Theencomienda (Spanish pronunciation:[eŋkoˈmjenda]ⓘ) was a Spanishlabour system that rewardedconquerors 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 offorced labour andslavery. Theencomienda was first established in Spain following the ChristianReconquista, and it was applied on a much larger scale during theSpanish colonization of the Americas and theSpanish East Indies. Conquered peoples were consideredvassals of theSpanish monarch. The Crown awarded anencomienda as a grant to a particular individual. In the conquest era of the early sixteenth century, the grants were considered amonopoly on the labour of particular groups ofindigenous peoples, held in perpetuity by the grant holder, called theencomendero; starting from theNew Laws of 1542, the encomienda ended upon the death of theencomendero, and was replaced by therepartimiento.[1][2]
Encomiendas devolved from their original Iberian form into a form of communalslavery. In theencomienda, 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 theencomienda natives were given instruction inCatholicism and theSpanish language, to protect them from warring tribes orpirates; to suppressrebellion against Spaniards, and maintaininfrastructure. The natives providedtributes in the form of metals,maize, wheat, pork, and other agricultural products.
With the ousting ofChristopher Columbus in 1500, theSpanish Crown had him replaced withFrancisco de Bobadilla.[3] Bobadilla was succeeded by a royal governor, FrayNicolás de Ovando, who established the formalencomienda system.[4] In many cases natives were forced to do hard labour and subjected to extreme punishment and death if they resisted.[5] However, QueenIsabella I of Castile forbade slavery of the native population and deemed the indigenous to be "free vassals of the crown".[6] Various versions of theLaws of the Indies from 1512 onwards attempted to regulate the interactions between the settlers and natives. Both natives and Spaniards appealed to theReal Audiencias for relief under theencomienda system.
Encomiendas have often been characterized by the geographical displacement of the enslaved and breakup of communities and family units, but inNew Spain, theencomienda ruled the free vassals of the crown through existing community hierarchies, and the natives remained in their settlements with their families.[7][page needed]
The meaning ofencomienda andencomendero stems from the Spanish verbencomendar, "to entrust". Theencomienda was based on thereconquista institution in whichadelantados were given the right to extract tribute from Muslims or otherpeasants in areas that they had conquered and resettled.[8]
Theencomienda system traveled to America with the implantation of Castilian law in Spanish territories. The system was created in the Middle Ages and was pivotal to allow for the repopulation and protection of frontier land during thereconquista. 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 theGranada War.[9] It was a method of rewarding soldiers and moneymen who defeated the Moors.[9] Theencomienda established a system similar to afeudal relationship, in which military protection was traded for certain tributes or specific work. It was especially prevalent among military orders that were entrusted with the protection of frontier areas. The king usually intervened directly or indirectly in the bond, by guaranteeing the fairness of the agreement and intervening militarily in case of abuse.
Theencomienda system in Spanish America differed from the Peninsular institution. Theencomenderos did not own the land on which the natives lived. The system did not entail any direct land tenure by theencomendero; native lands were to remain in the possession of their communities. This right was formally protected by the crown of Castile because the rights of administration in theNew World belonged to this crown and not to theCatholic monarchs as a whole.[10]
The first grantees of theencomienda system, calledencomenderos, were usually conquerors who received these grants of labour by virtue of participation in a successful conquest. Later, some receivingencomiendas inNew Spain (Mexico) were not conquerors themselves but were sufficiently well connected that they received grants.
In his study of theencomenderos of early colonial Mexico, Robert Himmerich y Valencia divides conquerors into those who were part ofHernán Cortés' original expedition, calling them "first conquerors", and those who were members of the laterNarváez expedition, calling them "conquerors". The latter were incorporated into Cortes' contingent. Himmerich designated aspobladores antiguos (old settlers) a group of undetermined number ofencomenderos in New Spain, men who had resided in the Caribbean region prior to theSpanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.
In the New World, the Crown grantedconquistadores asencomendero, which is the right to extract labour and tribute from natives who were under Spanish rule. Theencomienda system was established on the island ofHispaniola byNicolás de Ovando, the third governor of the Spanish colony, in 1502.
