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Difficulty: EasySpanish Encomienda and Labor Systems

"Since the land is newly won, and the Spanish residents have no other support than the labor and tribute of the Indians to maintain themselves and defend the land for Your Majesty, if the Indians are taken away, the Spaniards will abandon the territory..."
— Petition from the City Council of Mexico to the Spanish Crown, 1525

The labor arrangement described in the petition, in which the Spanish Crown granted colonists the right to demand tribute and coerced labor from local Indigenous populations, refers to which of the following systems?

  1. A
    The headright system, which provided land to settlers in exchange for bringing European indentured servants
  2. The encomienda system, which extracted labor and tribute while requiring the conversion of Indigenous peoplesAnswer
  3. C
    A system of private land grants that gave colonists direct ownership of both the land and its inhabitants
  4. D
    The Columbian Exchange, which organized the reciprocal migration of European and Indigenous agricultural labor

Answer

The encomienda system, which extracted labor and tribute while requiring the conversion of Indigenous peoples
The correct answer is the encomienda system because it was the primary labor and tribute system established by the Spanish Crown in the early Americas, where Spanish encomenderos were granted the right to extract labor and goods from Indigenous populations in exchange for providing protection and religious instruction.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the key characteristics of the labor arrangement described in the historical source.
The source describes Spanish residents relying on the 'labor and tribute of the Indians' to support themselves and hold the newly conquered territory.
This establishes that the system involves a grant of Indigenous labor and tribute to colonists rather than direct ownership of land.
2
Match these characteristics to the correct early Spanish colonial labor system.
The system that granted Spanish colonists (encomenderos) the right to demand tribute and labor from specific Indigenous populations in exchange for Christianizing them is the encomienda system.
This directly aligns with the historical definition of the encomienda system established in the early 16th century.

Key Concept

Characteristics and definition of the Spanish encomienda system
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Spanish Encomienda and Labor Systems

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