Encomienda

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The encomienda system was a trusteeship labor system used during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Conquistadors were granted trusteeship over the indigenous people they conquered, in an expansion of familiar feudal institutions, notably the commendation ceremony, which had been established in New Castile during the Reconquista. The system differed in that it 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.^[1]"... By this he allocated everything discovered by Columbus to the Crown of Castile, on the condition that the monarchs set about propagating the Christian faith there, and provided the lands concerned ..."^[2] These laws were that the Crown attempted to impose in all of the Spanish colonies in the Americas and in the Philippines. The maximum size of an encomienda was three hundred Indians, and it rarely reached near to that number. The encomenderos had the authorization to tax the people under their care and to summon them for labor, but they were not given juridical authority. In return, the encomenderos were expected to maintain order through an established military and to provide teachings in Catholicism. The little respect that the Europeans had for the Amerindians, however, helped corrupt the system rather quickly. So, what was supposed to assist in the evangelization of the Natives and in the creation of a stable society became a blatant tool of oppression. The Crown established the encomienda system in Hispaniola in May 1493. And while it reserved the right of revoking an encomienda from the hands of an unjust encomendero, it rarely did.

However, fine distinctions were not easily enforced over great distances; the encomenderos ruthlessly exploited the people already living there. They used their influence and power as encomenderos and land owners of the plantations that existed side-by-side with the encomiendas to seize more lands from the natives, increase taxes, and ultimately force the natives into slavery. 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." The conquistadors regarded plunder, slaves, and tribute as the just rewards for men who forced pagans to accept Christianity and Spanish rule. After all, the conquistadors scrupulously adhered to the Spanish law of conquest by reading the Requerimiento, which ordered defiant Indians, in Spanish, to accept Spanish rule and Christian conversion immediately. If the Indians ignored this order, they deserved the harsh punishments of a “just war.”

The requerimiento was, therefore, a justification of conquest on account of being denied right of way.

This exploitation of the indigenous natives and the other negative influences of the European presence of encomenderos were some of the factors that led to the breakdown of the entire encomienda system. Another no less important factor was the scrupulousness of the Spanish laws governing the encomienda system, which made it difficult for mestizos or people with no clear Amerindian lineage to be liable to encomienda service. The breakdown of tribal lineages and wholesale miscegenation undermined the labor pool available.

The downfall of the encomienda system began when Blasco Núñez Vela, the first viceroy of Peru, tried to enforce the New Laws. Many of the encomenderos were unwilling to comply with the New Laws and soon revolted against Núñez Vela.

Other problems of the encomienda system in Peru occurred due to the breaking up of extended families, or ayllus, which brought an end to their economic system of vertical exchanges. Not only this impaired the encomienda system, but so also did the epidemic diseases brought to America by the Europeans. These diseases, such as the plague and smallpox, killed a large percentage of the indigenous population because they had no natural defenses against them.

It must be noted, however, that the breakdown of allyus and geographical relocation of entire communities was a domination practice already put in place by the ruling Inca class in order to control an enormously vast population. The Spanish simply continued the practice. The reality of this system, arbitrary as it was, was complex and never one-sided in terms of ethinicity. Among the principal social actors interested in the continuation of the encomiendas one could usually find the pre-Incaic tribal chiefs or curacas themselves, eager to be assigned encomiendas.

The encomienda system was essential to the Spanish government sustaining their control over North, Central and South America, because it was the first major organizational law instituted on a continent where disease, war and turmoil reigned. The encomienda system was succeeded by the hacienda system as land ownership became more profitable than acquirement of labor force^[3] The encomienda was abolished in 1791.

The etymology of encomienda and encomendero lies in the Spanish verb encomendar, "to entrust".

[edit] See also

• Cargo system
• Hacienda
• Reductions
• Jesuit Reductions
• Jesuit Asia missions
• Spanish missions in Arizona
• Spanish missions in California
• Spanish missions in Mexico
• Spanish Missions in the Sonoran Desert
• Spanish missions in Texas
• Spanish missions in Trinidad

[edit] References

1. ^ http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/papers/scott-m.html Meredith Scott, "The Encomienda system"
2. ^ Hugh Thomas, Rivers of Gold (New York: Random House, 2004)116.
3. ^ America: A NARRATIVE HISTORY, sixth ed. George Brown Tindall & David E. Shi. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., published 1984. pg. 280.