when was the encomienda system abolished

In reality, indigenous people were forced to provide labor. The colonial elite was livid with rage when the provisions of the New Laws became known. It seems counter-productive to kill off your own workers, but the Spanish conquistadors in question were only interested in getting as rich as they could as quickly as they could: this greed led directly to hundreds of thousands of deaths in the Indigenous population. The other major form of coerced labor in their colonies, the encomienda system, was also abolished, . Under Crown law, a few days of labor was all that people owed. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1986. -Natives were required to perform a fixed amount of labor. Both were conceived of as temporary so that the Spanish Crown retained ultimate sovereignty in the colonies. New Spain | Spanish Explorers & Spanish Colonies, Growth of Independent Trading Cities in the Renaissance. [3] Bobadilla was succeeded by a royal governor, Fray Nicols de Ovando, who established the formal encomienda system. From the time of the reconquest of Granada (1481-1492) to the introduction of the encomienda system in the Americas was only ten years. In the Pacific, Spain competed with English, Dutch, Malay, Chinese and Muslim interests. Christianization was also a feature of encomienda in Spanish colonies. With the major native empires in Mexico and Peru in ruins, the Spanish had to put a new system of government in place. [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. They found him unyielding in his zeal to implement the laws, so they beheaded him, setting off a civil war that was not totally quelled until 1549. One fact essential to understanding the history of the encomienda system is that millions of indigenous people died of diseases brought by colonists to the Americas, as well as from war and the brutality of colonization. The encomienda system was patterned after the practice of extracting tribute from Jews and Muslims during the final episode of the Reconquista (reconquest) of Muslim Spain. Spoils of war were crucial during the Crusades and the Reconquista (reconquest) in Iberia (see below). It also allowed the establishment of encomiendas, since the encomienda bond was a right reserved to full subjects to the crown. The system did not entail any direct land tenure by the encomendero; native lands were to remain in the possession of their communities. ." The spanish monarchy abolished the encomienda system because? Priests were supposed to live on the encomienda lands, instructing the Indigenous people in Catholicism, and often these men became defenders of the people they taught, but just as often they committed abuses of their own, living with Native women or demanding tribute of their own. In reality, Indigenous colonial subjects had no protection from their encomendero. The northernmost extent of the encomienda system was in what is known now as the US state of New Mexico, and the southernmost extent was the Chiloe Islands of Chile. Eventually, the encomienda system was replaced by the repartimiento system, but it was not abolished until the late 18th century. However, the owners of these parcels depended on the repartimiento or mita (rotating draft of forced Indian labor) system that had been instituted after the crown prohibited the use of free personal services by the encomendero around the middle of the sixteenth century. It was patterned on grants of land and tribute to those who fought for Spain during the Reconquista. The same title was granted to colonial leaders. One provision of the latter abolished encomiendas at the death of the current holder. [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 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. o In return, the encomendero had to protect the natives, ensure their conversion to Christianity, and . Ed. These were codified in the Laws of Burgos of 1512 and again in the New Laws of 1542. Castilian forces who, in 1492, overthrew Granada, the last Moorish kingdom in Iberia, were granted lands as a reward by the Crowns of Aragon and Castile. Madrid: Historia 16, 1987, folios 547[561]-559[573]. [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. 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. Create your account. The lands were run by cruel overseers and Native chieftains who often demanded extra tribute themselves, making the lives of the Indigenous people even more miserable. Gibbings, Julie. 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. (2021, September 9). Love, Edgar F. "Negro Resistance to Spanish Rule in Colonial Mexico," Journal of Negro History 52, no. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/encomienda-0, "Encomienda Encomienda was imposed in Hispaniola by Nicolas de Ovando, the third governor of that colony, soon after he arrived in 1502. Recipients of land were required to Christianize Muslim and Jewish residents. 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. However, such cases were relatively few in number. Some of the encomenderos managed to secure title-deeds to certain lands: unlike the encomiendas, these could be passed down from one generation to the next. Black Legend History & Culture | What is the Black Legend? "In the Shadow of Slavery: Historical Time, Labor, and Citizenship in Nineteenth-Century Alta Verapaz, Guatemala". Except in peripheral areas of the Spanish New World Empire, like Paraguay, the encomienda had become by the start of the seventeenth century little more than a prestigious claim to a government pension, divorced of any direct control over the Indians. The encomienda system came close to slavery. Slaves have few legal protections. Las Casas was an early encomendero in Hispaniola. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Encomienda was a royal grant of authority to conquistadors to demand labor services from indigenous people in Spanish colonies. Bartolome de las Casas: Destruction of the Amerindians, Las Casas, Valladolid Debate & Converting the New World, The Pueblo Revolt of 1680: Lesson for Kids. Later-arriving Spanish immigrants depended on them for the help they needed to build homes and shops, tend plants and animals, or mine ore. [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%. 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. 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. They also were empowered to grant lands further afield. However, during this time gold was scarce.[9]. The encomiendas became very corrupt and harsh. The encomienda system was one of the many horrors inflicted on the Indigenous people of the New World during the conquest and colonial eras. Image retrieved from alamy.com highlighting the treatment of Amerindians by the Spaniards. 