The Encomienda by
Meredith Scott
The encomienda system is deeply entrenched in the history and culture of South and Central America, and is one of the most damaging institutions that the Spanish colonists implemented in the New World. The system came to signify the oppression and exploitation of Native Americans, although its originators did not set out with such intent.
When the Spanish explorers claimed the lands in the New World, they set up institutions with which they were familiar at home in Castile, and at that time, there were strong links to their feudalistic history. Therefore, the Spanish modified their model of feudalism to fit both the needs and conditions in New Spain and the Caribbean (Chamberlain 2). This form of feudalism, the encomienda system, was created in May 1493, by the Crown in Castile who reserved the right to grant and remove the encomiendas as seen fit. However, encomiendas were only taken away from Spanish in extreme cases (Chamberlain 3). The encomienda itself was a grant of Indians within a geographic region, which were given to an encomendero, the Spaniard who received the grant of Indians.
At the start of the system, the sole justification for the Spanish dominion over the Indians was to indoctrinate the Indians in the Catholic faith (Valencia 3). In fact, under the Law of Burgos, any encomendero with 50 or more Indians had to educate one boy in reading and writing and religious doctrine, so that he could teach the other Indians these things (Burgos 26). However, it quickly became an opportunity for the encomenderos to exploit and utilize the Indians to their own ends. This was because the Indians were required to pay the encomendero a tribute in return for protection and religious instruction (Valencia 4). Originally, the Indians which were divided for an encomendero were called repartimientas, but then became known as encomiendas when the original grantee of the Indians died and they were given to a new encomendero (Chamberlain 5). The encomienda system did not entail any land tenure by the encomendero; in fact, the land of the Indians was to remain in their possession, a right that was formally protected by the Crown (Chamberlain 3). However, the encomenderos did often own land nearby their encomiendas and had natives working on plantations (Valencia 11). Another interesting point is that the encomienda grant did not give the Spaniard the right to exercise any political authority or jurisdiction over the Indians (Chamberlain 3). However, these distinctions were very difficult to enforce, because there was an ocean between the rulers making the laws and the colonists in charge of the natives. As time went on, the conquerors of New Spain came to expect the encomiendas as their reward, so the practice became an institution and it eventually became tradition to divide newly conquered territories among the conquerors (Chamberlain 11).
The "need" for the encomiendas arose out of the condition of the Indians when the Spanish first made contact with them. They thought that the Indians were incapable of living a Christian life and that they would do nothing without the proper direction. They also noted that "the Indian loved to go about naked and they held money and property as no value…they had no sense of shame…they had no feeling of guilt." (Simpson 46). In essence, the Spanish believed Indians to be savage and pagan, so the major aim of the encomienda was to look after the welfare of the natives, as well as to educate and teach them about God. The Indians were "to be clothed, the children educated in religion, reading and writing and the confession…" (Simpson 11). However, in the end, the colonists decided that if the natives were left to their own devices, they would run awry and not cooperate with the Spaniards in matters of commerce, which would hurt their trade goals. It was ordered that the encomenderos were not allowed to mistreat the Indians in any way, but at the same time, the Indians were to be "persuaded to abandon their ancient evil ways "(Simpson 11). Although the encomenderos were responsible for them, the Indians were not granted to the Spaniard for life with the encomienda system, but only for two to three years at a time. It was during that time they were to be educated and protected by the encomendero (Valencia 23). Furthermore, the Indians weren't supposed to work for nothing, in fact, they were to be paid and supplied with the provisions they needed to live (Valencia 19). At one point, the Crown encouraged the Indians and Spanish to intermarry, so that they could tame the natives through constant and direct contact with the colonists. They also hoped this would help in their efforts to convert the Indians to Christianity. However, what the encomienda actually accomplished was to ensure the colonists a large labor supply because they could easily force the Indians to supply produce food and supplies (Simpson 7).
Soon, the rights of the Indians, feeble as they were, were ignored on every occasion involving commerce, because they provided a source of "immediate revenue" for the encomenderos (Simpson 20). Because of this, the Indians, who were already living hand-to-mouth, were forced into a position of hunger and then into death (Simpson 7). It got to the point to that when the Spanish workmen came to the New World, they no longer wanted to work their trades, instead, they wanted to be set up with lands and encomiendas (Valencia 20). This attitude became deeply entrenched in their society, as the encomenderos began to see themselves as landed gentry. With that came the belief that the encomendero should not have to work to survive, because the Indians could do it for them in the form of tributes. Thus, the position of the encomendero became a coveted one due to the tributes that the Indians were to pay.
