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Updated: May 17, 2025
Among the lands which were given to the chefs of the second class there were also calpullis. Each family or tribe received a portion of the soil for perpetual enjoyment. They also had the name of calpulli, and until now this property has been respected. They do not belong to each inhabitant of the village in particular, but to the calpulli, which possesses them in common." III, Lib. IV, cap.
The patches of solid ground, on which these 'quarters' settled, were gradually built over with dwellings, first made out of canes and reeds, and latterly, as their means increased, of turf, 'adobe', and light stone. "The soil built over by each 'calpulli' probably remained for some time the only solid expanse held by the Mexicans.
The tribe claimed its territory, 'altephetlalli, an undefined expanse over which it might extend the 'calpules, however, held and possessed within that territory such portions of it as were productive; each 'calpulli' being sovereign within its limits, and assigning to its individual members for their use the minor tracts into which the soil was parcelled in consequence of their mode of cultivation.
If, therefore, the terms 'altepetlalli' and 'calpulalli' are occasionally regarded as identical, it is because the former indicates the occupancy, the latter the distribution of the soil. We thus recognize in the calpulli, or kindred group, the unit of tenure of whatever soil the Mexicans deemed worthy of definite possession. XIV, cap.
"Each consanguine relationship thus gradually surrounded the surface on which it dwelt with a number of garden plots sufficient to the wants of its members. The aggregate area thereof, including the abodes, formed the 'calpullalli' soil of the 'calpulli' and was held by it as a unit; the single tracts, however, being tilled and used for the benefit of the single families.
"The expanse held and occupied by the calpulli, and therefore called 'calpulalli' was possessed by the kin in joint tenure. It could neither be alienated nor sold; in fact, there is no trace of barter or sale of land previous to the conquest."
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