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. The Spanish Crown aimed at converting indigenous people away from their own beliefs to Catholicism and to displace indigenous government with their governance. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Workers could be sent away from their villages during this period. The receiver of the grant, the encomendero, could exact tribute from the Indios in gold, in kind, or in labour and was required to protect them and instruct them in the Christian faith. 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. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. ." Encomenderos were required to provide protection and religious and cultural education to indigenous people under their control, a requirement often neglected. In the early colonial period of the New World, land had little economic value without the labor to exploit it. ." 23 Feb. 2023 . It was developed in feudal Spain, when the Moors (North African Muslims) occupied parts of the Iberian Peninsula (present-day Spain and Portugal). The prime motivation for this system was to bring Christianity to the 'heathens', as the natives were called by the colonial settlers. Encomienda y vida dia-ria entre los indios de Muzo, 15501620. Hispanic American Historical Review 51, no. In reality, indigenous people were forced to provide labor. He has an MA in economics from the University of California. "Encomienda The New Laws were a series of royal ordinances designed to halt the abuses of the encomienda system, particularly in Peru. The Indigenous people could also be made to work for a certain amount of time, say on a sugarcane plantation or in a mine. [15] Initially, the encomienda system was devised to meet the needs of the early agricultural economies in the Caribbean. Charles V felt it prudent to suspend or repeal the most hated aspects of the New Laws. The encomenderos had lobbied for years for the encomiendas to be made permanent and passable from one generation to another, something the King had always resisted. What was the name of the man who spoke out against the encomienda system? The Spanish crown reluctantly approved the granting of encomiendas because it needed to reward the conquistadors and establish a system of governance in the newly-conquered territories, and the encomiendas were a quick-fix that killed both birds with one stone. In the Pacific, Spain competed with English, Dutch, Malay, Chinese and Muslim interests. Tradues em contexto de "crown, whereby" en ingls-portugus da Reverso Context : It's a crown, whereby a dentist files down an existing tooth. In other words, although the encomiendas were phased out eventually by the crown, the lot of the Indigenous people did not improve. [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. Indigenous people would provide limited tribute and labor, and colonists would provide religious and cultural instruction. Raphael Lemkin's History of Genocide and Colonialism, Holocaust Memorial Museum, 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom, Marriage of enslaved people (United States), Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Historiography of Colonial Spanish America, "A History of the Mexican-American People", "Blasco Nez Vela Cronologa histrica", "La encomienda en hispanoamrica colonial", "La rebelin indgena de 1712: los tributarios de Chilo contra la encomienda", https://www.ushmm.org/confront-genocide/speakers-and-events/all-speakers-and-events/raphael-lemkin-history-of-genocide-and-colonialism, "The new book 'The Other Slavery' will make you rethink American history", "Encomienda, Hacienda, and Corregimiento in Spanish America: A Structural Analysis", Spain's American Colonies and the Encomienda System, Independence of Spanish continental Americas, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, northernmost France, Colonial universities in Hispanic America, Law of coartacin (which allowed slaves to buy their freedom, and that of others), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Encomienda&oldid=1142735044, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from July 2022, Articles with dead external links from December 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Chamberlain, Robert S., "Simpson's the Encomienda in New Spain and Recent Encomienda Studies", This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 02:28. 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. Many priests and Catholic brothers were appalled at the treatment of indigenous people under the encomienda system. Encomienda did not cause epidemic deaths. "[17] The encomienda system was ended legally in 1720, when the crown attempted to abolish the institution. The Spanish monarchs abolished the encomienda system when they realized how cruel and abusive it was. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/encomienda. [26], In most of the Spanish domains acquired in the 16th century the encomienda phenomenon lasted only a few decades. Mira Caballos, Esteban. Bartolom de Las Casas, who arrived in the New World in 1502, averred that greed was the reason Christians "murdered on such a vast scale", killing "anyone and everyone who has shown the slightest sign of resistance", and subjecting "all males to the harshest and most iniquitous and brutal slavery that man has ever devised for oppressing his fellow-men, treating them, in fact, worse than animals". Under this system, leaders of the indigenous community paid tribute to colonists with food, cloth, minerals, or by providing laborers. [6] Various versions of the Laws of the Indies from 1512 onwards attempted to regulate the interactions between the settlers and natives. The goal of encomienda was, at least initially, to generate portable wealth. In Peru, most of the settlers had taken part in the conquistador civil wars and could, therefore, lose their encomiendas immediately. It was usually the land that had belonged to the Moorish leader of the conquered territory. It was patterned on grants of land and tribute to those who fought for Spain during the Reconquista. