encomienda

[ en-koh-mee-en-duh, -kom-ee-; Spanish eng-kaw-myen-dah ]

noun

, plural en·co·mi·en·das [en-koh-mee-, en, -d, uh, z, -kom-ee-, eng-kaw-, myen, -dahs].

1. the system, instituted in 1503, under which a Spanish soldier or colonist was granted a tract of land or a village together with its Indian inhabitants.
2. the land or village together with its inhabitants.

Word History and Origins

Origin of encomienda¹

1800–10; < Spanish: charge, commission, recommendation. See en- ¹, commend

Example Sentences

The missions were relatively autonomous from Spanish rulers — intentionally so to protect the Guarani from the abuses of the encomienda leaders who wanted them as a source of labor.

From US News

Argentina’s brutal encomienda system literally worked indigenous laborers to death.

From New York Times

The encomienda, a system common within the Spanish empire that forced indigenous people to work for Europeans and their descendants, did not penetrate big parts of the territory that eventually became Paraguay.

From New York Times

Moreover, “the encomiendas are ruined,” while the natives are not instructed in religion, and are hostile to the Spaniards.

From Project Gutenberg

All of the large islands, except Paragua and the Moro country, were, in that day, under encomiendas, their inhabitants paying tributes and for the most part professing the Catholic faith.

From Project Gutenberg