The struggles of the Mayans and their defender for the remuneration of indigenous labor in 16th-century Yucatan

Abstract

This article focuses on the conflicts that arose over the remuneration of indigenous labor in sixteenth-century Yucatan. It analyzes the legal strategies and arguments used by the defenders of the Indians and the Maya litigants in a series of petitions and lawsuits over labor exploitation and wage injustice. Special attention is paid to the collaboration that the defenders of the Indians maintained with the indigenous authorities in order to unfold their legal actions. The article shows that the Maya caciques were very active in demanding that the work of their subjects be remunerated in accordance with the law. This research builds on several petitions, letters and lawsuits in which indigenous labor was the main object of the demand or dispute.