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Spain The word encomienda comes from the Spanish word encomendar, meaning to entrust. Christopher Minster, Ph.D., is a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. The Second Emancipation Proclamation is the term applied to an envisioned executive order that Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement enjoined President John F. Kennedy to issue. After Spain conquered Mexico and Peru in the mid-1500s, the system was established on the mainland as well. However, the date of retrieval is often important. He lobbied the King to abolish encomienda. The encomienda system came close to slavery. That can reasonably be seen as ethnocide. Conquerors took land, goods, and labor from conquered people. In exchange for the stolen labor of Indigenous people and tribute, the Spanish lord would provide protection and education. [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. In 1564, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, formerly the governor of Mexico City, established a colony at Cebu in the Philippines. 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. The priest of Hispaniola and former encomendero Bartolom de las Casas underwent a profound conversion after seeing the abuse of the native people. Gibbings, Julie. The encomienda system in Spanish America differed from the Peninsular institution. Moya Pons, Frank. [28][29][30][31], The encomienda system was generally replaced by the crown-managed repartimiento system throughout Spanish America after mid-sixteenth century. The Tano cacique Enriquillo rebelled against the Spaniards between 1519 and 1533. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. After the Spanish established a colony in the Rio Grande valley in 1598, they seized Indian land and crops and forced Indians to labor, In its most general sense, this word means "estate" or "all worldly possessions of an individual." [33][citation needed] Economic historian Timothy J. Yeager argued the encomienda was deadlier than conventional slavery because of an individual labourer's life being disposable in the face of simply being replaced with a labourer from the same plot of land. Guamn Poma de Ayala, Felipe. It also did not give encomenderos legal jurisdiction over the natives, although many encomenderos assumed that right. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991. As councilmen they set prices for basic goods and services as well as the standards of morality and sanitation for the Spanish community. The encomiendas became very corrupt and harsh. In Bolivia and Peru, revolutions and influential leaders helped to eliminate the hacienda system from these countries. Their grants also gave them a near monopoly over native labor. Native people were being brutalized and oppressed under this system. Although there were never enough such grants to reward all those who felt they deserved one, the encomienda proved a useful institution, from the crown's point of view, in the first two or three decades after the discovery and conquest of the New World kingdoms of Mexico and Peru. ." These small enterprises were expanded over the years by the obtaining of additional land grants, by usurpation of Indian lands, by composicin (obtaining legal title to untitled land by paying a fee to the royal treasury), by purchase, and by long-term lease to become the nuclei of what someday would be large estates, or haciendas. The Crown awarded an encomienda as a grant to a particular individual. An early dissenter against the system, and perhaps most influential, was Bartolome de las Casas. In 1550, Spain abolished the encomienda system and replaced it with a new repartimiento system. They did not change the quotas even when crops failed or disasters struck: many Native Peruvians were forced to choose between fulfilling quotas and starving to death or failing to meet quotas and facing the often-lethal punishment of the overseers. The same title was granted to colonial leaders. 3 (1971): 431-446. The increasing control and eventual disappearance of these grants ended the political dominance of the encomendero class. ." James Lockhart, "Encomienda and Hacienda: The Evolution of the Great Estate in the Spanish Indies," in Hispanic American Historical Review 49, no. An encomienda in Peru was a reward offered to each of the men under the leadership of Francisco Pizarro who began the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532. ", Fuente, Alejandro de la. Encomenderos in Mexico protested this assault on their status and wellbeing. In 1538, Emperor Charles V, realizing the seriousness of the Tano revolt, changed the laws governing the treatment of people labouring in the encomiendas. The word encomienda comes from the Spanish word encomendar, meaning "to entrust." As initially defined, the encomendero and his heirs expected to hold these grants in perpetuity. Subsequently, under Governor Frey Nicols de Ovando (in office 15021509), who as Commander of the Order of Alctara had administered encomiendas in Spain, the grants were institutionalized and extended to the entire Island of Hispaniola as a means to control the natives. Spoils of war were crucial during the Crusades and the Reconquista (reconquest) in Iberia (see below). Under the encomienda system, prominent Spaniards were entrusted with Native Peruvian communities. The system was formally abolished in 1720, but had lost effectiveness much earlier. Some were experienced soldiers, but many were not. Why The Serfs Abolished Russia 138 Words | 1 Pages. How did the encomienda system work? Colonization would have destroyed local cultures no matter the labor system imposed.