The Laws Of Burgos: The Spanish Encomienda System

Between 1607 and 1718 the Spanish, French, and English governments attempted to expand their power through exploration in order to acquire land and provide economic growth. All three countries colonized portions of North America for the purpose of utilizing their newly acquired land’s natural resources in order to transport valuable goods unavailable in Europe. While all the colonization methods focused on establishing relationships with natives, the ways in which natives were treated varies to extremes. The Spanish treated natives with contempt and tried to eradicate their culture. The English used natives as slaves to do the hard labor that agriculture required. In contrast, the French created an alliance with the natives, which allowed them to trade with Indian tribes in their region.

This section highlights that history has created a false narrative depicting the natives as a victimized people, which they were to some extent but only in the fashion that they did not possess the same technology for warfare, immunity of communal diseases transmitted, and they were not anticipating combat. All other factors considered, the natives stood to be a potential threat. In regards to knowledge obtained by Spaniards prior to arrival and knowledge gained from observation, it would be remiss had they not prepared for battle. This argument is not to be misconstrued in approving their actions; I do recognize colonization as an evil for both the reasons employed and its damaging effects, but rather to change the narrative surrounding that of the native people. While they did experience a tragedy, I feel that it is erroneous to write them into history as being incompetent resulting from their

Spanish Colonization- Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 Spanish Colonization continued for centuries. The Spanish Empire eventually would include half of South America, most of Central America, and a lot of North America. The Spanish used the Encomienda System to control and use Native Americans. Spaniards received grants of Native Americans from the Spanish government who they could take tribute from in the form of goods or labor as long as they tried to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism. This system worked out horribly for the Native Americans with many treated harshly and forced to do hard physical labor. The Natives were not willing slaves though and rebelled numerous times which contributed to African slave labor replacing the Encomienda System. The Spanish intermarried with the Native Americans leading

The Native Americans once thrived on the rich land of the Americas, and they built a long-lasting civilization with the help of nature, gods, and organized roles within the tribes. However, the thriving population plummeted after their encounter with diseases and forced labor brought upon them by the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadores. Although at first the conquistadores mistreatment of Native Americans seem shallow and unethical, their conquest of the Americas only partially reflects the claims of the English Black Legends..

The approaches Britain and Spain had towards colonization were reflected in their treatment of Native Americans. Ultimately, both countries were primarily interested in the expansion of their empires, the enrichment of their economies and their own political power, and their treatment of the natives is indicative of these aims. As Spain’s only purpose for colonization was to conquer land for their empire, the

I came upon one main counterclaim that the Spanish tried to reform their over exploiting ways such as Bartolome de Las Casas. For example in the article "Native Americans, Treatment of (Spain Vs. England) (Issue)" they talked of Las Casas as “he believed the Laws of Burgos were too weak and the Requerimiento was a travesty. He persuaded the government to appoint him Protector of the Indians and for a few years (1514–1517) he sought to employ a milder regime for the Indians.” However these reforms were not very affective across the Spanish colony and have little impact.

When Jesus Came, The Corn Mothers Went Away gives an in-depth history of the Pueblo Indians before and after the Spanish conquest. It describes the forced changes the Spanish brought to the Indians, and also the changes brought to the Spaniards who came to “civilize” the Indians. The author's thesis is that the Pueblo Indians and other Indians were treated cruelly by the Spanish, who justified their crime by claiming they were civilizing an

In 1542, a Christian missionary named Bartolomé de Las Casas wrote about the little-known realities of the brutalities occurring in the New World between Spanish conquistadors and Native Americans. Even though the Spanish originally set out to bring Christianity to the New World and its inhabitants, those evangelizing efforts soon turned into torture, mass killings, rape, and brutal slavery of the innocent natives to fulfill their greed for gold and wealth, according to Las Casas. In his primary account A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Bartolomé de Las Casas attempts to inform King Phillip II of the cruel acts and injustices committed by the Spanish conquistadors. Despite this condemnation, Las Casas does not reject imperialism, because he feels Spain has the obligation to spread the word of Christianity around the world. Instead, he finds fault with the Spanish conquistadors for implementing this evangelization the wrong way, by both physically harming the Native Americans and, fundamentally, in their underlying perception of them as inferior. Furthermore, the key to the coexistence of imperialism with Las Casas’ Catholic ideas and his defense of indigenous peoples lies in considering and treating these Native Americans as equals and as humanity rather than inferiors.

