To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Encomienda Chattel Slavery Russian Serfdom Define the labor system Include the general role/purpose Were there revolts or rebellions . They helped the Spaniards deal with their ignorance of the surrounding environment. The successful conquistadors and colonial officials used the encomienda system.Under the system, an individual or family was given lands, which generally had Indigenous people living on them already. He is a former head writer at VIVA Travel Guides. Eventually, the encomienda system was replaced by the repartimiento system, but it was not abolished until the late 18th century. In Peru and New Spain, local conditions were more favorable, and they lasted considerably longer. [36] The program cites the decline of the Tano population of Hispaniola in 1492 to 1514 as an example of genocide and notes that the indigenous population declined from a population between 100,000 and 1,000,000 to only 32,000 a decline of 68% to over 96%. Encomienda, familia y negocios en Charcas colonial (Bolivia): Los encomenderos de La Plata, 15501600. Their wealth and their status as first-and second-generation conquerors gave them the leisure and respect that enabled them to exercise an early monopoly of the town councils. Historians use the Hispanicized term mita to differentiate the system as it was modified and intensified by the Spanish colonial government, creating the encomienda system. This implied that enslaving them was illegal except under very specific conditions. [39], Skepticism towards accusations of genocide linked to the encomienda and the Spanish conquest and settlement of the Americas typically involve arguments like those of Noble David Cook, wherein scholars posit that accusations of genocide are a continuation of the Spanish Black Legend. The conditions Las Casas protested were common throughout Spanish colonies and often drew criticism. The encomienda system was one of the many horrors inflicted on the Indigenous people of the New World during the conquest and colonial eras. Like the encomenderos, many individuals who received land grants were given parcels from among those that had been abandoned by Indians because of either death or flight. (2021, September 9). Some even became silent partners with merchants involved in lucrative import and export activities. El indio antillano: Repartimiento, encomienda y esclavitud (14921542). [9] The encomienda established a system similar to a feudal relationship, in which military protection was traded for certain tributes or by specific work. The Crown awarded an encomienda as a grant to a particular individual. While the conquistadors were wringing every last speck of gold from their miserable subjects, the ghastly reports of abuses piled up in Spain. Why The Serfs Abolished Russia 138 Words | 1 Pages. Joint-Stock Company Examples & History | What is a Joint-Stock Company? The Indigenous people could also be made to work for a certain amount of time, say on a sugarcane plantation or in a mine. In Latin America the word is used most commonly as, Enciso, Martn Fernndez de (c. 1470c. Ovando was a Knight of the Order of Alcantara, which fought the Moors during the Reconquista. Spain's American Colonies and the Encomienda System. Encyclopedia.com. The latter were incorporated into Cortes' contingent. Furthermore, anyone who abused Indigenous people or who had participated in the conquistador civil wars could lose their encomiendas. Encyclopedia.com. What was the name of the man who spoke out against the encomienda system? An encomienda was a royal grant to collect tribute in the form of goods or labor. The Spanish Crown envisioned encomienda as a system of mutual obligations between indigenous people and colonists. ." Encomienda was imposed in Hispaniola by Nicolas de. a noble attempt to care for the native people. [8] As the number of natives declined and mining activities were replaced by agricultural activities in the seventeenth century, the hacienda, or large landed estates in which labourers were directly employed by the hacienda owners (hacendados), arose because land ownership became more profitable than acquisition of forced labour. The surviving native population, under increasingly Hispanicized chiefs and overlords, then became liable for a tribute payment to a royal official and for periodic, temporary, rotating, and paid labor service to designees of the Spanish crown. [28][29][30][31], The encomienda system was generally replaced by the crown-managed repartimiento system throughout Spanish America after mid-sixteenth century. Spaniards were awarded the lands occupied by the Native Americans whom they had conquered. The encomienda system (in theory) was a feudal-like system where Spaniards would offer protection and education to the native populations in exchange for labor and money/gifts. European Colonies in the Age of Exploration. In time, royal officials made such grants with conditions: that the encomenderos marry, live in a nearby town, Christianize the natives, and protect and treat them benevolently. Existing encomiendas would pass to the crown upon the death of the encomendero, and no new encomiendas were to be granted. How did the encomienda system work? See alsoHacienda; Mita; Repartimiento; Slavery: Indian Slavery and Forced Labor; Spanish