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Debt patronage, a system common to regions of acute labor shortages, notably central Mexico. Debt patronage took form during the late sixteenth century.

Debt patronage benefited mainly the big hacendados, who, with capital at hand, were able to entice Indians to their estates by offering to pay them. The peons were given small plots on which to plant corn, beans, and squash. With workers at their disposal, the hacendados could then, by acquiring additional land, expand their plantings, multiply their harvest, and monopolize local and regional markets. Relying on debt patronage, the big haciendas became the lords of the countryside of central Mexico. They were, in essence, units of production endowed with enough land to plant and to let lie fallow, granaries to store the harvest, houses for hacendados and mayordomos, huts for workers, buildings for blacksmiths, and sheds to keep farm implements in.

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Q: What is debt patronage?
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