As the Spanish established cities in the middle of conquered territories smaller plots of land were distributed in nearby while far-away areas were granted as large landholdings to conquistadores becoming haciendas and estancias.[2] Distribution of land happened in parallel to the distribution of indigenous people who entered servitude.[3] New haciendas were formed in many places in the 17th and 18th century as most local economies moved away from mining and into agriculture and husbandry.[4]