The Encomienda as a System of Relations between Aborigines and Settlers of the New World through the Prism of the Policy of Christianization and Slavery. 1492-1504. (English Translation)

This is an English translation of the original Russian article DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4696098 Abstract. The aim of the study was to investigate the origin of the encomienda in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. In writing the article, primary sources and their translations, as well as scientific articles in various languages, were studied. The methods of content analysis, the comparative-historical method, the chronological method, and the systematic method were applied to identify the cause-and-effect relationships of events occurring in different parts of the world. Conclusions are drawn that the encomienda was introduced due to the need for a legal framework in the relations between Spanish settlers and aborigines in the West Indies, which was already required starting from 1493. By giving the Spanish Crown consent to the transfer of discovered lands in the New World through his Bulls No. 1 – No. 4, the Pope envisioned the expansion of the Christian world through free and Christianized local inhabitants. However, C. Columbus used any actions to obtain profit, up to the slave trade of the local population. The encomienda, introduced in 1503 by Nicolás de Ovando, designated the status of the lands but secured the Indians only as a labor force for the settler-encomenderos. This led to Indian uprisings and alienated Christianization as a goal.