essay

The culture history of a Puerto Rican sugar cane plantation: 1876-1949

Portrait of a society : readings on Puerto Rican sociology • Rio Piedras • Published In 1972 • Pages: 131-154

By: Mintz, Sidney Wilfred.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

Based on the data obtained from historical documents and aged informants, this article presents a reconstruction of the development of the sugar cane plantation system in Puerto Rico from the early nineteenth century to 1949, with the major focus on the period of 1876-1949. Using the 'Hacienda Vieja' (a pseudonym) as a specific example, Mintz traces its development from its earliest establishment as a slave-and-agregado plantation, through its family-type developmental stage, to its modern corporate land-and-factory status. Much of the data presented here deal with social change in labor-management relations and policies, and on capital investment as a significant impetus to hacienda development.

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

Sociocultural trends

Special crops

Real property

Production and supply

Labor supply and employment

Labor relations

Ownership and control of capital

Towns

Slavery

cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)

Puerto Ricans (Island)

HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document

2012

RegionThe area the document pertains to

Middle America and the Caribbean

Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region

Caribbean

Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs

essay

Evaluation

Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.

Ethnologist

Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.

5: Excellent Primary Data

AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection

John Beierle; 1993, 2012

Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document

1948-1949

Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to

1815-1949

Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)

Puerto Rico

NotesAdditional notes

[by] Sidney W. Mintz

LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number

none

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Puerto Rico--Sugar industry