Putting Maguey on the Map: Space, Environment and Rural-Urban Connections in the Early Colonial Pulque Trade

Abstract

During the seventeenth century, the traditional alcoholic drink pulque was in high demand in Central Mexico. Historians of pulque have generally focused on consumption, emphasizing the importance of Mexico City as a drinking space. In this article, I shift the focus from consumption to production, showing the central role of rural Indigenous producer-sellers in supplying the city’s drinkers. The relationship between Mexico City and the pulque-producing towns was often reciprocal, meeting the needs of both consumers in the city and rural pulque traders. However, regional and local trade networks flourished far outside the city—inability to travel to Mexico City did not equal exclusion from the pulque trade. Furthermore, I demonstrate the geographically widespread presence of pulque commerce as a key source of income for Indigenous communities across Central Mexico, showing the importance of traditional alcohol production for sustaining Indigenous livelihoods in the colonial world.