This financial and social construction, prevalent in colonial Spanish America, revolved round giant estates. These estates, typically encompassing 1000’s of acres, have been primarily devoted to agricultural manufacturing or livestock ranching. The system usually concerned a landowning elite controlling huge tracts of land and using a big, typically indigenous, workforce. An instance could be a sprawling property in Mexico devoted to cultivating sugarcane or elevating cattle, the place the landowner held vital energy over the lives of the laborers.
This construction was important in shaping the social hierarchy and financial improvement of many Latin American nations. It offered a way of consolidating wealth and energy inside a small, privileged class. The advantages to the landowning class included entry to low cost labor and the flexibility to regulate native assets. Traditionally, it solidified colonial energy constructions and contributed to vital social inequalities that continued lengthy after independence.