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. The encomiendas became very corrupt and harsh. Consequences of the Conquest of the Aztecs, The 10 Best Books About Early Colonial History, 10 Facts About the Conquest of the Inca Empire, 10 Notable Spanish Conquistadors Throughout History, Biography of Diego de Almagro, Spanish Conquistador, Biography of Francisco Pizarro, Spanish Conqueror of the Inca, Armor and Weapons of the Spanish Conquistadors, The History of Latin America in the Colonial Era, Biography of Hernn Corts, Ruthless Conquistador. By 1572, the system was in place in the Philippines. The Spanish Crown conceived of encomienda as being relatively protective of indigenous people but did not succeed in making it so. It does not, however, amount to a policy of ethnocide through genocide. 3 (August 1971): 431-446. During the first years of the colonial era, Native Peruvians died by the hundreds of thousands. Encomienda did not cause epidemic deaths. He participated in slave raids and kept slaves. The Crown granted the use of land to encomenderos, but not ownership. The owners of the encomiendas were not supposed to ever visit the encomienda lands: this was supposed to cut down on abuses. On November 13, 1717, a royal decree abolished encomiendas , an act that was confirmed by other decrees in 1720 and 1721. Each reduccin had a native chief responsible for keeping track of the labourers in his community. The encomienda was not a land grant (merced). Thus began an institution that supported a class of powerful individuals, created by royal fiat, that would figure prominently in the history of the New World for the next century and into the eighteenth century on the fringes of the Spanish New World empire. [8], Philip II enacted a law on 11 June 1594 to establish the encomienda in the Philippines, where he made grants to the local nobles (principala). Encomiendo did not break up families. Encomenderos were in the habit of resisting limits, and they opposed the New Laws. [18] Upon hearing this, the adelantado captured the caciques involved and had most of them hanged. As councilmen they set prices for basic goods and services as well as the standards of morality and sanitation for the Spanish community. 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. The prime motivation for this system was to bring Christianity to the 'heathens', as the natives were called by the colonial settlers. In 1550, Spain abolished the encomienda system and replaced it with a new repartimiento system. Las Casas participated in an important debate, where he pushed for the enactment of the New Laws and an end to the encomienda system. ." With Indigenous governments such as the efficient Inca Empire in ruins, the Spanish conquistadorsneeded to find a way to rule their new subjects. This control and their prestige as first founders and conquerors quickly enriched the majority of encomenderos. It was viewed as a vulgar act and below Western humanitarian . In Peru, most of the settlers had taken part in the conquistador civil wars and could, therefore, lose their encomiendas immediately. "Encomienda 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. 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. 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. It was essentially enslavement, given but a thin (and illusory) veneer of respectability for the Catholic education that it implied. Surez Romero. This system was fundamental to the economics of early Spanish colonialism. 13 US Colonies History & Influences | Who Ruled the 13 Colonies? 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. 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 1542, the King tried to correct those conditions with the New Laws governing the treatment of indigenous people in Spanish colonies. Spain's American Colonies and the Encomienda System. The encomienda system traveled to America as the result of the implantation of Castilian law over the territory. [8] Like the encomienda, the new repartimiento did not include the attribution of land to anyone, rather only the allotment of native workers. 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]. See alsoHacienda; Mita; Repartimiento; Slavery: Indian Slavery and Forced Labor; Spanish Empire. On the other hand, the crown had made it quite clear that the Indigenous people were not enslaved but Spanish subjects with certain rights, which were being flagrant, systematically, and horrifically violated. Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. The encomienda system had been used in feudal Spain during the reconquest and had survived in some form ever since. 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. Indigenous leaders were charged with mobilising the assessed tribute and labour. Omissions? flashcard sets. Conquistadors were fortune hunters with commissions from the Spanish Crown to explore, conquer and colonize territory on behalf of the Crown. The New Laws abolished Indian slavery and also ended the encomienda system. It was the landowners (and the mine owners) who eventually displaced the encomenderos at the top of the colonial social pyramid. The conditions Las Casas protested were common throughout Spanish colonies and often drew criticism. Slavery has no time limit as offspring are also property. 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). Encomienda is a Spanish word meaning "commission." Later, some receiving encomiendas in New Spain (Mexico) were not conquerors themselves but were sufficiently well connected that they received grants. [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. Cortez conquered the Aztec empire, then imposed encomienda in the parts of New Spain under his control. Outside of New Spain and Peru, encomienda was short-lived in most Spanish colonies, as the depopulation of the Americas due to war and disease, pressure for reform from the Crown, and changes in colonial economies made the system less serviceable. One clause of the latter abolished the encomienda at the death of the holder. [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. . Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. ." [4] In many cases natives were forced to do hard labour and subjected to extreme punishment and death if they resisted. (February 23, 2023). Both natives and Spaniards appealed to the Real Audiencias for relief under the encomienda system. John Murra, Rolena Adorno & Jorge L. Urioste. Spanish colonists wanted indigenous people alive to provide labor. [25], The liberation of thousands of Native Americans held in bondage throughout the Spanish empire by the new viceroy, Blasco Nez Vela, on his journey to Peru, led to his eventual murder and armed conflict between the encomenderos and the Spanish crown which ended with the execution of those encomenderos involved. To the crown he said, "I obey crown authority but do not comply with this order. [26], In most of the Spanish domains acquired in the 16th century the encomienda phenomenon lasted only a few decades. In 1511, Diego Velazquez de Cuella departed Hispaniola to conquer Cuba and brought encomienda with him. The crown also actively prosecuted abuses of the encomienda system, through the Laws of Burgos (151213) and the New Laws of the Indies (1542). Several factors eroded encomienda, including the design of the system itself, a massive decline in indigenous populations, the creation of a hacienda economy, and Crown intervention to stem the brutality of encomenderos.

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