Litigios entre sujetos y cabeceras y la elaboración del Mapa de Coatlichan

It appears that near the last quarter of the 16th century the elaboration of the  Mapa de Coatlichan  was determined by multiple factors; first, growing pressure on land due to the presence of numerous Spanish settlers who requested grants within the confines of the town of Coatlichan, and, second, the grim increase of mortality among indigenous peoples due to epidemics and the impact of tax reforms on the dynamics of local labor systems. These and other factors combined to destabilize the political-territorial structure of the Coatlichan seigneury and provoke conflicts among indigenous people over the issue of becoming towns with their own community chests independent of the headtowns to which they had long been subjects ( cabeceras ). It was in the context of such disputes that maps like the  Mapa de Coatlichan  were produced.