encomienda

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

noun,plural en·co·mi·en·das

[en-koh-mee-en-duhz, -kom-ee-; Spanish eng-kaw-myen-dahs]. /ɛnˌkoʊ miˈɛn dəz, -ˌkɒm i-; Spanish ˌɛŋ kɔˈmyɛn dɑs/. (formerly in Spanish America)

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.
the land or village together with its inhabitants.

Origin of encomienda

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

The other work featured at the gallery is a video by Aragón, titled La encomienda.
Mexico’s Dark Past and Present | William O’Connor | June 21, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
If he has an encomienda, in addition to this, as your Majesty has been informed, it is a very small one.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 | Emma Helen Blair
He had come to the Indies as a layman, had held an encomienda after becoming a priest, but in 1514 had renounced it.
The Colonization of North America | Herbert Eugene Bolton
Hundreds of monasteries had been established, especially wherever there were Indians in encomienda.
The Colonization of North America | Herbert Eugene Bolton
As, pues, haz testamento en dos minutos y encomienda el alma en otros dos.
Novelas Cortas | Pedro Antonio de Alarcn

No relative of the president or of an oidor could be appointed legally to a corregidor-ship or to an encomienda.
The Audiencia in the Spanish Colonies | Charles Henry Cunningham

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