Relatively little effort has been devoted to understanding the economic development of the Hispanic military frontier. Archaeologists, historians, and historical sociologists writing on the topic have accepted a model which stresses the dependence created by the Spanish mercantile system. By contrast, the analysis of archaeological data described herein indicates that before 1856 the military colonies (presidios) enjoyed comparative self-sufficiency. During late colonial times (1750–1821) nearly all of the limited amounts of goods imported to the frontier were manufactured in central New Spain. After 1830 this pattern changed, and increasing amounts of European products replaced those made in Mexico. Eventually, the expansion of the industrialized world economy culminated in the creation of recognizable bonds of dependency that linked the presidios to European-dominated capitalism.