Some women and some indigenous elites were alsoencomenderos. Maria Jaramillo, the daughter ofMarina and conqueror Juan Jaramillo, received income from her deceased father'sencomiendas.[11] Two of Moctezuma's daughters,Isabel Moctezuma and her younger sister, Leonor Moctezuma, were granted extensiveencomiendas in perpetuity by Hernán Cortés. Leonor Moctezuma married in succession two Spaniards, and left theencomiendas to her daughter by her second husband.[12][13][14] Vassal Inca rulers appointed after the conquest also sought and were grantedencomiendas.
Theencomienda was essential to the Spanish crown's sustaining its control over North, Central and South America in the first decades after the colonization. It was the first major organizational law instituted on the continent, which was affected by war, widespread epidemics caused by Eurasian diseases, and resulting turmoil.[15] Initially, theencomienda system was devised to meet the needs of the early agricultural economies in the Caribbean. Later it was adopted to the mining economy of Peru andUpper Peru. Theencomienda lasted from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the seventeenth century.[8]
Philip II enacted a law on 11 June 1594 to establish theencomienda in the Philippines, where he made grants to the local nobles (principalía). They used theencomienda to gain ownership of large expanses of land, many of which (such asMakati) continue to be owned by affluent families.[16]
In 1501Isabella I of Castile declared Native Americans as subjects to the Crown, and so, as Castilians and legal equals to Spanish Castilians. This implied that enslaving them was illegal except under very specific conditions. It also allowed the establishment ofencomiendas, since theencomienda bond was a right reserved to full subjects to the crown. In 1503, the crown began to formally grantencomiendas to conquistadors and officials as rewards for service to the crown. The system ofencomiendas was aided by the crown's organizing the indigenous into small harbors known asreducciones, with the intent of establishing new towns and populations.
Eachreducción had a native chief responsible for keeping track of the labourers in his community. Theencomienda system did not grant people land, but it indirectly aided in the settlers' acquisition of land. As initially defined, theencomendero and his heirs expected to hold these grants in perpetuity. After a major Crown reform in 1542, known as theNew Laws,encomendero families were restricted to holding the grant for two generations. When the Crown attempted to implement the policy in Peru, shortly after the 1535 Spanish conquest, Spanish recipients rebelled against the Crown, killing the viceroy,Blasco Núñez Vela.
In Mexico, viceroyAntonio de Mendoza decided against implementing the reform, citing local circumstances and the potential for a similar conqueror rebellion. To the crown he said, "I obey crown authority but do not comply with this order."[17] Theencomienda system was ended legally in 1720, when the crown attempted to abolish the institution. Theencomenderos were then required to pay remainingencomienda labourers for their work.
Theencomiendas became very corrupt and harsh. In the neighborhood of La Concepción, north of Santo Domingo, theadelantado of Santiago heard rumors of a 15,000-man army planning to stage a rebellion.[18] Upon hearing this, theadelantado captured thecaciques involved and had most of them hanged.
Later, a chieftain namedGuarionex laid havoc to the countryside before an army of about 3,090 routed theCiguana people under his leadership.[19] Although expecting Spanish protection from warring tribes, the islanders sought to join the Spanish forces. They helped the Spaniards deal with their ignorance of the surrounding environment.[20]
As noted, the change of requiring theencomendado 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. According to theCodice Osuna, one of many colonial-eraAztec codices (indigenous manuscripts) with native pictorials and alphabetic text inNahuatl, there is evidence that the indigenous were well aware of the distinction between indigenous communities held by individualencomenderos and those held by the Crown.[21]
Theencomienda system was the subject of controversy in Spain and its territories almost from its start. In 1510, anHispaniolaencomendero named Valenzuela murdered a group of Native American leaders who had agreed to meet for peace talks in full confidence. The TaínocaciqueEnriquillo rebelled against the Spaniards between 1519 and 1533. In 1538,Emperor Charles V, realizing the seriousness of the Taíno revolt, changed the laws governing the treatment of people labouring in theencomiendas.[22] Conceding toLas Casas's viewpoint, the peace treaty between the Taínos and theaudiencia was eventually disrupted in four to five years.[clarification needed] The crown also actively prosecuted abuses of theencomienda system, through theLaws of Burgos (1512–13) and theNew Laws of the Indies (1542).
