[Distribution of population and of land in Puebla: 1570-1910]. / La distribucion de la poblacion y la tierra en Puebla: 1570-1910.

PIP: The state of Puebla, Mexico, covers some 33,000 sq km and has a climate ranging from warm in the southern districts to temperate in the center and cold in the north. The Sierra Madre Oriental rises in the east and north, and lands there are steep and mountainous. To the wet is the Sierra Nevada and to the south the Mixteca Baja. Between these mountain systems is a plateau intersected by chains of low hills which break its uniformity and crest plains and valleys. Since prehispanic times these valleys and plains have been the main population centers. After the Conquest, the Spanish superimposed their new centers of power on the old population center. This work describes the main characteristics of population distribution and changes in population from the colonial period to the 19th century. During the 3 centuries of Spanish domination, there were great changes in spatial distribution. The shock of Conquest, with epidemics, confrontations and physical and psychic exhaustion, led to steep population declines in all of Mexico. The number of tribute payers in Puebla declined from 127,030 in 1570 to 27,195 in 1626. By 1800 it had increased to only 87,516, 31% less than in 1570. The population decline was even more severe if estimates from the moment of the Conquest were incorporated. From the colonial period through 1910 population growth tended to be faster in the areas farthest from the city of Puebla. Around 1910, despite the constant periods of political instability and the armed conflict, the state population reached 1,101,600, which represented between 2 and 3 times the population of 1800 and an annual growth rate of .5-1%. Toward the end of the colonial era there were 561 villages, towns, and cities in the Intendencia of Puebla, at distances ranging from 4 to over 300 km from the city of Puebla. 310 of the localities were within 96 km of the city and 231 were between 96 and 126 km. 20 of the places were considered minor regional centers and 3/4 of the remainder were within 30 km of them. The majority of the haciendas and ranchos in Puebla dated back to land grants conceded by the Spanish monarchs in the early days of the colony, later consolidated in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1972, 475 haciendas and 533 ranchos were registered in the Intendencia of Puebla, the majority within short distances of the 20 regional centers. The composition and pattern of settlements changed throughout the 19th century. In 1972 the total number of localities was 1618,m of which 35% were villages, 33% ranchos, and 30% haciendas. By 1897, the number of registered localities was 3176. 503 new localities were the dispersed small settlements known as rancherias, rudimentary mills for processing sugar cane and distilling aguardiente, increased from 9 to 363.^ieng