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The historical causes of landscape degradation in tropical highland central Mexico remain poorly understood. Scholarly contention exists over the landscape effects of livestock introduced during the sixteenth century. In this article, the author considers the methodology of using land grant documents to assess livestock's environmental impact during the early colonial period (1521–1620 CE). The investigation focuses on the southeastern Valle del Mezquital as a case study by which to reconsider the methodologies of previous scholars. The author then presents a spatial reconstruction of sheep ranching in the case study area. This reconstruction indicates that the majority of sheep ranches occupied mountainous zones where indigenous agriculture would have been absent. This suggests that sheep overstocking likely instigated soil erosion in the higher elevations whereas agricultural terrace abandonment triggered soil erosion in the lowlands, which together resulted in landscape-wide environmental degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]