Estudios Fronterizos (Jan 2009)
From mission town to border ranch: Story of land possession in the north of Baja California, 1769-1861
Abstract
In the new historiography is considered relevant to back the study of the history of institutions or the political aspects of societies in the past. But also it is increasingly important the analysis of collective identities in history, and one of the ways by which we can explore these themes to Cultural History is through reconstruction of the tenure of owners during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in outlying regions of New Spain and Mexico. This work explores the forms of occupation and ownership of the missionaries, soldiers and ranchers in northern Baja California over a period of the peopling characterized by the establishment of the Mission (pueblo de misión) and after its transformation into frontereños ranches. Knowing the history of the laws, but above all with contrasting forms of ownership of Mission lands, allows us to draw one of the most significant identities of that period and of the region: thefrontereños.