Empire. Encomenderos in Mexico protested this assault on their status and wellbeing. In 1510, an Hispaniola encomendero named Valenzuela murdered a group of Native American leaders who had agreed to meet for peace talks in full confidence. Conquistadors were fortune hunters granted authority by the Spanish Crown to establish colonies. In 1550, Spain abolished the encomienda system and replaced it with a new repartimiento system. Encomienda did not cause epidemic deaths. The Crown saw their Indigenous colonial subjects as having rights. Leaders of the Reconquista were granted the title of adelantado (one who goes in advance) with the authority to establish control on behalf of the Crown. It started in 1833 and ended in 1920 in America. Slavery was abolished in the United States with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in December of 1865, eight months after the end of the Civil War. The encomienda was based on the reconquista institution in which adelantados were given the right to extract tribute from Muslims or other peasants in areas that they had conquered and resettled.[8]. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Ostend Manifesto of 1854 Overview & Purpose | What was the Ostend Manifesto? In the early colonial period of the New World, land had little economic value without the labor to exploit it. Soldiers were fed and perhaps armed by their leaders but not paid. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. In the Americas, the Crown portion amounted to 20% of the production of a colony; the system was an important money-making proposition. The system was created in the Middle Ages and was pivotal to allow for the repopulation and protection of frontier land during the reconquista. Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. The Repartimiento (Spanish pronunciation: [repatimjento]) (Spanish, "distribution, partition, or division") was a colonial labor system imposed upon the indigenous population of Spanish America.In concept, it was similar to other tribute-labor systems, such as the mit'a of the Inca Empire or the corve of the Ancien Rgime de France: Through the pueblos de indios, the Amerindians were . [34] University of Hawaii historian David Stannard describes the encomienda as a genocidal system which "had driven many millions of native peoples in Central and South America to early and agonizing deaths". The increasing control and eventual disappearance of these grants ended the political dominance of the encomendero class. Slavery has no time limit as offspring are also property. Some women and some indigenous elites were also encomenderos. The king usually intervened directly or indirectly in the bond, by guaranteeing the fairness of the agreement and intervening militarily in case of abuse. Spanish colonists wanted indigenous people alive to provide labor. . Lima: IEP, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2000. Harsh treatment of the natives and the catastrophic decline in their numbers due to disease, overwork, starvation, and flight caused the crown and Council of the Indies to reconsider the encomienda. The encomenderos did not own the land on which the natives lived. "He Outfitted His Family in Notable Decency: Slavery, Honour, and Dress in Eighteenth-Century Lima, Peru,", This page was last edited on 18 January 2023, at 21:42. 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Columbus established the encomienda system after his arrival and settlement on the island of Hispaniola requiring the natives to pay tributes or face brutal punishments. Natives remained legally free. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. In the neighborhood of La Concepcin, north of Santo Domingo, the adelantado of Santiago heard rumors of a 15,000-man army planning to stage a rebellion. Native Peruvians were to have their rights as citizens of Spain and could not be forced to work if they did not want to. Those families that held land would eventually become oligarchies that controlled the Indigenous people. Surez Romero. Ethnocide differs from genocide as it is the destruction of a culture, while genocide is the annihilation of a people; genocide can be a means of ethnocide. Under this system, leaders of the indigenous community paid tribute to colonists with food, cloth, minerals, or by providing laborers. Cortez conquered the Aztec empire, then imposed encomienda in the parts of New Spain under his control. . In reality, indigenous people were forced to provide labor. The system did, however, result in loss of life and freedom, which was similar to the loss under chattel slavery and cruelty on a historic scale. The encomienda system was one of the many horrors inflicted on the Indigenous people of the New World during the conquest and colonial eras. Portugal satisfied labor demand in the sixteenth century via . in the sixteenth century when it abolished slavery under the 1542 New Laws. One provision of the latter abolished encomiendas at the death of the current holder. "Nicols de Ovando" in. Encyclopedia.com. By 1572, the system was in place in the Philippines. The mercury mines were particularly lethal. Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. . 