The encomienda (Spanish pronunciation: [eŋkoˈmjenda] ⓘ, lit. 'entrusting') was a 16th-century Spanish labour system that rewarded Spain's conquistadors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors provided the labourers with benefits, including military protection and education. In practice, the conquered were subject to conditions that closely resembled ...
Encomienda was a feudal term which derived from the verb encomendar, meaning "to entrust". In medieval Spain, encomienda referred to the relationship between a landowner and those who worked the land. In a reciprocal relationship, the former received labour while the latter received protection.
Encomienda, in Spain’s American and Philippine colonies, legal system by which the Spanish crown attempted to define the status of the indigenous population. It was originally intended to reduce the abuses of forced labor (repartimiento) in the colonies, but in practice it became a form of enslavement.
In the colonial era, Spain initiated the Encomienda System, under which thousands of people and families were entrusted to colonial officials.
The Spanish introduced the encomienda system shortly after they began colonising the Americas. It had first operated in Hispaniola under Nicolás de Ovando in 1502 and had spread quickly through the Caribbean and across Spanish-controlled mainland territories.
Introduction The encomienda was a system where Spanish adventurers and settlers were granted the legal right to extract forced labour from indigenous tribal chiefs in the Americas colonies of the Spanish Empire. In return, the Europeans were expected to give military protection to the labourers and offer them the opportunity to be converted to Christianity by funding a parish priest. The ...
The Encomienda System and Forced Indigenous Labor in the ... - Brewminate