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The encomienda system is a trusteeship
Trusteeship

Trusteeship may refer to*Trust law *Trusteeship *United Nations Trusteeship...
 labor system that was employed by the Spanish crown during the Spanish colonization of the Americas
Spanish colonization of the Americas

The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain's conquest, settlement, and rule over much of the western hemisphere. Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, over three centuries the Spanish Empire expanded from early small settlements in the Caribbean to include Central America, most of South America, Mexico, what toda...
. The etymology of encomienda and encomendero lies in the Spanish verb encomendar, "to entrust"... The purpose of the encomienda was to meet the needs of the colonies’ early mining economy . Essentially, the encomienda was a legal system enforced by the crown, which lasted from the 16th century to the 17th century.






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The encomienda system is a trusteeship
Trusteeship

Trusteeship may refer to*Trust law *Trusteeship *United Nations Trusteeship...
 labor system that was employed by the Spanish crown during the Spanish colonization of the Americas
Spanish colonization of the Americas

The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain's conquest, settlement, and rule over much of the western hemisphere. Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, over three centuries the Spanish Empire expanded from early small settlements in the Caribbean to include Central America, most of South America, Mexico, what toda...
. The etymology of encomienda and encomendero lies in the Spanish verb encomendar, "to entrust"... The purpose of the encomienda was to meet the needs of the colonies’ early mining economy . Essentially, the encomienda was a legal system enforced by the crown, which lasted from the 16th century to the 17th century. The crown granted a number of conquistadores and soldiers a specified number of natives of whom they were to take responsibility. The receiver of the grant was to instruct the natives in the Spanish language and in the Catholic faith. In return, they could exact tribute from the natives in the form of gold, labor, or any way possible (such as in corn, wheat or chickens). The system was formally abolished in 1720, but lost effectiveness much earlier than that. In the colonies however, this feudal system persisted nationally or locally. In Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
 for instance it was not until the constitutional reform after the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio D?az....
 that the encomienda system was abolished, and the ejido
Ejido

The ejido [?x'ido] system is a process whereby the government promotes the use of communal land shared by the people of the community. This use of community land was a common practice during the time of Aztecs rule in Mexico....
 became a legal entity again. (see also the history of the Chiapas conflict
Chiapas conflict

The Chiapas conflict generally refers to the Zapatista uprising and its aftermath, but has to be understood in relation to the history of marginalization of indigenous peoples and subsistance farmers in the state of Chiapas, Mexico....
)

The status of Indians as wards of the trustees under the encomienda system served to "define the status of the Indian population"; the natives were free men, not slaves or serfs. Conquistador
Conquistador

Conquistador is the name given to the Spaniards soldiers, leaders, List of explorers, and adventurers involved in the conquest of the Americas following the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492....
s were granted trusteeship over the indigenous people
Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
 they conquered, in an expansion of familiar medieval feudal
Feudalism

Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period , in its most classic sense refers to a Middle Ages European political system composed of a set of reciprocal law and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs....
 institutions, notably the commendation ceremony
Commendation ceremony

A commendation ceremony is a formal ceremony that evolved during the Early Medieval period to create a bond between a lord and his fighting man, called his vassal ....
, which had been established in New Castile during the Reconquista
Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims....
, which was a period when there was "exacting of tribute from Muslims and Jews" in Spain. The encomienda system differed from the developed form of feudalism in that the encomenderos did not own the land on which the natives lived. The system did not entail any direct land tenure by the encomendero; Indian lands were to remain in their possession, a right that was formally protected by the Crown of Castile because at the beginning of the Conquest most of the rights of administration in the new lands went to the Castilian Queen. These were laws that the Crown attempted to impose in all of the Spanish colonies in the Americas
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
.

In the New World

The encomenderos were to educate the natives on the Spanish culture and on Catholicism in return for labor and possibly a tribute by the discretion of the encomendero. It was an answer to the mining culture at the time.

Often, the groups or villages of natives granted to the encomenderos were forced into this situation.

