From Household To Empire
Subtitle: Society And Economy In Early Colonial New Mexico
Publisher: William P. Clements Center for Southwest Stud
Published: March 31, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 264
ISBN-13: 9780816524440
Subjects: Indians of North America; To 1848; History; Architecture; Archaeology / Anthropology; Social life and customs; New Mexico; Households; Archaeology; United States - State & Local - General; Domestic; 17th century; Colonists
Description: "Settlers at Santa Fe and outlying homesteads during the seventeenth century established a thriving economy that saw the exchange of commodities produced by indigenous peoples, settlers, and Franciscan friars for goods manufactured as far away as China, France, and Turkey. This early Spanish colonial period in New Mexico provides an opportunity to explore both economic activity within a colony and the relations between colony and homeland. By examining the material remains of this era - from the founding of the colony in 1598 to its demise with the Pueblo Rebellion in 1680 - Heather Trigg reveals a more complete picture of colonial life."

"Drawing on both archaeological and historical sources, Trigg analyzes the various levels of economic activity that developed: production of items in colonial households, exchanges between households, and trade between the colony and Mexico. Rather than focusing only on the flow of products and services, she also explores the social mechanisms that likely had a significant impact on the economic life of the colony. Because economic activity was important to so many aspects of daily life, she is able to show how and why colonial society worked the way it did. While focusing on the colonists, she also explores their relations with Pueblo peoples."--Jacket.