The idea of tributes was not a new concept to natives, like the Incas, due to their l history of paying tribute to those over them in their own respective cultures. Perhaps recognizing this, the Spanish decided that the tributes given to the encomendero should only require the natives to offer those sorts of goods that they were already used to producing. These tributes included such goods as maize, salt, honey, hunted game, cotton clothes, beans and peppers (Chamberlain 9). However, the tributes also consisted of human services rendered to the encomendero, such as military service to protect the colonies, as well as human labor in plantations and mines (Chamberlain 9). These tributes allowed the colonists to live and thrive without having to exert themselves, because of the surpluses that the Indian tributes supplied the colonists that enabled the Spanish to trade and make a profit (Chamberlain 4).
Up until the mid 16th century, the encomenderos could arbitrarily fix the tributes at whatever amount they desired, a practice which quickly led to extraordinary abuses of the Indians. In fact, the native Caribbean population was drastically reduced due to the exploitation and abuses poured on them by the encomenderos. This occurred to such a degree that the encomienda system in the Caribbean withered away within a generation of its beginning (Simpson 13). This was largely due to the fact that the Indian labor was used in the mines, which was a brutal and risky place to work, so the death rate were very high. In essence, the Caribbean colonists killed off their labor faster than it could be supplied (Simpson 13). The Spanish did not heed any warning in this death; they merely treated it like an obstacle and petitioned the Crown for more Indians to fire the labor power. Finally, the Crown in Castile knew these abuses, and legislation was passed in, to place limits in the absolute power of the Spanish over the Indians. One of the limits placed on the encomendero was in the area of tributes. The Crown decided to establish fixed tributes and sought to eliminate human labor tributes, especially the use of Indians in the mines (Chamberlain 2).
In order to relegate their wishes to the colonists, the Crown set up a local colonial government, the Audiencia, which passed on and enforced Isabella and Ferdinand's wishes, as well as delegating responsibility and power to lower officials. One aspect of their responsibility included taking control of collecting tribute from the encomendero's hands and keeping it an official act, in an effort to mainstream the tribute system. Over time, it became that only the Audiencia could partition the Indians into encomiendas and the Audiencia were supposed to address the injustices committed against the Indians, so that action could be taken. As time went on, the audiencias also became responsible for reviewing the legislation from Castile to see if it should be enforced or somehow modified in the New World (Chamberlain 2).
Among all those preoccupied with exploiting the natives, there were also men who rigorously defended the Indians. One of the most prominent of those men working to better the lives of the Indians was Bishop Bartolome de Las Casas. Las Casas was a one-time Catholic priest living in Cuba, with an encomienda of his own. However, he came to see the evils of the encomienda, was sickened by what he saw and repented. He then decided to dedicate the rest of his life to righting the wrongs committed against the Indians (Simpson 35). Shortly, because Las Casas was persistent in confronting the abuses that the Indians endured in the name of the colonists' greed, he was often seen as the main source of the encomendero's woes. Yet, because of his persistence, his message about the terrible conditions in which the Indians lived reached the King's officials, as well as others in the Church. Part of Las Casas' message included speaking out against the injustice of the encomienda system, stating that "…the greatest evil has caused the destruction of these lands…" he also stated that the Indians are worked all day and night, even though all the profits went to the encomenderos which, he claimed was "…against all reason and human prudence and against God and His will and His church" (Hanke 86). In fact, when he went to the King in 1534 in order to get assistance for the Indians, Las Casas was quoted as saying that action needed to be taken to aid the Indians in order to "make sure that there would be Indians left to baptize…" (Hanke 87). Las Casas also took to documenting the problems, and in his work, A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, he detailed the extent of the abuses committed against the Indians. At one point he claimed that some 15-20 million Indians perished at the hands of the colonists (Hanke 89). Now, these numbers have been disputed, and they may very well be off the mark in their high estimation, but historians have agreed upon the priest's major claims. (Hanke 89). Another man of the cloth, Friar Motolina, made claims similar to those of Las Casas, saying that "...countless natives were killed in labor at the mines", and furthermore, a Spanish Royal Official, Alonso de Zunta, said that in the Popayánn province "...the bones of the dead Indians were so thick along the roads that no-one could lose the way" (Hanke 89). So, it appears that not everyone was blind to the transgressions against the Indian population. The only problem was that these men were in the small minority and that even the Audiencia, which was in place to correct the ills committed against the Indians, soon became filled with encomenderos (Simpson 146). This was bad for those trying to improve the condition of the Indian's lives because it meant that the encomendero could impede the various attempts at reforming the treatment of Indians (Simspon 146). However, it is safe to say that it was due to these and other men like them, especially Las Casas, that the Crown was pushed to take any action against the encomienda.
