Mesoamerican politics

former Mesoamerican empire

Mesoamerican empire

thumb|A map by Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian of historical cacicazgos in [[Puerto Rico]] A cacicazgo (Spanish; also anglicized as caciquedom) is a Taíno chiefdom, ruled by a cacique. The Spanish colonial system recognized indigenous elites as nobles in Mexico and Peru, and other areas. Nobles could entail their estates, which were called cacicazgos on the model of Spanish entailed estates, or mayorazgos. This term is found in contexts such as "la princesa de Cofachiqui, señora de un cacigazgo indígena" or, for example: "In November of 1493, the island of Boriquén had approximately 20 caci