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While the Spanish conquistadors have been stereotyped as rapacious treasure seekers, many firstcomers to the New World realized that its greatest wealth lay in the native populations whose labor could be harnessed to build a new Spain. Hence, the early arrivals in Mexico sought encomiendas - " a grant of the Indians of a prescribed indigenous polity, who were to provide the grantee (the encomendero) tribute in the form of commodities and service in return for protection and religious instruction." This study profiles the 506 known encomenderos in New Spain (present-day Mexico) during the years 1521-1555, using their life histories to chart the rise, florescence, and decline of the encomienda system.
The first part of the study draws general conclusions about the actual workings of the encomienda system. The author develops previously unrecognized patterns of succession, inheritance by others than sons, shared encomiendas, and the holding of multiple encomiendas in different jurisdictions. He shows that those who settled New Spain came to stay and, realizing the transitory nature of their grants, moved to consolidate their estates through informal arrangements with peers and native leaders. The second part of the study provides concise biographies of the 506 encomenderos.
Certain to become a standard reference, The "Encomenderos" of New Spain consolidates and illuminates crucial information about the first generation of European settlement in the New World.
