Encomienda

The encomienda was a Spanish <a href="/facts/Labour_(human_activity)/UA8TczRb">labour</a> system that rewarded <a href="/facts/Conquistador/sMtnRqCf">conquerors</a> with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors provided the labourers with benefits, including military protection and education. In practice, the conquered were subject to conditions that closely resembled instances of <a href="/facts/Forced_labour/rXsxuDq5">forced labour</a> and <a href="/facts/Slavery/IXX2S92u">slavery</a>. The encomienda was first established in Spain following the Christian <a href="/facts/Reconquista/N1yFfeWf">Reconquista</a>, and it was applied on a much larger scale during the <a href="/facts/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas/xuhh924k">Spanish colonization of the Americas</a> and the <a href="/facts/Spanish_East_Indies/cWWtwBnq">Spanish East Indies</a>. Conquered peoples were considered <a href="/facts/Vassal/LKfLc2Cz">vassals</a> of the <a href="/facts/Spanish_monarch/6raU7qTs">Spanish monarch</a>. The Crown awarded an encomienda as a grant to a particular individual. In the conquest era of the early sixteenth century, the grants were considered a <a href="/facts/Monopoly/BXIQWUmR">monopoly</a> on the labour of particular groups of <a href="/facts/Indigenous_peoples/zyzBMXBS">indigenous peoples</a>, held in perpetuity by the grant holder, called the encomendero; starting from the <a href="/facts/New_Laws/9HCsR5ae">New Laws</a> of 1542, the encomienda ended upon the death of the encomendero, and was replaced by the <a href="/facts/Repartimiento/DXDv9mrp">repartimiento</a>.
Encomiendas devolved from their original Iberian form into a form of communal <a href="/facts/Slavery/IXX2S92u">slavery</a>. In the encomienda, the Spanish Crown granted a person a specified number of natives from a specific community but did not dictate which individuals in the community would have to provide their labour. Indigenous leaders were charged with mobilising the assessed tribute and labour. In turn, encomenderos were to ensure that the encomienda natives were given instruction in <a href="/facts/Catholicism/rJ4F4gqH">Catholicism</a> and the <a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish language</a>, to protect them from warring tribes or <a href="/facts/Pirate/7HjKaWFC">pirates</a>; to suppress <a href="/facts/Rebellion/bUs5ESDx">rebellion</a> against Spaniards, and maintain <a href="/facts/Infrastructure/QJvbsSpl">infrastructure</a>. The natives provided <a href="/facts/Tribute/DPyaeMKW">tributes</a> in the form of metals, <a href="/facts/Maize/lJ6c5xMH">maize</a>, wheat, pork, and other agricultural products.
With the ousting of <a href="/facts/Christopher_Columbus/8hLAb46S">Christopher Columbus</a> in 1500, the <a href="/facts/Spanish_Crown/6raU7qTs">Spanish Crown</a> had him replaced with <a href="/facts/Francisco_de_Bobadilla/w5YycyRT">Francisco de Bobadilla</a>. Bobadilla was succeeded by a royal governor, Fray <a href="/facts/Nicol%25C3%25A1s_de_Ovando/fT0GP3TD">Nicolás de Ovando</a>, who established the formal encomienda system. In many cases natives were forced to do hard labour and subjected to extreme punishment and death if they resisted. However, Queen <a href="/facts/Isabella_I_of_Castile/R3wN94z3">Isabella I of Castile</a> forbade slavery of the native population and deemed the indigenous to be "free vassals of the crown". Various versions of the <a href="/facts/Laws_of_the_Indies/QmLj3KgA">Laws of the Indies</a> from 1512 onwards attempted to regulate the interactions between the settlers and natives. Both natives and Spaniards appealed to the <a href="/facts/Real_Audiencia/VjzInVzw">Real Audiencias</a> for relief under the encomienda system.
Encomiendas have often been characterized by the geographical displacement of the enslaved and breakup of communities and family units, but in <a href="/facts/New_Spain/NYaDwcqK">New Spain</a>, the encomienda ruled the free vassals of the crown through existing community hierarchies, and the natives remained in their settlements with their families.

Encomienda open-in-new

Encomienda