Using their influence and power as encomenderos and land owners of the plantation
Plantation

A plantation is usually a large farm or Estate , especially in a tropical or semitropical country, like Brazil or Nicaragua on which cotton, tobacco, lice coffee, sugar cane and the like are cultivated, usually by resident laborers....
s that existed side-by-side with the encomiendas, they increased taxes, seized more lands from the natives, and ultimately forced many indigenous people into a quasi-slavery
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
. They reasoned that riches were wasted on pagans and more properly bestowed upon Christian subjects of the Spanish king. Bernal Diaz concisely summarized his motives as "to serve God and His Majesty, to give light to those who were in darkness, and to grow rich, as all men desire to do."

In 1503 the crown began to legally grant land to soldiers, conquistadors, officials, "or others of a specified number of Indians living in a particular area." "The receiver of the grant, the encomendero, could exact tribute from the Indians in gold, in kind, or in labour and was required to protect them" as well as potentially convert them.

The encomiendas became very corrupt and harsh. Most of the encomenderos were men with a military background, and hence they ruled with fear and force. Initially, the encomiendo was supposed to be returned to the crown after two generations, however this was frequently overlooked, especially if the heir rendered some service to the state.

In 1574, Lopez de Valasco investigated into the encomiendas. He concluded that there were 32,000 Spanish families in the New World, 4,000 of which had encomiendas. There were 1,500,00 natives paying tribute, and 5 million “civilized” natives.

The crown made two failed attempts to end the abuses of the encomienda system, through the Law of Burgos and the New Law of the Indies. "The Laws of Burgos (1512–13) and the New Law of the Indies (1542) failed in the face of colonial opposition and, in fact, a revised form of the repartimiento system was revived after 1550." Repartimento did not include the attribution of land to anyone, only the allotment of native workers. This was more akin to slavery than even the encomienda system. This was in attempts "to reduce the abuses of forced labour" in some way, but probably increased the absuses more than anything else.

The Crown would organize the native Indians into small communities known as reductions, each having a chief who was responsible for keeping track of the laborers in his unit. Each one of these reductions would then be granted to a settler, usually with a military background, to control. The owner of such property was referred to as the encomendero. It was the duty of the encomendero to protect the Natives given to him as well as convert them to Christianity, and in return he was allowed to force them to perform tasks and pay him a tribute at his discretion. The encomienda system was not supposed to grant people land, but it often turned out that the encomendero would take the land belonging to the Natives under his rule. The encomienda system spread to Peru, Chile and Argentina which lead to great Indian oppression. The encomendero was only supposed to tend to the land he was given for two generations (though he was allowed to keep the natives for the remainder of his life); however, this was often not the case. Due to the law of inheritance, a mans eldest son would become the owner of his property and the land was never to be divided. Since encomenderos mostly kept the land, without the Crown noticing, and passed it down to their sons, what occurred was the emergence of Latifundios (a lot of land in the hands of few people). When the encomienda system did eventually legally come to an end in 1720, the encomenderos were forced to pay their remaining slaves for their work. The repartimiento system was made in response to the end of the encomienda system. With the repartimiento system the crown gave certain applicants the power of forcing Natives to perform labor. Though legally the repartimiento system said that one was to only have each respective Native work for no more than two to five weeks and to pay him a salary, this was usually not the case and the two systems turned out to be very similar.

The downfall of the encomienda system began in 1544, when Blasco Núñez Vela
Blasco Núñez Vela

Blasco N??ez Vela was the first Spanish viceroy of Peru, from May 15, 1544 to January 18, 1546. He was charged by King Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor with the enforcement of the controversial New Laws, which dealt with the failure of the encomienda system to protect the indigenous people of America from the rapacity of the conquistadors and t...
, the first viceroy of Peru
Viceroyalty of Peru

Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish Empire South America, governed from the capital of Lima....
, tried to enforce the New Laws
New Laws

The New Laws of 1542 , also known as the "New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Presevation of the Indians" were created to prevent the exploitation of the indigenous people by the Encomienda, or landowners, by strictly limiting their power, during the Spanish colonization of the Americas....
, which provided for the gradual abolition of the encomienda. Many of the encomenderos were unwilling to comply with the New Laws and soon revolted against Núñez Vela.

