Encomienda 41Encomienda
Encomienda was a system of labor employed by the coun-
try of Spain within its own borders, and abroad in its pos-
sessions in the New World, during the late 15th to late 18th
centuries. Th e encomienda is rooted in the tradition of
medieval feudalism and is marked with two very distinct
forms. Th e fi rst version of the encomienda was practiced
by the Christian rulers in Castile. Loyal citizens called en-
comenderos were temporarily granted by the sovereign the
right to govern parcels of territory, which included popula-
tion centers. Such areas were formerly under Muslim rule
and had been reabsorbed into the Christian kingdoms dur-
ing the period of the Reconquista. Th e encomenderos were
permitted to collect a stipulated portion of the revenue
from the reclaimed territory and were due the same ser-
vices normally expected by the Crown.
Th e encomienda evolved as the Spanish empire seized
control of territory from native populations in the New
Wo r l d. Th e American version of the encomienda began
in the late 15th century with Christopher Columbus in
Hispaniola. In an eff ort to feed the Spanish settlers and
maximize tribute from the Native Americans under their
sway, Columbus assigned a set number of Native Ameri-
cans to labor for select citizens. Th is arrangement came
to be known as repartimiento. Although Queen Isabella
questioned the legal and ethical issues regarding the Na-
tive Americans who were placed in outright slavery or
under the repartimiento, both systems continued. To get
the unwilling Native Americans working to provide for
the incoming Spanish settlers, who oft en were unable to
fend for themselves the fi rst few years, and set them to
the grueling work in the mines, the governor of Hispan-
iola, Nicolas de Ovando, formalized the repartimiento
in 1502.
Ovando altered it into a system similar to the en-
comienda found in Castile, but adapted to their current
situation. Control was given over specifi ed numbers of Na-
tive Americans rather than a geographic region. Some of
the provisions developed by Ovando were that the property
rights of the natives were to be honored, no physical harm
was to come to them, and any of the Spaniards who had
taken wives or daughters against their will as their own had
to return them to their families, and further had to seek
consent to marry.imported into Elmina from other coastal regions outside of
the Gold Coast. Th is was due to a prohibition established by
the Portuguese against enslaving local people on the Gold
Coast, fearing that slave raiding would interfere with the
profi table gold trade.
Elmina was built a decade before Christopher Colum-
bus set sail for the New World, but by the 17th century,
the mining of large gold deposits in the Americas lowered
the value of, and European dependence on, African gold.
At the same time, the Dutch were ascending as a naval
power and wrested control of Elmina from the Portuguese
in 1637. Gold remained a major trade good for the Dutch,
yet there was also an increased demand for labor in the
New World, and Elmina’s traders turned to traffi cking in
enslaved human beings at unprecedented numbers. Most
of the slaves were brought from the interior to be traded
on the coast and were oft en held for several months in
the castle’s slave dungeons while awaiting purchase. Elm-
ina was a comparatively small-volume slave trading port,
with undersized slave quarters compared to other coastal
castles on the Gold Coast. Nonetheless, having been the
forerunner of European trade centers in Africa, its name
remains synonymous with the horrors of the transatlantic
slave trade.
Th e Dutch held the fort for 235 years, until the British
took possession of Elmina by treaty in 1872. Th e slave trade
had long ended, and the Dutch were eager to tap other
sources of wealth in other parts of Africa and particularly
in Asia. Many of the town’s inhabitants refused to acknowl-
edge the authority of the new power; the British responded
by razing most of the surrounding town. Aft er nearly 400
years, the British had become the sole European power on
the Gold Coast.
See also: Atlantic Slave Trade; Cape Coast Castle; Gold Coast
Brent D. SingletonBibliography
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