commission or grant—which would
spread throughout Spanish America. It
originated in the 1490s with informal
repartimientos, or allocations, in which a
group of Native American laborers would
be assigned to a certain Spanish settler. As
the system developed, the settler was des-
ignated as the encomendero, or recipient,
of the labor of a given Native American
cacique, or chief, and his people living in
a certain location. The encomendero
received from his laborers tribute pay-
ments, often in the form of in-kind goods
like crops and clothing, as well as person-
al services around his house or farm.
Technically, the encomendero was sup-
posed to provide for the Indians’ conver-
sion and instruction in the Catholic faith,
though in practice most settlers were
mainly interested in profiting from their
subjects’ labors. Encomenderos onHispaniola used their Native Americans
to grow food for them and pan for placer
gold in streams.
As the colonial economy of
Hispaniola developed, encomenderos
were typically the wealthiest and most
influential of the colonists, those who
profited most from commercial agricul-
ture and mining. Las Casas and other
reformers tried to abolish or ameliorate
the encomienda system, which amounted
to virtual serfdom for Native Americans.
Outright slavery also existed, but the
encomienda was more important to the
colonial economy. The New Laws of
1542, enacted under pressure from Las
Casas, prohibited enslavement of Native
Americans and provided for the abolition
of the encomienda system, but resist-
ance from encomenderos persuaded the
king merely to modify it so as to increase30 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY
Encomienda in Mexico 1519–1600