Abstract
Ceramic dispersion, trade routes and pottery production locations were tied to the economy of colonial New Spain. Changes in any of these indicators signaled a change in the status of the whole region. Located just north of Africa at the western entrance of the Mediterranean, Spain had always been a cross-roads between east-west and north-south traffic and trade. As a consequence, many different cultures influenced the peninsula. The blending of these influences generated distinctive Iberian ceramics. Under the conquering Roman and Moslem empires, Spanish agriculture became an important industry. At the same time, Spanish earthenware pottery, or alfareria attained world renown. The two enterprises were directly related. Predicated upon mass production, alfareria was a commercial undertaking requiring skilled and unskilled labor, raw materials and access to world markets. An economy based on commercial agriculture freed laborers from subsistence farming and provided markets. Continuing earlier practices, Spain transferred commercial ceramic fabrication techniques to the New World. As New Spain {Mexico} became the clearing house for east-west trade items, Hispanic ceramics incorporated new styles. Beginning in Puebla and Mexico City, pottery production spread into the surrounding rural areas and toward the frontier. The urban product was majolica, an enameled earthenware created for inter-regional trade. In the transition zone between the densely populated areas and the frontier, partially glazed common pottery predominated in the local markets and as a trade item for the more remote colonies. Isolation limited frontier areas to production of unglazed wares for agriculturally related enterprises. The origination of unglazed goods in a frontier area signaled the end of subsistence farming and the start of commercial agriculture. Each advance or withdrawal of alfareria corresponded to agricultural expansion or degeneration as well as to economic boom or depression.
McMillen, Nodé (1983). Alfarería, hispanic ceramics in New Spain : origins, evolution and social significance. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -395075.