Los peninsulares en la intendencia de Guadalajara a fines del siglo XVIII. Origen provincial y composición de una élite dirigente

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to characterize the peninsular community based in the intendancy of Guadalajara at the end of the 18th century, starting from two registers formed by Felix Calleja, referring to the city of Guadalajara and to the sub-delegation of Aguascalientes. With the desire to contribute to the debate on the formation of elites and power groups in New Spain, a characterization by number, provincial origin, age, occupation and marital status of the peninsular communities based in those two places is proposed. At the same time, in order to adequately measure and contextualize the importance of these communities, it is suggested to provide general information on the importance and the composition of the European population throughout New Spain. It is put up for consideration that Europeans, despite of constituting insignificant minorities from the statistical data angle, constituted ruling elites who boasted a keen sense of superiority, enjoyed public recognition and projected their influence on the most varied aspects of collective life.