Water Control and Settlement in Colonial Mexico's First Frontier: The Bordo System of the Eastern Bajío

The sequence of human adaptation, whereby Spanish culture reacted to and integrated with indigenous cultures and the frontier environment led to the development of new water control systems in colonial Mexico. The bordo system, comprised of embanked fields and canals, played a major role in the establishment and movement of settlements northward from the valley of Mexico throughout the colonial period. In the high altitude alluvial valleys north of Mexico City, known as the Bajío, these systems created an agricultural center of major importance to central and northern Mexico. The design, development, and operation of the colonial water control systems in the eastern Bajío, can be reconstructed in part from: (I) survey and mapping of extant colonial water control systems, (2) collection of oral histories from individuals with knowledge of traditional colonial land use practices, and (3) examination of colonial illustrations. Combined with a synthesis of previously published materials, these data provide a diachronic picture of landuse in Mexico's first colonial frontier.