To be called Hacendado in Colonial Mexico was to be recognized as someone of high social rank and influence. The title meant that you or one of your ancestors had been awarded a few hundred acres of land, complete with peons to work it, for some vital service to the Crown. That the land sometimes provided a princely income was usually of lesser importance to a proud Spanish Hidalgo than high social status. Since the true Spanish Grandees had little incentive to seek their fortunes in the New World, most of these new landowners were minor nobles or younger sons of the great houses eager for status.

     Hernán Cortez himself was the first to receive such a grant. In 1529, the Emperor Charles V raised him to the nobility with the title of Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca. The estate that went with that title included what is now the entire state of Michoacan, an astonishing area of 1,164,800 acres. By contrast, the world's largest ranch, the King Ranch of Texas, claims a mere 824, 900 acres.

     Though others started with much smaller grants, any enterprising Hacendado soon bought every available acre he could and then started illegally confiscating the lands belonging to the indigenous peoples. Some of these augmented estates reached the size of a small European country. The Catholic Church, the Jesuit order in particular, owned vast acreages all over Mexico.

     This continuing growth was not due to any need, or even desire, for increased production. It simply added to the prestige of the owner, which grew proportionally with the size of the Hacendado's land holdings. It has been estimated that only about ten percent of hacienda land was ever cultivated. Once acquired, most of this land was left as derelict pasture.

     Now landless, the natives were forced to labor for the new landowner. They were either peons, who were virtual slaves, or tenant farmers, who could never meet their quotas and wound up owing their souls to the Company store. For, by the eighteenth century, a typical hacienda was a self-contained institution. The ostentatiously luxurious main house and its guest quarters were only for show. For the working people there were stables, a general store, a chapel, a school, equipment stores, servants' quarters, granaries, corrals and a forge. Clothing was produced at the hacienda from cloth woven on the premises.

     Haciendas played host to a variety of activities from baptisms, weddings, and celebrations of saints' days to fiestas, charro (cowboy) parties and contests, bullfights, and harvest festivals. Due to the lack of hostelries in rural areas, total strangers who stopped by for the night or the week could expect to receive a hearty welcome.

     The Hacendado and his lady had various responsibilities as community leaders. He might be called on to act as judge, and she was the ministering angel to the sick. Chief among her simple remedies was Mescal, which was used internally to treat every ailment and externally for injuries. This "kindly Master and his lovely Lady" image is true only for those who actually lived on their estates. Many left their holdings in charge of an overseer while they lived in Mexico City or even Paris. In such cases, living conditions declined even further for the peons. The overseers might beat and torture them and claim feudal rights over their wives and daughters while the absentee owners, who showed up only occasionally, remained blissfully unaware of what was being done in their names.

     Depending on the region haciendas usually concentrated their efforts on one particular product. In Zacatecas, for instance, it was mescal, in Morelos, sugar, in Hidalgo, pulque and in Querétaro, cattle. Around the haciendas, and administered by them, were smaller ranches which supplied grain and other seasonal crops. Besides its main crop, each Hacienda produced food, clothing, and housing for its people.

     Yucatan’s contributions were henequen and pulque. One made its landlord rich and the other kept him happy. The Maya name for henequen is "elsoskil'' and they used its fiber for producing rope, hammocks, rugs, bags, clothing and other textiles. They also used the living plant for protecting their homes.

     Early in the nineteenth century there had been attempts to dissolve the haciendas and restore their land to the Indians. From 1876 until 1911 Porfirio Díaz, who ruled Mexico as dictator, did just the opposite. He abolished the law limiting the size of individual holdings and made land available to establish new haciendas and increase the size of many existing ones. During his rule many haciendas were given a face-lift, usually in the form of a proud neoclassical style mansion reflecting the new national confidence.

     But all that soon change and with a vengeance!

     The revolution of 1910-1920 finished the haciendas. The enlisted troops of Pancho Villa, Venustiano Carranza and Emiliano Zapata roamed the country, burning and pillaging every hacienda they could find and killing anybody, Hacendado or peone, who got in their way. In 1917, haciendas were abolished by law and the lands were restored to the Indians to be owned collectively. Other landowners were subsequently allowed to hold no more than 200 acres.

     Haciendas today are often owned by descendants of the original Hacendados. Others have been bought since the Revolution by Mexicans from the city wishing to have a place in the country, and some have become hotels conference centers and museums. Most of those which are now occupied have undergone extensive rebuilding, since the burnings and sackings of the revolution left some with little more that the basic walls.

     A number of such restored mansions are to be found here in Jalisco and, though most are off the beaten tourist path, each is well worth a visit. Haciendas, Casonas y Estancias del Estado de Jalisco is a tourist organization now offering circuit tours of the more important sites, including luxurious homes that were not strictly haciendas. Two of the more interesting are the Hacienda el Carmen, near the village of the same name, and Hacienda Sepulveda, near Lagos de Moreno.

     El Carmen, dating from 1722 and boasting 24 rooms, is by far the largest and most luxurious. It still retains some 400 acres of its former holdings. Sepulveda is older, having been founded in the 16th century, and smaller, with only nine suites. Both provide the full range services of resort and spa. Sepulveda also maintains a stable of horses. The old Hacendados might be surprised to find a swimming pool and Jacuzzi in their extensive gardens or a fully equipped spa in the granary, but tourists should love them.