The Papal Donation of 1493 has been the subject of propaganda, diplomatic negotiations, and scholarly debate since at least 1512. Recent studies have been more concerned with the doctrine of freedom of the seas than with detailed examinations of the diplomatic events of the 16th century which pitted the Spanish interpretations of the Donation against the desires and ideas of her European rivals. As a consequence, the nuances of the various mid-sixteenth century diplomatic settlements have passed unnoticed.

Since the days of the Spanish conquest, Peru has been a predominantly Indian nation; today nearly half of the population is culturally Indian. Scholars and government officials for centuries have recognized the vital importance of integrating this human mass into the national life. Despite repeated efforts to alter the situation, however, the Indian population remains isolated economically, politically, and educationally.

The achievements of ancient Mayan civilization in the fields of astronomy, architecture, sculpture, and mathematics have been well documented. Recent research has found that in many respects Mayan culture attained heights originally thought to be nonexistent among the Amerindian populations of the New World prior to the coming of the Europeans. To have reached such cultural levels there must have been established a rather solid economic base which afforded an economic surplus, for a people merely surviving at subsistence levels have little time to appropriate to tasks other than those of seeking sustenance. The purpose of this paper will be to explore, in most elementary fashion, the bases of the economic organization of the Maya; i. e., to attempt to answer how the Maya resolved the four fundamental economic problems any society has to face: (1) the problem of the allocation of resources—what to produce given a relatively scarce resource base; (2) the problem of the organization of production, essentially a technological and administrative issue; (3) the problem of the distribution of production—how factors are recompensed for their productive services; (4) the savings and investment problem—what provision is made for future production. Emphasis should be placed on the rudimentary nature of the essay, because apparently little is known and / or has been written on the economics of Mayan civilization in very specific terms. Those who have studied the Maya have generally been anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, who have shown more interest in social and political culture, art forms, and religion than in economics. Therefore, what appears below is, more than anything else, a hodge-podge of pieces culled from multi-sources and threaded loosely together.

In the autumn of 1509 the explorer Alonso de Ojeda landed on the northern coast of South America, near where is today the city of Cartagena, and claimed the region in the name of Spain. As some of the natives appeared inclined to question the acquisitive proclivities of the Crown, Ojeda had read to them the principal articles of the Christian faith, hoping to demonstrate the benign nature of his invasion. Apparently feeling that his obligation to the Church was not yet fulfilled, he then informed the local residents “ especially of the supreme jurisdiction of the pope ” and required that they embrace the Catholic religion. Ojeda barely escaped with his life.

After the first American doctoral dissertation related to Luso-Brazilian studies was completed in 1892, the output of dissertations in that area of scholarship grew slowly and unsteadily. In contrast, graduate student interest in Luso-Brazilian studies increased greatly during the twenty years after 1950. Students in British universities also contributed an increasing number of studies during the latter period (Table I). Unfortunately, few compilations of this accelerating scholarly production have been available to scholars interested in Luso-Brazilian studies.