2 (April 1967), 89103. Christianization was also a feature of encomienda in Spanish colonies. The encomenderos of Peru revolted, and eventually confronted the first viceroy, Blasco Nez Vela. ." Although the encomienda was not officially abolished until the late 18th century, in September 1721 the conferment of new encomiendas in Spain's colonies was prohibited. 23 Feb. 2023 . Colonization would have destroyed local cultures no matter the labor system imposed. However, such cases were relatively few in number. Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Ovando instituted encomienda soon after his arrival in Hispaniola. Las Casas wrote extensively about his life in Hispaniola and in Cuba, including the treatment of indigenous people. To the conquistadors and settlers, the encomiendas were nothing less than their fair and just reward for the risks they had taken during the conquest. In 1550, Spain abolished the encomienda system and replaced it with a new repartimiento system. The encomienda was not a land grant (merced). The encomienda system came close to slavery. The encomienda lasted from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the seventeenth century. The encomienda system was different from slavery on paper, but not all that different in practice. [23] He dedicated his life to writing and lobbying to abolish the encomienda system, which he thought systematically enslaved the native people of the New World. This lucidly shows that the encomienda system was dichotomous to slavery. Missionaries there had . Updates? An early dissenter against the system, and perhaps most influential, was Bartolome de las Casas. She has an M.A in instructional education. The adelantado often assigned it on behalf of the Crown. encomienda, in Spains American and Philippine colonies, legal system by which the Spanish crown attempted to define the status of the indigenous population. Writing about the Black Legend and the conquest of the Americas, Cook wrote, "There were too few Spaniards to have killed the millions who were reported to have died in the first century after Old and New World contact" and instead suggests the near total decimation of the indigenous population of Hispaniola as mostly having been caused by diseases like smallpox. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/encomienda, "Encomienda In 1519, Velazquez commissioned Hernan Cortez to go to what would soon become New Spain. Critics of colonial powers accuse them of ethnocide in the Americas. During the spread of Spanish colonies, Spain had few serious rivals in the Americas. The Encomenderos of New Spain, 15211555. ." The crown also appointed local magistrates, called corregidores de indios, as its representatives to mediate the relations between encomenderos, non-encomendero settlers, and the natives. 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(ECONOMIC) Encomienda o Upon King Philip II's order in 1558, lands in Cebu were distributed to the Spaniards as encomienda. . Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/encomienda-0. Tannenbaum and the Debates on Slavery, Emancipation, and Race Relations in Latin America,". Where was the Encomienda system used? Omissions? Dominican priests played an important role in the movement to abolish it. The Safavid Empire: Creation, Rulers, Characteristics & Shi'ism. Conquerors took land, goods, and labor from conquered people. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1986. These men proved to be every bit as bad as the encomenderos had been: corregidores were appointed for relatively brief periods, so they tended to squeeze as much as they could out of a particular holding while they could. Pizarro defeated Viceroy Nez, who was killed in battle, and basically ruled Peru for two years before another royalist army defeated him; Pizarro was captured and executed. https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/encomienda, "Encomienda [3] Bobadilla was succeeded by a royal governor, Fray Nicols de Ovando, who established the formal encomienda system. This practice made its way to the West Indies (Caribbean islands) by 1499: Christopher Columbus (14511506), who is believed to have opposed the traditional feudal system, nevertheless conceded encomiendas to his men. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Later it was adopted to the mining economy of Peru and Upper Peru. The system was abolished throughout the Spanish colonies in 1791. From the Spanish perspective, encomienda contributed to an enormous increase in wealth, thus Spain becoming a global power. Tenochtitlan the Aztec Capital History & Defeat | Who Conquered the Aztecs? "Spain's American Colonies and the Encomienda System." The system was a means of encouraging colonization without the Spanish Crown having to shoulder the entire expense of the colonial expedition. Encomienda involved forced labor, brutality, loss of freedom and rights. In 1564, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, formerly the governor of Mexico City, established a colony at Cebu in the Philippines. Copy. Encomienda, the right to control the labor of and collect tribute from an Indian community, granted to subjects, especially the first conquerors and their descendants, as a reward for service to the Spanish crown. In return the encomendero promised to settle down and found a family in the nearest Spanish town, or villa; to protect the Indians; and to arrange for their conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. . John Murra, Rolena Adorno & Jorge L. Urioste. Mira Caballos, Esteban. In 1542, due to the constant protests of Las Casas and others, the Council of the Indies wrote and King Charles V enacted the New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians. One chief source of abuse, the encomienda system, was not abolished until the end of the 18th century. In the New Laws of 1542, he abolished slavery and ended the encomienda system. [27], In Chilo Archipelago in southern Chile, where the encomienda had been abusive enough to unleash a revolt in 1712, the encomienda was abolished in 1782. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991. Population Collapse: Aztec Smallpox Victims. Slaves could be sold, and their families would break. In reality, all the labor that could be done was required, and unless the encomienda was ended, the next generation would also owe labor. The goal of encomienda was, at least initially, to generate portable wealth. Francisco Pizarro, the second cousin to Cortes, began the conquest of Peru and helped destroy the Incan Empire; he was the illegitimate and possibly illiterate son of a military officer. This right was formally protected by the crown of Castile because the rights of administration in the New World belonged to this crown and not to the Catholic monarchs as a whole.[10]. Under repartimiento, workers provided two to three weeks of labor per year to colonists. The native inhabitants, who were encomendado (meaning "commended" or "entrusted") to the Spaniards, were expected to pay tribute to the Spaniards and to work for them in the fields or mines. In Puerto Rico, the Tano primarily worked in the gold mines. Avellaneda, Jose Ignacio. An encomienda was booty given to a Spaniard who conquered a Moorish province. Encomiendas devolved from their original Iberian form into a form of "communal" slavery. Bartolome de las Casas: Destruction of the Amerindians, Las Casas, Valladolid Debate & Converting the New World, The Pueblo Revolt of 1680: Lesson for Kids. The Spanish Crown aimed at converting indigenous people away from their own beliefs to Catholicism and to displace indigenous government with their governance. Slaves have few legal protections. Reasonable tribute could be collected, but any additional work was to be paid for. ", Johnson, Lyman L. "A Lack of Legitimate Obedience and Respect: Slaves and Their Masters in the Courts of Late Colonial Buenos Aires,". The encomienda system amounted to the practice of a spoils system. Heuman, Gad, and Trevor Graeme Burnard, eds. That can reasonably be seen as ethnocide. When the news of this situation and of the abuse of the institution reached Spain, the New Laws were passed to regulate and gradually abolish the system in America, as well as to reiterate the prohibition of enslaving Native Americans. Important years to note for the encomienda system: 1503: The first encomiendas are granted to Spanish conquistadors in the Americas. ." Tributes were required to be paid in gold. Encomienda. In 1542, Charles V of Spain finally listened to them and passed the so-called "New Laws.". In reality, Indigenous colonial subjects had no protection from their encomendero. An encomienda was an organization in which a Spaniard received a restricted set of property rights over Indian labor from the Crown whereby the Spaniard (an . The encomienda was thereafter renewed (or not) on an individual basis, at the death of the previous encomienda holder; assigned a steep transfer tax; and gradually eliminated, except on the frontiers of the empire (e.g., Paraguay). Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Gonzalo Pizarro's supporters had urged him to declare himself King of Peru, but he refused: had he done so, Peru might have successfully split from Spain 300 years early. In the Antilles the institution was firmly established under Governor Nicols de Ovbando. "Slave Resistance in the Spanish Caribbean in the Mid-1790s," in. Encomienda was abolished in 1791. In return, the encomendero was responsible for the well-being of the enslaved people and was to see to it that they were converted and educated about Christianity. The encomienda system was put in place in several areas, most importantly in Peru. The Indigenous people were supposed to provide tribute, in the form of gold or silver, crops, and foodstuffs, animals such as pigs or llamas or anything else the land produced. Conquistadors were fortune hunters with commissions from the Spanish Crown to explore, conquer and colonize territory on behalf of the Crown. Tenochtitlan, Aztec Capital | Facts & Location, Taino Civilization: Economy and Political & Social Structure, Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act | History, Political Effects & Importance. An alternative to encomienda was repartimiento (partition). Peninsulares Historical Meaning & Hierarchy | Who Were the Peninsulares? The rebellion and civil war in the Andes together with continuing news of the unchecked mistreatment of the natives and their dwindling numbers forced the crown to take steps to reconquer the Americas from an ever more powerful and semi-autonomous encomendero nobility. 2 See answers Advertisement In reality though, the declaration of equality did not end the . crown. