Complaints of indigenous worker’s from cuatequitl in the codex Osuna during the visita of Jerónimo de Valderrama in New Spain

Abstract

This article aims to understand the complaints of indigenous worker’s from cuatequitl during Jerónimo de Valderrama’s visita real to New Spain. Thereunto, the codex Osuna was used as a starting point, since it is consisted of complaints written in Spanish and Nahuatl texts and using the pictoglyphic writing system. The codex reports allowed an overview of features related to cuatequitl, which was a labor system transplanted from pre-Hispanic reality to colonial period. Furthermore, the complaints content was also investigated in order to search its progress and possible outcomes. Finally, this article shows how the cuatequitl have been working, evincing the exploitation of indigenous labor by the New Spain’s Vice-Royalty authorities during the first decades after the Spanish conquest.