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The Encomienda System

Type Object Region Americas Time c. 1503–1542

The encomienda was a labor and tribute distribution system established in the early Spanish colonization of the Americas: the crown "entrusted" speci…

Timeline

  1. c. 1503–1520Hispaniola · HispaniolaSpain transplanted the Castilian repartimiento tradition to the Caribbean; decrees such as the Laws of Burgos (1512) gave the encomienda a legal framework, stipulating that encomienda holders bore obligations of Christian instruction.
  2. 1531–1540Mexico and Central America · MexicoIn the 1530s the encomienda became the main source of labor for mining, agriculture, and town-building in New Spain and elsewhere; conquistadors and early colonial elites widely held encomienda rights, and pressure from indigenous tribute and forced labor intensified.
  3. 1531–1542Spain and the Americas · SpainLas Casas and others petitioned the crown and the papacy throughout the 1530s, exposing encomienda exploitation; the New Laws of 1542 prohibited hereditary encomiendas and curbed abuses, marking the system's decline.

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