Vecino

In Spanish-speaking areas, the word vecino is today used either as equivalent to the English word "neighbour" or to mean a resident of a place. Historically in Spain and its empire, it referred to a householder of considerable social position in a town or a city, similar to the term of "freeman" or "freeholder."

Historical use

Historically, throughout the Spanish Empire a vecino was a person who has a house and home in a town or city and contributes to its expenses, not necessarily living near to the person referring to him; a local figure of some worth but not an aristocrat, often the encomendero holding land in the surrounding countryside with a house within a nearby city. A person with a house in a place that he contributes to can be a vecino although not currently living there. In the old sense it was closer to "freeholder" or "freeman" than "neighbour".

In the American colonies a vecino was sometimes a person of relatively high status, more than just free. In the "Indies" (Indias)—the American colonies such as the Viceroyalty of the River Plate—a vecino had to be married, living in the location, a property-owner, and of good public reputation. There were military formations of vecinos, and only vecinos were summoned to an open cabildo (an extraordinary open meeting of the administrative council). Although many laws referred to vecinos, and others specified qualifications of residence, property, and respectability, the term vecino as such was in general use and not explicitly defined.