After looking at the different forms of labor, the shrinking population, the oppressive conditions, and even slavery, I would like you to consider whether or not the conquest is over. Have we entered into a new, much more oppressive stage of colonial development, or is the conquest simply something that continues throughout the colonial period? If it is not conquest, what would you call it? Why? Share some examples from the reading. Post an original comment responding to the discussion question, utilizing the readings in your response. There must be at least two citations from the readings to receive credit for discussion.  This post must be at least 200 words. Lecture 6! The Spanish crown brought many important institutions to the western hemisphere. We talked about them last week (the two republics, the audiencia,  etc). Before that, we talked about the conquest itself, particularly the violence involved, how disease ravaged much of the indigenous population, and how the Spanish conquistadors used political divisions between different societies to defeat the larger empires, whether in New Spain (Mexico), New Granada, or Peru.  But after killing many natives and establishing government (with varying degrees of effectiveness, as we will see in the coming weeks), Europeans throughout Latin America began to think much more seriously about what was going to happen next. How would they settle down? How would they maintain power? How would they become rich? Well, if you are a European in the Americas during the colonial period, achieving those things would be relatively easy-- at least in comparison to any indigenous (indian) or mestizo (person of mixed race) who might want the same thing. And depending where you were settling down (Mexico? South America?) there were different resources and paths to take in order to consolidate your wealth and power.  The Encomienda System In Mexico (New Spain), encomiendas existed very early on. In fact, Bartolome de las Casas, the noted "protector of the Indians" was himself from a family of encomenderos.  So the system itself goes way back to the early 1500s. However, as the colonial government became established, and colonists (Criollos and Peninsulares) began looking for ways to make money, they realized that trying to get rich by stealing gold and other precious items was not going to get them there. In fact, to truly get rich, they realized that the best way to sustain their wealth was through agriculture and labor-- for which they used Indian labor.  However, on ranches and farms in Mexico, they did not use the Indians as slaves-- at least not in the technical sense. Maintaining a stable workforce was difficult in the agricultural sector if one used slaves. Most of the slaves in New Spain were in urban areas, working as servants, artisans, or other skilled positions. manumission (buying freedom) was possible, as was marriage for slaves in Spanish America. Nonetheless, most of the slaves in Spa.

1. After looking at the different forms of labor, the shrinking
population, the oppressive conditions, and even slavery, I would
like you to consider whether or not the conquest is over. Have
we entered into a new, much more oppressive stage of colonial
development, or is the conquest simply something that
continues throughout the colonial period? If it is not conquest,
what would you call it? Why? Share some examples from the
reading.
Post an original comment responding to the discussion question,
utilizing the readings in your response. There must be at least
two citations from the readings to receive credit for discussion.
This post
must be at least 200 words.
Lecture 6!
The Spanish crown brought many important institutions to the
western hemisphere. We talked about them last week (the two
republics, the
audiencia,
etc). Before that, we talked about the conquest itself,
particularly the violence involved, how disease ravaged much of
the indigenous population, and how the Spanish conquistadors
used political divisions between different societies to defeat the
larger empires, whether in New Spain (Mexico), New Granada,
or Peru.
But after killing many natives and establishing government
(with varying degrees of effectiveness, as we will see in the
coming weeks), Europeans throughout Latin America began to

2. think much more seriously about what was going to happen
next. How would they settle down? How would they maintain
power? How would they become rich? Well, if you are a
European in the Americas during the colonial period, achieving
those things would be relatively easy-- at least in comparison to
any indigenous (indian) or mestizo (person of mixed race) who
might want the same thing. And depending where you were
settling down (Mexico? South America?) there were different
resources and paths to take in order to consolidate your wealth
and power.
The Encomienda System
In Mexico (New Spain), encomiendas existed very early on. In
fact, Bartolome de las Casas, the noted "protector of the
Indians" was himself from a family of
encomenderos.
So the system itself goes way back to the early 1500s. However,
as the colonial government became established, and colonists
(Criollos and Peninsulares) began looking for ways to make
money, they realized that trying to get rich by stealing gold and
other precious items was not going to get them there. In fact, to
truly get rich, they realized that the best way to sustain their
wealth was through agriculture and labor-- for which they used
Indian labor.
However, on ranches and farms in Mexico, they did not use the
Indians as slaves-- at least not in the technical sense.
Maintaining a stable workforce was difficult in the agricultural
sector if one used slaves. Most of the slaves in New Spain were
in urban areas, working as servants, artisans, or other skilled
positions. manumission (buying freedom) was possible, as was
marriage for slaves in Spanish America. Nonetheless, most of
the slaves in Spanish America were African, products of the
African slave trade (which the Spanish crown had a big stake
in!). But again, in the more rural areas, slavery was less

3. common, because it was overshadowed by the
encomienda.
The
encomienda
was originally set aside for the most wealthy elites arriving in
Mexico (or for actual conquistadors). As a result of the
Laws of Burgos
which regulated the behavior of Spaniards towards indigenous
people (especially
encomenderos
), the ways in which the
encomienda
functioned was different than it had been in its earliest days.
(
encomendero:
Spaniard in charge of the natives)
It is easy to misunderstand what an
encomienda
is, especially if you read about indigenous experiences while
being bound to one. You might get it confused with a
hacienda,
a large plot of land where people work-- raise cattle and farm.
However, an
encomienda
is nothing more than a grant of authority over a group of
Indians. That authority has a price, though-- on both sides. For
the Spaniard, he
must
try to Christianize the Indians under his authority, and
generally look out for their welfare. For the Indians, they had to
pay taxes, or "tribute" to the
encomendero
. Failing that-- if the Indian could not get together money for
the tax, he or she had to work for it. So, essentially, what we

