The Encomienda
A New System for the New World The Encomienda system was established during the second voyage of Columbus to help facilitate mining and other needs. The term comes from the spanish word for “to entrust” and was essentially slavery with extra steps. Although they would never call it slavery because again the queen did not approve of enslaving the native people. The basic concept was that Spain would grant a parcel of land to a conquistador, soldier, official, etc. and they would be “the entrusted.” They would then be allowed to exact a tribute from the locals in the form…
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