The 600-varas land base of the pueblos de indios (New Spain, 1567-1695)

Every indigenous town in New Spain was entitled by law to a square of land measured outward for each cardinal point, and the size of that square and the point it was measured from were fought over for 130 years. A viceregal ordinance of 1567 set 500 varas; a royal cedula of 1687 raised it to 600 and moved the origin to the last house; a cedula of 1695, obtained by the Spanish farmers, moved the origin back to the church, which swallowed the town itself into the grant.