Repartimiento

The Repartimiento was a colonial labor system imposed upon the indigenous population of Spanish America. However, it is important to note that "repartimiento" was present in the entire empire of Spain, for example in the Philippines. It was, in general, a process of the encomienda system under pressure of the Roman Catholic Church. A conquistador would take over and supervise a number of indigenous workers, who would labor at crop fields or mines, or in the Philippines in ship building of the Manila Galleons. The one in charge of doing the reparto ("distribution") of workers was the Alcalde Mayor (mayor) of the city. The diminution of the number of Native Americans due to European diseases (smallpox, influenza, measles and typhus) to which the native populations had no resistance, as well as them running away from work fields, led to the substituion of the encomienda system. There were instances when both systems (repartimiento and encomienda) sometimes coexisted. Native American communities which were close to Spanish populations were required to provide a percentage of their people (2-4 %) to work in agriculture, construction of houses, streets, etc. Many came escaping the encomienda system and looking for work to obtain a salary. Others signed contracts for six months to a year, a time during which the worker was required to be paid a salary (something the Spanish Crown did not enforce or support), provided living quarters as well as religious services.

Template:CAmerica-stub