The priest of Hispaniola and formerencomenderoBartolomé de las Casas underwent a profound conversion after seeing the abuse of the native people.[23] He dedicated his life to writing and lobbying to abolish theencomienda system, which he thought systematically enslaved the native people of the New World. Las Casas participated in animportant debate, where he pushed for the enactment of the New Laws and an end to theencomienda system.[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 theViceroyalty of Peru. WhenBlasco Núñez Vela, the first viceroy of Peru, tried to enforce the New Laws, which provided for the gradual abolition of theencomienda, many of theencomenderos were unwilling to comply with them and revolted against him.
When the news 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. By the time the new laws were passed, in 1542, the Spanish crown had acknowledged their inability to control and properly ensure compliance of traditional laws overseas, so they granted to Native Americans specific protections not even Spaniards had, such as the prohibition of enslaving them even in the case of crime or war. These extra protections were an attempt to avoid the proliferation of irregular claims to slavery.[25]
The liberation of thousands of Native Americans held in bondage throughout the Spanish empire by the new viceroy,Blasco Núñez Vela, on his journey to Peru, led to his eventual murder and armed conflict between theencomenderos and the Spanish crown which ended with the execution of thoseencomenderos involved.[26]
In most of the Spanish domains acquired in the 16th century theencomienda phenomenon lasted only a few decades. However, in Peru and New Spain theencomienda institution lasted much longer.[27]
InChiloé Archipelago in southern Chile, where theencomienda had been abusive enough to unleasha revolt in 1712, theencomienda was abolished in 1782.[28] In the rest of Chile it was abolished in 1789, and in the whole Spanish empire in 1791.[28][29][30][31]
Theencomienda system was generally replaced by the crown-managedrepartimiento system throughout Spanish America after mid-sixteenth century.[8] Like theencomienda, the newrepartimiento did not include the attribution of land to anyone, rather only the allotment of native workers. But they were directly allotted to the Crown, who, through a local Crown official, would assign them to work for settlers for a set period of time, usually several weeks. Therepartimiento was an attempt "to reduce the abuses of forced labour".[8] As the number ofnatives declined and mining activities were replaced by agricultural activities in the seventeenth century, thehacienda, 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.[32]
Raphael Lemkin (coiner of the termgenocide) considered Spain's abuses of the native population of the Americas to constitute cultural and even outright genocide, including the abuses of theencomienda system. He described slavery as "cultural genocide par excellence" noting "it is the most effective and thorough method of destroying culture, of desocializing human beings".[33][citation needed] Economic historian Timothy J. Yeager argued theencomienda 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.[34]University of Hawaii historianDavid Stannard describes theencomienda as a genocidal system which "had driven many millions of native peoples in Central and South America to early and agonizing deaths".[35]
Yale University'sgenocide studies program supports this view regarding abuses in Hispaniola.[36] The program cites the decline of the Taíno 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%.[36] HistorianAndrés Reséndez contends that enslavement in gold and silver mines was the primary reason why the Native American population of Hispaniola dropped so significantly, as the conditions that native peoples were subjected to under enslavement, from forced relocation to hours of hard labour, contributed to the spread of disease.[37][38] For example, according to anthropologistJason Hickel, a third ofArawak workers died every six months from forced labour in the mines.[39]
Denial towards accusations of genocide linked to theencomienda and the Spanish conquest and settlement of the Americas typically involve arguments like those of Noble David Cook, who posits that accusations of genocide are a continuation of theSpanish Black Legend. Writing about the Black Legend and theconquest 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 likesmallpox. He argues that the Spanish unwittingly carried these diseases to the New World.[40] However, there is growing evidence that purposefully infecting Indigenous populations was not an obscure policy, being attempted multiple times across the Americas. With the American Society of Microbiology stating that "[the settlers demonstrated] depraved indifference, if not intentional genocide".[41]
las Leyes Nuevas dadas en Barcelona el 20 de noviembre de 1542 […] abolieron la fa-cultad de proveer nuevas encomiendas en las Indias, y mandaron incorporar en la Corona las existentes a la muerte de sus poseedores
