Spanish Labor Systems

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In the US it is very common to still hear of the poor way African Americans were treated in the early part of this nations History. We hear stories of black slaves working 18 hour days picking cotton and the trauma of slaves being beaten for disobeying their masters. For many African American families, it seems, that was the way of life not long ago. While it is very important to realize what these African Americans went through, I think it is often forgotten that indigenous people of Latin America were exploited in similar ways but through different Labor Systems. From Spain's early arrival in the Caribbean through their establishment of the Spanish empire indigenous people were exploited through cheap, slave like labor. One of the most incredible subjects raised by the documents presented in Colonial Spanish America is the topic of Labor Systems that were imposed on the indigenous people. Spain tried to excuse this exploitation by claiming to save these indigenous people by teaching them the ways of Christ but many of the Articles in Colonial Spanish America, Struggle & Survival, and The Limits of Racial Domination prove otherwise. Through letters, personal stories, and other documents these books present accounts that tell about the labor system used in this area. They tell of the Spanish labor systems such as the encomiendos and later rapartamientos and how these operations were run. In discussing the Labor system that existed during the time of Spanish rule it is important to understand what labor systems that were used, why the Spanish used them, how they justified using indigenous people in such a way, how the indigenous as well as black slaves were treated in these systems, and the effects the Labor Systems had on the indigenous population. As soon as the first Spanish entradas arrived in the New World they realized the vast resources that had been virtually untapped. They saw incredible wealth in the sugar cane crops and the wood dyes in Brazil, and the silver mines in Potosi and other northern areas, plus many other raw resources. At first the Labor systems were very underdeveloped in Colonial America, the indigenous people had produced just enough to use what they needed and in some cses a little extra for some trade with neighboring peoples but there was no large scale operations anywhere until the invasion of the Spanish. Spain saw all the resources in the Americas as great wealth for the Crown and the entrada leaders saw the opportunity for themselves. They also new that the development of the resources 'ultimately depended on the labor of non-Spaniards. At the begging of the Spanish arrival there were millions of indigenous people

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