The Indians and Major Studies in New Spain: Monarchical Politics, Debates, and Results

Rodolfo Aguirre
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Rodolfo Aguirre: Instituto de Investigaciones sobre la Universidad y la Educación, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México 04510, Mexico

Social Sciences, 2021, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: This article studies some stages and debates about the access of New Spain’s Indians to major studies: The discussion about their mental capacity in the 16th century, the impulse of Carlos II to the indigenous nobility in the 17th century, or the reticence in the Royal University of Mexico and the Church to their acceptance in the 18th century. It also analyzes the responses given by the Crown to the interest of the Indians elites in superior studies, degrees and public positions, protected by their rights as free vassals of the kingdom and as nobles, comparable to the Spanish nobility. Despite the insistent resistance of sectors of the colonial government and society to the rise of Indians, they firmly defended, in the 18th century, the rights and privileges granted to them by the monarchy since the beginning of New Spain, thereby achieving their entry into the university, colleges, and clergy.

Keywords: Indians; higher studies; New Spain; monarchical politics; university degrees; clergy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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