Under the encomienda, a labor system employed…

Under the encomienda, a labor system employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas (and, later, the Philippines), the crown grants a person a specified number of natives for whom they are to take responsibility.

The receiver of the grant is to protect the natives from warring tribes and to instruct them in the Spanish language and in the Catholic faith.

In return, they can exact tribute from the natives in the form of labor, gold or other products, such as maize.

This policy now begins to be challenged by Mexico's Spanish clergy and, following a rebellion in Jalisco, by the crown itself, which makes illegal the abuses of native people.