Memoria sobre las causas que han originado la situacion actual de la raza indígena de México, y medios de remediarla

241 pages. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5") bound in quarter leather with gilt lettering to spine over stiff boards. First edition.

In the mid 1800's Mexico's population was forty percent Indian. Most had a subsistence economy which was out side the nation's main stream, and condemned the native population to poverty and malnutrition. The Mexican government began to divide the communal lands of the Indians into farms (ejidos), which they opposed. Liberals, such as Pimentel, thought that the Indian was an obstacle to progress of the nation. The Mexican intellectuals thought one of the best ways to integrate the natives was to encourage European immigration and to eliminate the indigenous languages. Pimentel in his Political economy applied to landed property in Mexico (1866) asked "Who is to blame for this laziness, improvidence and squandering of our poor class?" To which he answered the same day Indian laborer. Two years earlier Pimentel's Report on the causes that have led to the current situation of the indigenous race and the means to remedy the situation gives a concise history of the Indian and discusses solutions to what the intellectuals considered a problem. This is one of the fundamental works which began to frame the ruling establishment's actions toward the indigenous populations and which eventually led them to assist the side with the revolutionists in 1910.

Condition:

Previous owner's name on front end paper, boards and edges rubbed and chipped, corners bumped else a good to very good copy of a scarce item.