encomienda
Americannoun
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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.
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the land or village together with its inhabitants.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of encomienda
1800–10; < Spanish: charge, commission, recommendation. See en- 1, commend
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Las Casas eventually convinced King Charles V to implement the New Laws of 1542 that sought to end the encomienda system, but Spanish settlers in the Americas violently opposed the reforms and the system remained.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
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 ● Jul. 11, 2015
In 1515, Las Casas released his enslaved natives, gave up his encomienda, and began to advocate for humane treatment of native peoples.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014
The Spanish government abolished the encomienda system in 1542.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012
Hundreds of monasteries had been established, especially wherever there were Indians in encomienda.
From The Colonization of North America 1492-1783 by Bolton, Herbert Eugene
He finds it plausible that Coronado could have built a Spanish empire of encomiendas in the American Midwest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
But the land was fertile, and the Native Americans told of even richer soil to the east, ideal for encomiendas, as large Spanish-ruled plantations exploiting indigenous labor were called.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
Some native peoples who had sided with the conquistadors, like the Tlaxcalan, also gained encomiendas; Malintzin, the Nahua woman who helped Cortés defeat the Mexica, was granted one.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014
The drawing was part of a complaint about Spanish abuses of their encomiendas.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014
Even the system of encomiendas might have been worked more rationally, and under it the condition of the Indians need not have been a particularly bad one.
From Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings by MacNutt, Francis Augustus
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