At home in Castile, Isabella and Ferdinand were in a awkward position in regards to the encomienda system. They saw the commercial value that the system held for Spain, increasing their trade and bringing in great wealth, but they were also hostile towards the encomiendas (Simpson 11). Their hostility stemmed from the mistreatment of the Indians by the Spanish colonists, which they viewed to be in direct contrast to the initial goal of the encomienda system, which was to ensure the salvation of the natives. For example, when, in 1495, Columbus enslaved several of Roldan natives who opposed the Spanish presence there, and sent them to Spain, Isabella was angered "…for daring to give her vassals as slaves…" (Simpson 4). On May 20, 1520, the king decreed that the Indians should be free, but due to the negative economic impact of this law, as well as the impossibility of enforcing it, the encomienda system was fully legalized for New Spain in 1526, although no encomienda was allowed to have more than 300 Indians. But then the King and Queen turned around and suppressed Las Casas and other Indian defenders, which made the Crown's position in the matter a not altogether clear one (Simpson XIII). Despite all this, the situation came to a head in the 1540's, when the conquest of New Spain was finally complete, marking the moment when the Crown stepped in and began regulating the situation through legislation, particularly the New Laws of 1542 (Simpson 46).
The New Laws were of the most important bodies of royal legislation created concerning the position and welfare of the Indians, because they concentrated on several areas in which the hardships of Indians lives could have been ameliorated and contained specific provisions in order to accomplish this goal. First of all, the Laws allowed the Indian population to own property, stipulating that the Emperor could not arbitrarily seize their lands (Simpson 127). Furthermore, it stated that the Pope, hence the Catholic Church, only had dominion over Christians, therefore it held no power over the Indians (Simpson 127). The New Laws did, however, give the Spanish the right to explore Indian lands, to live and trade on them without opposition from the Indians, but only as long as the Spanish colonists did not harm the Indians in any way (Simpson 127). The Laws also abolished slavery in any form, and placed high monetary penalties on anyone breaking this law. They also forbade Indian labor in the Mines (Simpson 140). As far as religion was concerned, Christians were given the right to preach, but again, the Church held no formal power over the Indians, so they could not force them to convert or take action against them for not believing or abiding by Christian beliefs (Simpson 129). The Audiencias were created by the New Laws, as a form of local government, and it was decided by them that the large encomiendas must be reduced in size and that the creation of new ones should be forbidden (Simpson 120). As a whole, these laws made quite a stir in the Spanish Colonies, in fact they reeked havoc with the colonists who had become accustomed to having the Indians at their beck and call, no matter what the cost (Simpson 130). In particular, the encomenderos were disturbed by the fact that the Crown forbade Indian slaves, including their use in the mines, because they needed them (Simpson 140). The colonist's fears proved to be true when the removal of Indian labor caused an economic depression in the New Spain (Simpson 149). With the depression and the problems that came with it, it was decided that action must be taken in order to remedy the situation.
Because of the problems that the New Laws were causing in the colonies, the Council of Indies, who was set over the implementation of the Laws, recognized that if the legislature wasn't amended, then there would be a state of total anarchy in New Spain. So, the council decided that it must support the encomienda system as an institution in New Spain, but with the modification of several common practices, in order to alleviate some of the hardships placed on the Indians. The council decided on a fixed low tribute, with no personal services required of the Indians, and that if any mistreatment of the Indians by an encomendero was suspected, then the encomienda would go back to the Crown (NS 140). In the end, this was the extent to which the New Laws aided the Indians in New Spain and the Caribbean, and although the end effect of the laws was nowhere near as strong as some had hoped, they viewed it as a start. Perhaps one reason for the watering down of the laws was the difficulty that lay in the enforcement of the rules and that the Audiencias were, unfortunately, filled with encomenderos. This meant that upholding the laws was a near impossible task in the Spanish colonies, and was never quite mastered. Therefore, it could be said that the encomienda system was formalized under the New Laws, rather than abolished by it
The encomienda system, no matter how it originated, became a monster with a voracious appetite for Indian lives. The system set a precedent for the treatment and esteem for the Indian population in the Americans, and the fight against it was an uphill battle that was never quite won. In fact, one could even argue that the encomienda system never died off, that it merely evolved and took on new forms, like that of American slavery.
Bibliography
Chamberlain, Robert Stoner. "Pre-Conquest Labor Practices" in Indian Labor in the Spanish Indies. Boston:1966. D.C. Heath and Co.
Crown of Spain, "The Laws of Burgos" in Indian Labor in the Spanish Indies. Boston:1966 D.C. Heath and Co.
Hanke, Lewis. TheSpanish Struggle for Justice in the Conquest of America . Boston: 1949. Little, Brown and Co.
Himmerich y Valencia, Robert. The Encomenderos of New Spain. Austin:1991. University of Texas Press.
Simpson, Lesley Byrd. "On the New Laws" in Indian Labor in the Spanish Indies Boston:1966. D.C. Heath and Co.
Simpson, Lesley Byrd. The Encomienda in New Spain. Berkeley:1950. University of California Press.