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Encomienda Labor and Tribute System
The Spanish system in the Americas granting conquerors and colonists allocations of indigenous labor and tribute, binding indigenous communities to t…
Timeline
- c. 1510–1541Hispaniola and early colonies of the New World · HispaniolaThe Crown allocated indigenous communities to encomenderos to demand labor service and tribute; the system expanded rapidly in the Caribbean and in Mexico and Peru, causing massive population loss and social reorganization.
- 1542–1550Viceroyalties of Spanish America · Spanish AmericaThe 1542 New Laws restricted hereditary encomiendas and regulated labor service, but met resistance from colonial elites in Peru and elsewhere in the 1540s; the system continued through compromise, continuing to shape indigenous labor structures.
Sources
- Encomienda Politics in Early Colonial Guatemala, 1524-1544 — W. George Lovell (1995)
- A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies — Bartolomé de las Casas (1552)