Information AboutEncomiendas |
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The general concept of an encomienda actually dates back pretty far, one might argue back to the Roman empire, but it is mainly used in reference to a strategy used by the Spanish as a means of supporting both military and civil operations into the newly discovered Americas. The basic idea is that in exchange for their service in colonizing a given geographic area, either politically or militarily, they would be granted a sizable tract of land with a group of slaves consisting of the subordinated native people. The word "Encomienda" derives from a Spanish term meaning roughly "to be in charge of" since they were still subjects of the king and the legal view was that he was granted this as a gift, but not sovereign. The use of encomiendas provided the Spanish government two key benefits: A) A soldier is more willing to fight and die to subordinate the people the greater the reward, and being essentially a miniature king provided all the motivation many men needed and B) by giving the men a stake in the outcome of the campaign, they would, at least in theory, give more to the initial conquest and later the larger colonization process. A famous encomendado was Vasco de Porcaya or de Porcalla, or Porcallo de Figueroa [http://whiteknight.50megs.com/tainos.htm who maintained a harem of ca. 300 Taínas (Jose Barreiro's estimate is considered sober by many other accounts); this gave him much status because such were the prerogatives of a great Cacique. Encomiendas were also used extensively by Hernando Cortes in his push into the Aztec kingdom. Initially this was not the plan for his invasion, but as much of what they initially came for was destroyed in the struggle for it, Cortes had to find a means of delivering what he had promised (stature and treasure) or face troop rebellion. More resources: {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title} |