El trabajo forzoso y el reparto obligado de mercancías en el territorio del gobierno de las fronteras de San Luis de Colotlán durante el siglo XVII y pasajes del XVIII

Forced labor and the distribution of merchandise were two practices commonly carried out by authorities of the viceroyalty of New Spain, despite being prohibited by Spanish legislation. The objective of this article is to analyze the role played by royal and military officials in the promotion and execution of these practices in the government of San Luis de Colotlán, which was located in the Northwestern region of New Galicia. The method used is that of historical reconstruction, which is based on the criticism of first-hand sources to recreate the facts of the past, which come from archives in Spain and Mexico. The results show that, despite the prohibition of such practices, employees of the Spanish Crown sought to obtain extra income to enrich themselves or ensure their own sustenance through the violent imposition of forced labor and the forced distribution of goods to the indigenous groups of the territory of Colotlán, although not without resistance, since on more than one occasion they generated disputes at different levels and with different results.