Dreaming of Dry Land: Environmental Transformation in Colonial Mexico City

409 Pages·2014·20.146 MB·English

by  Vera Candiani

Dreaming of Dry Land

Dreaming of Dry Land
Environmental Transformation in Colonial Mexico City
Vera S. Candiani
;
stanford university press
stanford, california
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2014 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
This publication is made possible in part from the Barr Ferree Foundation
Fund for Publications, Princeton University.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission
of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Candiani, Vera S., author.
Dreaming of dry land : environmental transformation in colonial Mexico City
/ Vera S. Candiani.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-8805-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Drainage--Mexico--Mexico, Valley of--History--17th century. 2. Flood
control--Mexico--Mexico, Valley of--History--17th century. 3. Hydraulic
engineering--Mexico--Mexico, Valley of--History--17th century. 4. Public
works--Mexico--Mexico, Valley of--History--17th century. 5. Human ecology
--Mexico--Mexico, Valley of--History--17th century. 6. Land use--Mexico--
Mexico, Valley of--History--17th century. 7. Mexico--History--Spanish colony,
1540-1810. I. Title.
TC978.M6C36 2014
625.7'34097253--dc23
2013048823
ISBN 978-0-8047-9107-6 (electronic)
Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 10/12 Sabon
Para Fabrizio Mar Candiani Estrada y Carlos “Beto” Estrada
A la memoria de Jorge W. Candiani, mi padre
y de Bernardo Tolcachir, mi abuelo

Table of Contents
List of Images ix
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xix
Abbreviations xxiii
Note on the Colonial Regime xxv
Introduction 1
One Living in a Fluid Landscape 15
Two Dreaming of Dry Land 47
Three The Trench of Misfortunes 81
Four To Serve the City in Desagüe Country 121
Five All the King’s Men 153
Six A Show of Patriotism at the End of the Trench 203
Seven Toward “Waterless and Dry” Ground 249
Eight Deep Colonizing 283
Epilogue 315
Notes 325
Index 363

Images
All images are available in their original color and in enlargeable digital
form in the section dedicated to this book at:
http://scholar.princeton.edu/candiani/
Figures
Figure 1.1. First Chichimecs arrive in the basin of Mexico 19
Figure 1.2. Map for land-grant request in the province of Cuautitlan,
1590 35
Figure 1.3. Colonial-era Pila Real at San Juan Atlamica, 1926 37
Figure 1.4. East margin of the Cuatitlan River, with Teoloyuca’s inlet
(canoa), 1926 38
Figure 1.5. Plan of the gates of the Canal of El Chiflón and Pila Real of
Atlamica, 1927 38
Figure 1.6. Teoloyuca’s portion of water flowing from the outlet of the
canoa 39
Figure 1.7. Colonial-era pila in Teoloyuca 39
Figure 1.8. Cuautitlan River’s water distribution as seen by urban
officials, 1763 40
Figure 1.9. View of the Pila Real and the distribution of the
Cuautitlan’s water as seen by local users, 1756 41
Figure 2.1. Enrico Martínez’s 1608 “Description of the region of
Mexico and the works of the drainage of the lake” 53
Figure 2.2. Adrian Boot’s understanding of the enclosed basin of
Mexico before his arrival there 66