encomienda
Americannoun
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encomiendas
plural
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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:
The term encomienda comes from the Spanish word encomendar, which means “to entrust.”
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
Malintzin received her encomienda as a reward for this service, without which Cortés’s campaign against the Aztecs might have failed.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
Columbus himself had originated the practice, but King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had banned it in favor of forcing Indian labor through the encomienda system.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
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
This provision contained the essence of the encomienda system, which was designed to protect and civilize the native, as well as to exploit him.
From The Colonization of North America 1492-1783 by Herbert Eugene Bolton
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
While encomiendas did not technically include the ownership of any land, encomenderos often took possession of lands where the people under their control lived.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
The drawing was part of a complaint about Spanish abuses of their encomiendas.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014
This was the germ of the cruel and oppressive repartimientos and encomiendas which were destined to depopulate the islands and to bring an indelible stigma on the Spanish colonial system in the Indies.
From Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings by Francis Augustus MacNutt
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.