Eventually, as the number of natives declined, and as mining activities were replaced by agricultural activities, the encomienda system lost its effectiveness, and gave way to the Hacienda system. The encomienda system was essential to the Spanish crown's sustaining its control over North
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, Central
Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
 and South America
South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
 in the first decades after the conquest, because it was the first major organizational law instituted on a continent where disease, war and turmoil reigned.Initially the encomienda system was "divised to meet the needs of the early mining economies in Latin America. The encomienda system was succeeded by the crown-managed repartimiento
Repartimiento

The Repartimiento de Labor was a colonial Unfree labour system imposed upon the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the Spanish East Indies. In concept it was similar to other tribute-labor systems, such as the mita of the Inca Empire or the corv?e of Ancien R?gime in France: the natives were forced to do low-paid or unpaid labor for...
 and the privately-owned "hacienda
Hacienda

Hacienda is a Spanish language word for an estate, usually, but not always, a vast ranch. Some haciendas were plantations, mines, or even factories....
 system of landed estates,"as land ownership became more profitable than acquisition of labor force The last encomiendas were abolished in 1720.

Further

The standard history in English of the encomienda system is Leslie Byrd Simpson, The Encomienda in Portugal: The Beginning of Spanish Mexico (1950), a thorough revision of his work of 1929, which scholarship in the past half century has modified in approach and deepened in local depth.

See also

  • Cargo system
    Cargo system

    The cargo system is a collection of secular and religious positions held by men or households in rural Indigenous peoples of Mexico communities throughout central and southern Mexico and Central America....
  • Repartimiento
    Repartimiento

    The Repartimiento de Labor was a colonial Unfree labour system imposed upon the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the Spanish East Indies. In concept it was similar to other tribute-labor systems, such as the mita of the Inca Empire or the corv?e of Ancien R?gime in France: the natives were forced to do low-paid or unpaid labor for...
  • Hacienda
    Hacienda

    Hacienda is a Spanish language word for an estate, usually, but not always, a vast ranch. Some haciendas were plantations, mines, or even factories....
  • Reductions
  • Jesuit Reductions
    Jesuit Reductions

    The Jesuit Reductions were a particular version of the general Roman Catholic Church strategy used in the 17th and 18th centuries of building Indian Reductionss in order to be able to Christianization the Indigenous peoples of the Americas of The Americas more efficiently....
  • Jesuit Asia missions
    Jesuit Asia missions

    The Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order, have had a long history of Mission in East Asia and South Asia, in fact from their very foundation in the 16th century as St Francis Xavier, a friend of St....
  • Spanish missions in Arizona
    Spanish missions in Arizona

    Beginning in 1493, the Kingdom of Spain maintained a number of missions throughout Nueva Espa?a in order to facilitate colonization of these lands....
  • Spanish missions in California
    Spanish missions in California

    The Spanish mission in California comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spain Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823 to evangelism the Christianity religion among the local Native Americans in the United States....
  • Spanish missions in Mexico
    Spanish missions in Mexico

    The Spanish missions in Mexico are a series of religious outposts established by Spain Roman Catholic Franciscans, Society of Jesus, Augustinians, and Dominican orders to spread the Christian doctrine among the local Indigenous people of Mexico....
  • Spanish Missions in the Sonoran Desert
    Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert

    The Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert are a series of religious outposts established by Spain Roman Catholic Society of Jesus and other orders to spread the Christian doctrine among the local Native Americans , but with the added benefit of giving Spain a toehold in the frontier lands of its colony of New Spain....
  • Spanish missions in Texas
    Spanish missions in Texas

    The Spanish Missions in Texas comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spain Roman Catholic Dominican orders, Jesuits, and Franciscans to spread the Christian doctrine among the local Native Americans in the United States, but with the added benefit of giving Spain a toehold in the frontier land....
  • Spanish missions in Trinidad
    Spanish missions in Trinidad

    Spanish Missions were established in the Americas as part of the Spanish colonization of the Americas of its new possessions. In 1687 the Catalans Capuchin friars were given responsibility for the Religious conversion of the Amerindian population of Trinidad and the Guianas....


Bibliography

  • Crow, John A., “The Epic of Latin America,” (London, 1992)