Cambridge University Press, The Americas, 1(75), p. 27-46, 2017
DOI: 10.1017/tam.2017.96
Full text: Unavailable
“The pueblo of San Estevan de Tlaxcala is inhabited bypure blood Tlaxcaltecan Indianswho founded it during the conquest of this country. . . . These Indians speak Spanish and are civilized.” So observed don Nicolás de Lafora, a military engineer accompanying the Marqués de Rubí’s inspection tour of New Spain's northern presidios, as he approached San Esteban and the adjoining Spanish town of Saltillo, in present-day Coahuila, in June 1767. A decade later, fray Agustín de Morfi, chaplain to newly appointed commander general of the Provincias Internas don Teodoro de Croix, echoed Lafora's assessment, linking San Esteban's ability to preserve its privileges for the better part of two centuries to the community'spureza de sangre, preserved through the great care its residents took to avoid “mixing” with thecastas(mixed races) that “infected” Saltillo.