools and utensils. As servants they kept the owner–the hacendado–and his family from ever doing any work. Some hacendados were so wealthy that they could mint their own silver coins with their family’s crest. Sugar cane haciendas developed in the hot climates of the states of Veracruz and Morelos, while cattle haciendas were established on the dry central plains and southward lowlands of Chiapas and Veracruz. Conquistadors founded henequin or sisal hemp haciendas in the arid parts of the Yucatan, and cotton planta