4. are looking at is a very uneven relationship that can, very
easily, end up looking a lot like slavery. And in practice, that is
often how it would go.
The
encomienda
was supposed to be an effective way for Spaniards to harness
the existing labor mechanisms of indigenous cultures and make
money from it. However, as the memes above imply, it usually
turned into slavery, or some other form of economic bondage,
and the responsibilities of the indigenous people would often
change depending on the whims of the
encomendero.
As your reading states, the work might shift from agricultural
to urban, or from farming to mining. In sum, whatever the
native person could not pay in taxes, he or she was responsible
for working it off-- even if it meant that an Indian's
encomendero
rents him to another Spaniard!
The
Mit'a
System
Europe didn't have silver of its own. Whatever they would get
usually came from Asia, until they discovered silver (and gold)
in Latin America. To be clear, the gold and silver had already
been discovered long before the arrival of the Europeans, but
when the Spanish arrived in the Americas, they were quite
excited by how much of these precious metals there were
throughout the entire region (but particularly in South
America). In Peru, or Potosí, or throughout these regions, there
was a lot of gold and silver. Silver especially. In fact, there was
more silver in Peru than existed in all of Europe at the

5. time. Plus, there was even more in Potosí, a city just southeast
of modern day Peru, in what we call Bolivia today. Potosí
became a central place for much of the silver mining that
occurred in South America. However, with so much silver, how
do you get a labor force to mine it?
Instead of using the
encomienda
system to get laborers (
encomiendas
put too much responsibility on the
encomendero
), the Spaniards in Peru used the
mit'a
system. The
mit'a
was an indigenous creation that existed for quite a long time
before the arrival of the Spaniards. Basically, the
mit'a
was a labor obligation that was based on the hierarchy of Inkan
society, kind of like paying tribute to your leader, or
government, through the obligation of work.
Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the
mit'a
was kind of like community service. Communities under the
rule of the Inka would send some people from their community
who would be obligated to work-- making roads, clearing areas
for construction, or even general construction. there was not an
onerous amount of workers taken from a given village to do this
work; the village itself still had to function, of course. In a
sense, then, this was a humane way to serve the larger kingdom-
- a way for a community to contribute to the construction of
infrastructure, or maintenance of the kingdom more generally.

6. The Spanish recognized this system as a means to get people to
work for them, without calling it slavery, and more than likely
without having the Spanish crown get involved through the
granting of an encomienda. Instead, much like Pizarro did with
Atahualpa, the Inkan king, they simply took over the
mit'a
system from the top (kept it intact), and used it for their own
ends. In this case-- in colonial Peru-- that meant working in the
mines.
However, as you might expect, they abused this system. Here
are five ways in which the
mit'a
system was more onerous/difficult than it was under the Inka:
1) The Spanish demanded more workers per community
2) The Spanish did not adjust for shrinking communities-- the
numbers stayed the same, even if communities experienced
many deaths due to disease. This, of course, put more pressure
on the communities giving up workers.
3) Reoriented their labor away from the improvement of the
kingdom, and towards mining. Many people were working in the
mines, no matter where they were from-- so instead of working
on projects that were closer by (in service of the Inkan
kingdom), everyone was sent to the same mines, to bulk up the
workforce and increase production.
4) The natives from these communities were not even doing
anything related to their own communities, or the communities
of others-- they were simply working for the Spaniards, mining
for silver that would then be taken to Spain.
5) racism began to develop, and that deeply affected the ways in
which the indigenous workers were treated, as well as the

7. conditions under which they were being forced to work.
Thus, after the arrival of the Spanish, a labor system that was
designed to improve the larger kingdom and individual
communities was turned into a money-making enterprise, where
only the Spanish profited.
The work in the mines was grueling and dangerous. The Indian
laborers would work continuous shifts, two weeks on, two
weeks off. Over time, the mines became too deep, and would
often collapse.
The heat in the mines was intense, and many reported having
trouble breathing in the mines, due to the lack of oxygen,
especially the deeper they went into the mine. Much like the
picture above, in the colonial era (without the helmet, without
the lamp) you could usually not stand in the mines; most of the
work was done laying down, crouching, or otherwise contorted.
Obviously, there were a lot of accidents in the mines, though for
the Spanish, the price was usually only the life of an Indian,
which sadly, was not very high in the colonial period, especially
given the large supply of Indians available throughout Peru.
Interestingly, as silver increased in value, the Spanish crown
did let some of the silver get smuggled out by native workers--
not a lot-- but they just let it slide. QUESTION: why do you
think that is? Why would they let that happen, knowing what we
know about the way the Spanish abused the
mit'a
system? (you can answer in the forum, if you even see this
question! Ha!)
I'll give you some points if you have a really good idea or
explanation. I would suggest you think about the working
conditions, and what you would do if you had to constantly
work under these conditions. What would you do if you couldn't

8. get away with stealing a little of it? Give it some thought!
When you think of Latin America, you don't hear much about
slavery. Usually you might hear about different abuses of the
labor systems (the
mit'a
and
encomienda
systems), but not as much about slavery. However, as your
reading points out, even the Church never stepped forward to
oppose slavery in the colonial period, in fact, some churches
even owned slaves themselves! Slavery was prevalent in
Colonial Latin America, but it often depended on the location,
as your reading points out. Also, slavery was a huge industry
for the Spanish crown-- sure, they picked up a lot of gold and
silver initially, and certainly made a lot of money from the
silver ("the royal fifth", which means that the crown
automatically gets one fifth of all the money made), but for a
while, the real money was in the slave trade.
The appropriation of the
mit'a
system, the promotion of slavery throughout Colonial Latin
America, and the development of the
encomienda
system all point to some serious questions about the colonial
period, the role and identity of natives in the eyes of the
Spanish, and perhaps a larger question about when the conquest
actually ends.