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/encomienda. As the Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln to free all slaves being held in states at war with the Union, the envisioned "Second . When was the encomienda system abolished in Mexico? The encomienda was first established in Spain following the Christian conquest of Moorish territories (known to Christians as the Reconquista), and it was applied on a much larger scale during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Spanish Philippines. Identify the key characteristics of the repartimiento system. The Codice Osuna, one of many colonial-era Aztec codices (indigenous manuscripts) with native pictorials and alphabetic text in Nahuatl, there is evidence that the indigenous were well aware of the distinction between indigenous communities held by individual encomenderos and those held by the Crown.[21]. "Encomienda It placed hundreds and sometimes thousands of Indians under the control of individual Spaniards at a time when a bureaucracy had not yet been established. Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. . [20], As noted, the change of requiring the encomendado to be returned to the crown after two generations was frequently overlooked, as the colonists did not want to give up the labour or power. a corve. o In return, the encomendero had to protect the natives, ensure their conversion to Christianity, and . Best Answer. In 1542, the King tried to correct those conditions with the New Laws governing the treatment of indigenous people in Spanish colonies. 13 US Colonies History & Influences | Who Ruled the 13 Colonies? . As the population declined the Spanish government made regulations to do away with the system. tried to enforce the New Laws, which provided for the gradual abolition of the encomienda, many of the encomenderos were unwilling to comply with them and revolted against him. Encomiendas have often been characterized by the geographical displacement of the enslaved and breakup of communities and family units, but in New Spain, the encomienda ruled the free vassals of the crown through existing community hierarchies, and the natives remained in their settlements with their families. The encomenderos were then required to pay remaining encomienda laborers for their work. The Spanish Crown conceived of encomienda as being relatively protective of indigenous people but did not succeed in making it so. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/spains-american-colonies-encomienda-system-2136545. Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450, Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History, Francisco de Toledo (1515-1584), the fifth Spanish viceroy of Peru, established his reputation in that office as one of the most talented and energet, Antonio de Mendoza (1490-1552) was a Spanish viceroy in Mexico and Peru who inaugurated the system of viceregal administration, which lasted nearly 3, Tribute The encomienda was a grant of the right to use labor and exact tribute from a given group of natives conveyed to a person in return for service to the Spanish crown. "Slave Law and Claims Making in Cuba: The Tannenbaum Debate Revisited. [24] The Laws of Burgos and the New Laws of the Indies failed in the face of colonial opposition and, in fact, the New Laws were postponed in the Viceroyalty of Peru. These lands were often quite vast. It was essentially enslavement, given but a thin (and illusory) veneer of respectability for the Catholic education that it implied. Encomienda was a royal grant of authority to conquistadors to demand labor services from indigenous people in Spanish colonies. They invested revenues generated by their encomienda laborers in stock-raising enterprises. Fuente, Alejandro de la. A royal supplement had to be paid to support the Philippine colony, which was a drain on Spanish finances. Initially, the natives labored without limit, benefit, or tenure. In 1552, Las Casas published a shocking account of Spanish cruelties, A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies . In 1550, the crown abolished the encomienda system, which had allowed the Spanish to seize Native Americans' lands and force their labor. Pizarro's Conquest & the Inca Civil War | Who Conquered the Inca Empire? The Indigenous people instead brought the tribute to wherever the owner happened to be, generally in the larger cities. It was patterned on grants of land and tribute to those who fought for Spain during the Reconquista. They were granted the right to compel indigenous people to work their land and to pay tribute. The appointment of Nicolas de Ovando to Hispaniola made it close to inevitable. Under the encomienda system, prominent Spaniards were entrusted with Native Peruvian communities. Workers could be sent away from their villages during this period. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/encomienda. This system originated in the Catholic south of Spain to extract labour and tribute from Muslims (Moors) before they were exiled in 1492 after the Moorish defeat in the Granada War. The system was created in the Middle Ages and was pivotal to allow for the repopulation and protection of frontier land during the reconquista. The encomienda was designed to meet the needs of the American colonies early mining economy. Learn the encomienda definition, the conquistador definition, and the impact of the encomienda system.