Explorers were now hurting and killing the natives on the land. Spaniard cutting hands of natives for not meeting their gold quota (Document one.) Spaniards we're putting natives to work which may have been against their religious beliefs and they were hurting them due to not meeting their goal. the Age of Exploration also caused Wars among different countries. According to the chart in document 7 there were four wars between countries (Document Seven). Soon after the beginning of exploration slavery began. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died- is failing victims to the improvident provided avarice, as I may call it, their purchasers (Document Four). The Age of Exploration brought terrible things to this

This was a law that gave the natives land, safety, education, and taught them about Christianity. The Natives had to agree on a deal that they would pay back the land owners any valuable’s on the land like their gold, food, wood, minerals and any other goods that they own. Since the land owner was responsible for the natives and their safety, the Encomienda System required that the land owner would get something in return from the Natives. The Encomienda system was also like a

In the seventeenth century, English people migrated to the New World in search of riches such as gold and silver. When they discovered this was a futile venture, they began searching for different routes; one of which was Native American labor. These colonists were not prepared to establish a community and had little knowledge on how to grow crops or sustain themselves. This spurred the need for labor and caused a dramatic increase in the development of the indentured servitude system. Frethorne’s letter home illustrates the living conditions of the servants and accurately depicts many events mentioned in Period 2.

As soon as Columbus lands in the Indies, he claims the land for Spain. He wrote, “There I found very many islands, filled with people innumerable, and of them all I have taken possession...and no opposition was offered to me” (Columbus 1). He immediately takes possession of everything despite not knowing exactly where he is. He then renames all of the islands as if they belong to him. He doesn’t care that other people already live there. The letter from de las Casas reveals the terrible things Columbus and his men did by enslaving the natives. He forced the people living on the islands to work for him without pay. de las Casas wrote, “[The Spaniards] have brought to the island of Hispaniola and the island of San Juan more than two million souls taken captive, and have sent them to do hard labor in the mines, labors that caused many of them to die” (de las Casas 6). de las Casas emphasizes that these people were forced to work against their will, and he notes that many of these people died because of it. “Then, like sheep, they are sorted out into flocks...the ship owners carrying of their share, the best flock, to compensate them for the moneys they have invested…” he wrote (6). He shows that the people were treated and sold like animals. Columbus and his men used them to make money, forcing them to gather natural resources that he could sell. de las Casas wrote about one instance of this. Some of the natives had to dive for pearls, which required them to be underwater for long periods of time. He wrote, “In this harvesting of pearls let us again consider whether the Spaniards preserve the divine concepts of love for their fellow men, when they place the bodies of the Indians in such mortal danger…” (6). He’s calling these men immoral, showing how they don’t care about the lives of their slaves. Columbus wanted more land so he could use its

Spanish settlements in Northern America were primarily established for gold and silver for example they forced slavery on Indians to work in gold and silver mines. Another example stands in Hernando Cortez, upon conquering the Aztecs, besieged their capital city and “stole” their gold and other precious resources. Unlike the English the Spanish were much more willing to integrate cultures like the French. Intermarriage between Spanish and Native Americans was very common which formed a new ethnicity which established a cultural peace between Spanish and Natives. However, they still dominated the Natives to ensure they can fully exploit the natural resources.

Consequently, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Las Casas and El Requerimento, display the rapid turn of events in which the Spanish reined sickness, war, and slavery upon the indigenous populations,

Tensions between who owns the New World, Native Americans or Spaniards, have recurred throughout history. The issue of this history is viewed differently by different people. Some people say this and some people say that. Both authors from the reading view this issue differently. Juan Gines disparages the Indians whereas Bartolome defends and supports the Indians.