Indian Women and the Creation of Mining Towns and Borderlands

Women of all ethnicities were particularly critical to the success of mining ventures. Yet the historiography of silver mining continues to focus on the role of male laborers and entrepreneurs. This paper examines the migration and marriage patterns of Indian women in eighteenth-century colonial Mexico to uncover the activities and experiences of women in the northern silver-mining town of Zacatecas. It argues that Indian women highlight the important role that non-Spaniards played in the development of New Spain’s northern frontier.