Spain’s Encomienda System

COLONIZATION AND ECONOMIC EXPANSION HIST 1301 | History Spain’s Encomienda System Following Christopher Columbus' arrival in North America in 1492, the Spanish were the first to build significant colonies. They were the first Europeans to compel the Native American people to work for them, first by blatant slavery, a practice that gradually developed into more intricate institutions. They established the encomienda system around 1502 as a part of a larger effort to find "God, Gold, and Glory" throughout their enormous kingdom. God thus alludes to endeavours to propagate the Catholic religion, gold to the pursuit of riches, and glory to aspirations of achieving notoriety for oneself. The Spanish phrase encomendar, which meaning "to entrust," is where the word encomienda originates. The encomienda system allowed persons who had shown the crown they were deserving of such trust to be granted significant areas and populations. Each grantee, referred to as an encomendero, was granted the authority by the Spanish government to require labour from Indigenous people residing in a certain territory. These Native Americans were to receive leadership, instruction, and supervision from the Spaniards in return. Even though owning land was not a requirement for encomiendas, encomenderos frequently acquired land where the people they controlled resided. At times, the forced labour system even turned into something that was practically, if not legally, slavery. Encomiendas were mostly given to conquistadors as compensation for their valiant conquests that brought honour to Spain. Some Native Americans did, however, also obtain them. The Tlaxcalans, who lived in central Mexico, joined forces with Hernán Cortés's expedition to fight the Aztec Empire (1519–1521), who were the conquistadors' longtime adversaries. Some Tlaxcalans received encomiendas from the Spanish government as payment for their services, and the tribe was placed in a considerably better position within the Spanish Empire than many other Native American tribes. Malintzin, an Indigenous woman who had been enslaved and who worked as Cortés's primary translator during the conquest of the Aztec Empire, was arguably the most unique encomendera. For this assistance, Malintzin was rewarded with her encomienda; without it, Cortés's struggle against the Aztecs would not have succeeded. Encomenderos frequently misused their power, supervising an exploitative system characterised by appalling working conditions and severe physical violence directed against anybody who disobeyed their orders. In the Spanish American colonies, which comprised what are now Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Mexico, and a large portion of South America, the encomienda system emerged as the primary source of labour. The Dominican monk Bartolomé de las Casas, who briefly served as an encomendero, became into one of the system's most vocal detractors in 1514. He travelled around Latin America and Spain for the most of the following ten years, speaking out against the cruelty of the place. In his book A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, published in 1552, Las Casas made the claim that Native Americans were attacked by the Spanish "like ravening wolves." “They rip the Indians to shreds, kill them, and inflict upon them untold misery, suffering, and distress, torturing, harrying, and persecuting them mercilessly,” he said of the Spanish. King Charles V was finally persuaded by Las Casas to enact the New Laws of 1542, which attempted to abolish the encomienda system; however, the changes were fiercely resisted by Spanish residents in the Americas, and the system persisted. The dark mythology, according to reformers like Las Casas, stated that the Spanish were especially cruel imperialists who mistreated their colonial people, was sparked by their complaints. Like a lot of stories from history, the dark legend has its roots in reality. Spanish colonial competitors, especially the English, exploited Native Americans cruelly, but they also inflated Spanish atrocities to cover up their own mistreatment of the people. Both the Spanish and the English were guilty of mistreating Native Americans in spite of their fierce rivalry. There were flaws in even reformers like Las Casas, who fought the harshest treatment of Native Americans. Rather of seeing Native Americans as equals, Las Casas frequently took a paternalistic stance towards them, treating them more like children who would benefit from the kind tutelage of Europeans.