Legal Definitions - empresario

Definition: An empresario is a businessperson who invests in or manages a business, especially a land developer. In Spanish law, it refers to a person who receives extensive land grants in exchange for bringing people into Mexico (especially Texas) and settling them on the land to increase the population, develop resources, and control the aboriginal peoples.

1. Juan is an empresario who owns several real estate properties in the city.

2. In the 1800s, the Mexican government granted land to empresarios like Stephen F. Austin to bring settlers to Texas.

3. Maria is an aspiring empresaria who wants to start her own clothing line.

The first example illustrates the modern usage of the term empresario as a businessperson who invests in real estate. The second example shows how empresarios were historically used in Mexico to develop the country's resources and control the indigenous population. The third example demonstrates how the term can be used for a female entrepreneur, or empresaria, who wants to start her own business.