factor.

(a loanword from Spanish)

Headword: 
factor.
Principal English Translation: 

an official of the royal treasury; also, a mercantile or company agent in the sixteenth century, prevalent in the early phases of colonization in the Americas
Matthew Restall and Florine Asselbergs, Invading Guatemala (2007), 113.

Orthographic Variants: 
fator
Attestations from sources in English: 

"The governor Alonso de Estrada brought accusations against Díaz de Aux for his severe treatment of the Indians of the encomienda, sentenced him to perpetual exile from the colony, and gave Tepetlaoztoc to the factor Gonzalo de Salazar...."
Charles Gibson, The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule (1964), 429.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

"Los oficiales de Su Majestad son los funcionarios de la Real Hacienda: tesorero, contador, fator y veedor." (sixteenth century, Michoacan)
Rodrigo Martínez Baracs, La vida michoacana en el siglo XVI (1999), 62.

"En este año asi mesmo dieron todo el tributo y servicio que se dieron los otros años antes y le hizieron una casa en una estancia del fator que se llama Capulac de adobe y piedra y la cobertura de paja...."
Perla Valle, Códice de Tepetlaoztoc (Códice Kingsborough), Estado de México (1995), 266.

themes: 
Imperialism (Spanish)
Markets, Commerce, Economy
Politics, Power, Governance