King Felipe's saddle map of the Rio Laja watershed, 1580.
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by Donald Patterson

We are fortunate in the valleys along the upper Rio Laja that our watershed has been designated by the federal government as an area of conservation. In fact, it is the best conserved portion of the greater Lerma-Chapala Watershed. That does not mean that it is without some serious problems. It does mean, however, that we still have the opportunity and responsibility to fix them. One of the important investigative tools for characterizing and resolving environmental problems are maps, especially distribution maps.

To begin with, no map is objective because all maps have an objective. Such is the case for one of the earliest visual and historic descriptions of the upper Rio Laja watershed. It is found on a map painted in 1580. In terms of US history it was made 27 years before the English made their first settlement in the Americas at Jamestown.

The map is a beautiful historic painting of the condition of the watershed covering a period over three decades. The 16th century cartographers and artist that made this map certainly had an objective. They were just one of many teams making an inventory of the peoples and lands upon an order in 1576 by the monarch, Felipe II, of Spain. It is remarkable, considering the time it took for instruction to arrive in the New World, that it was published only four years after the king gave the order. While I don’t have the exact wording of the monarch’s orders to his subordinates, the instructions of president Thomas Jefferson to Luis and Clark 226 years later, as they set out to explore unknown watersheds west of the Mississippi, seem an appropriate substitute:

What we do know is the Felipe II had incurred considerable expense in his war with England and n building his mausoleum, Escorial. From the king’s perspective, the revenue from his colonies might contain the resources and tribute in order to reverse his monetary problems. Those resources are clearly present in the map.

In the 16th century it took time for the team to map and interview the inhabitants of the watershed. The obvious fold marks in the original map speak of the conditions under which the investigators and cartographers had to work. It was folded in half three times in order to keep it safe in a little space, possibly in saddle bags. These folded maps in the 19th century in the US were actually called saddle maps. As in the Luis and Clark Expedition they probably made preliminary sketches and kept details in journals. Either these documents did not survive or have yet to be discovered. If they ever are discovered there will be quite an adrenaline rush, at least for us antiquarians. Nevertheless, the pictorial aspects of the map told Felipe a great deal about the watershed and its possible exploitation.

I have made and post here several cartoons, separating different aspect of the map that might help explain better my verbal description.

The physical aspects of the watershed include mountains, hills and valleys. The Laja River, called the San Miguel River on the map; with its tributaries and location of natural springs, form an important part of the exploitable hydrological information. The native biology of the watershed includes forested mountains and hills, as well as, expansive grasslands in the middle and lower elevations. Numbers of nopal or prickly pear are located in the watershed on the northwest corner of the map. It is worthy to note that the native fauna is almost entirely absent within the limits of the watershed. The artist has clearly indicated by 1580 these animals, like deer, javelin, rabbits, etc. were, with one exception, located near or outside the western boundaries of the watershed.

The map also gave Felipe II indications of how his colonists and the indigenous peoples were exploiting the watershed by 1580. In the lower elevations of the watershed there are livestock ranches in the grasslands and farms along the banks of the river. In the ridge just to the northeast of San Miguel the map pictures a hydraulic grain mill. Remnants of the old mill can be seen today in the canyon of Charco del Ingenio. Important commerce traveling along the Camino Real Tierra Adentro is being escorted by Spanish Conquistadores.

Meanwhile, the indigenous peoples and their thatched settlements are isolated in the very northwest corner of the map. The women of the villages are peering out to the south from their thatched dwellings where their men, armed with bows and arrows, are hunting Spanish cattle and the Spanish themselves. Ambushes along the Royal Road have been strategically situated near rivers and mountain passes were the intruders were most vulnerable. The conflicts ensuing from Spain’s occupation of the watershed are immediately apparent. The painted map shows the decapitated heads of two friars near a ravine. A short distance to the west, on a ridge above the pass from Chamacuero (Comonfort), an Indian has been hanged. To the east, near the rising sun is another hanging. The Indian was apparently hanged, for the killing of a Spaniard and his horse painted directly to the west of the mountain pass, near the present day community of Puerto de Nieto.

The mountains with their Oak and Pine forests, the potential minerals, the massive grasslands, abundant water sources, and even the inhabitants, were all exploitable. With this map, Felipe II was able to make informed decisions, and that must have made him very happy. This information makes me happy because we are able to compare the watershed over 470 years ago with what it is like today.

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Donald Patterson, scholar and author, also worked as a consultant in environment, Universidad A. de Querétaro, Faculty of Natural Sciences, "watershed management" in the following projects:

2012-2013: Strategic Plan for the Sub-basin, Upper Rio Laja. With the participation of UAQ, FAI and funded by the Gonzalo Rio Arronte Foundation. Creation of a database for the sub-basin. We managed to capture more than 40,000 documents.

2009-2012: Ecological Management Plan Program (POET). With the participation of UAQ, the State Institute of Ecology, SEMARNAT, economic sectors of the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, social organizations, Municipal Directorate of Environment and Ecology and funded by the H.A. 2009 - 2012. The program was passed by the municipal council and the state government and published in the Official Gazette.

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