Hacienda henequenera

Haciendas of Yucatán were agricultural organizations that emerged primarily in the 18th century. They had a late onset in Yucatán compared with the rest of Mexico because of geographical, ecological and economical reasons, particularly the poor quality of the soil and lack of water to irrigate farms. Commonly the farms were initially used exclusively for cattle ranching, with a low density of labor, becoming over time maize-growing estates in the north and sugar plantations in the south, before finally becoming henequen estates.

"Haciendas henequeneras" refers to estates in the Yucatán which were created during the 19th century when the henequen industry debuted. The hacienda henequenera required large staffing for the cultivation of the fields, as well as, the development and maintenance of industrial processes, such as defiberating the leaves. One of the regions of Yucatán which had produced maize but evolved into the henequen industry is the area adjoining and near to Mérida. Along the main roads and in the "camino real" between Campeche and Mérida, these haciendas became established. By the 19th century, the hacienda henequenera developed on a wider scale throughout Yucatán, particularly in the north-central region, where the soil was better suited for the cultivation of henequen.

The haciendas of Yucatán were agricultural organizations that emerged in the late seventeenth century and during the eighteenth century. Unlike in the rest of Mexico and in most of Latin America, these farms in this region were not established immediately after the conquest and during the seventeenth century. In Yucatán, because of geographical, ecological and economical conditions, particularly soil quality and lack of water for irrigation, onset of agricultural estates was delayed.

In Yucatán, the first regions where haciendas were established were adjacent or near the capital of Mérida along the main roads and the highway between Campeche and Mérida. Predominantly from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries there was no large scale production and the haciendas were strictly for raising livestock, which did not require concentrations of labor. Agricultural production was limited to feeding the livestock. From the middle of the eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century commercial agriculture was introduced because of growing urban demand and rising profitability potential. Initially the crop grown was maize, but increasingly the change was made to henequen production, in the cases of the estates of Itzincab, San Antonio Sodzil, Temozón, Uayalceh, Xtepen, and Yaxcopoil, among others.

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