Background for encomienda

encomienda

/ˌɛnkəˈmjɛndə/

Illustration encomienda - Image 1

noun

(history) A system in Spain and, later and more extensively, in Spanish colonies, in which the right to exploit the labour of certain groups of subject people (initially, Muslims, during the Reconquista) was granted to conquerors; servitude within this system.

Examples :

"During the early years of the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the encomienda system forced Indigenous people to work in mines and fields for the benefit of Spanish settlers. "

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Illustration encomienda - Image 1

noun

(history) A permission to exploit labour within the encomienda system; an enterprise established to exploit such a permission.

Examples :

"The Spanish crown granted a powerful landowner an encomienda, allowing him to use indigenous labor for farming and mining in the new colony. "

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