Encomienda or Slavery? The Spanish Crown's Choice of Labor Organization in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from Yeager's analysis of the encomienda in sixteenth-century Spanish America.

Encomienda

A labor system in which the Crown grants a Spaniard (encomendero) restricted rights to Indian labor in exchange for protection and Catholic instruction; Indians are not owned, and inheritance and relocation rights are restricted.

Encomendero

Holder of an encomienda who extracts tribute from Indians and provides protection and religious instruction; does not own the Indians as slaves.

Inheritance restrictions (encomienda)

Prohibition on passing an encomienda to heirs; reverts to the Crown after the second-generation encomendero, enabling Crown confiscation and limiting family accumulation.

Trading restrictions (encomienda)

Encomenderos could not trade or rent Indians to others; labor remained in the local area, reducing mobility to higher-productivity regions.

Relocation restrictions (encomienda)

Indians could not be relocated beyond their proximate geographic area.

Crown preference for the encomienda

The Crown chose encomienda to strengthen control and reflect an ideological bias against slavery, despite lower revenue.

Paradox of the encomienda

A system that lowered Crown revenue through rights restrictions, yet was retained for security and ideological reasons.

Caudillo

Conquest leader who, under a Crown-sanctioned arrangement, raises capital and organizes labor in a defined geographic area; receives a share of the returns.

Share contract

Agreement where the Crown grants partial rights to New World assets to caudillos (often ~80%), aligning incentives to raise capital and organize labor.

Wage contract

Alternative where the Crown finances expeditions directly and pays wages, but incentives to shirk may be high.

Fixed-rent contract

Alternative where a lump-sum rent is paid for control of assets; efficient incentives but high risk if returns are uncertain.

New Laws of 1542

Spanish laws that abolished Indian slavery; restricted encomiendas; enforcement varied.

Factory system (Portugal/Brazil)

Large trading posts on the Brazilian coast exchanging European goods for Brazilian dyewood, providing mutual gains that encouraged Native labor.

Rents from Indian labor

Effort to extract wealth from the colonies by exploiting Indigenous labor; a key reason the Crown preferred the encomienda despite costs.