During the periods of conquest and colonization by Spain of various countries on the continent, the so-called Indian divisions originated in Latin America, in which the natives of the countries of Central and South America were left at the mercy of the service of the Spanish who arrived. to the continent, for which the indigenous were forced to carry out jobs in which they were subjected to exploitation. This was for a long time, the indigenous dominance system that had the most prevalence and in which said aborigines were completely conquered.
What is the indigenous division
Table of Contents
The indigenous division represented a work structure implemented by Spain in Latin America, in which the natives of different tribes on the continent were forced to carry out different activities at the service of the Spanish. This system exploited indigenous labor, and had a great presence between the 16th and early 19th centuries, a period in which they were subjected to different activities such as encomienda, personal servitude and, even, slavery of the indigenous, either with based on some law or fact.
In this system, indigenous labor was assigned to a specific group for a specified period of time, and was protected by the Burgos Laws of 1512, which established that each indigenous group was obliged to send a certain amount of workers for the time to decide which Spanish they would serve. This system maintained that in exchange for the work carried out, the indigenous people should receive a remuneration through a small salary.
History of the indigenous division
The Spanish empire managed to subdue the natives with its army, although they outnumbered them. The key to these conquests of the natives was that the weapons that the Indians had were made of stone and leather, which were overwhelmed by those of fire that the Spanish possessed, as well as their horses.
However, these weapons were slow and imprecise, which gave an advantage to the indigenous people, who, in addition to having a greater number of soldiers, knew the topography of the lands.
It should be noted that for the aborigines, the Spaniards were a kind of gods, since according to the prophecy of the Aztecs, the god Quetzalcóatl set out towards the east by sea with the promise to return, similar to the belief of the Andean peoples, to whom the god Viracocha left for the west with the same promise. This resulted in less resistance from the native peoples to the arrival and conquest of the Spanish.
In addition to the above, the arrival of the colonizers was preceded by the passage of comets and fires, which for them heralded the destruction of the towns; omens that were probably elaborated after the conquest, that although they were not factual, it was enough for the indigenous peoples to find it credible to accept defeat.
All these factors and others, made it possible for the Spaniards to take control of the political structure of the region, for which they also took possession of the resources through different methods, among which the distribution arose, whose implementation resulted in various jobs to which they would be subjected.
Three great models of indigenous work were generated, which were the mita, the yanaconazgo and the encomienda. The indigenous groups had to offer the Crown a number of workers from time to time, who would be transferred to the place where the Spanish required them.
In addition, the indigenous people were considered as individuals who could be enslaved, so all of them had to provide compulsory personal service for some period in rural or mining operations. Innumerable abuses were committed even against Spanish legislation, in which they were considered as free men, but in practice the statute was violated. Even the payment they received was mitigated by the sale of products by the Spaniards to the indigenous people, who, in addition to performing forced labor, were left in debt.
As a consequence of the numerous injustices and abuses committed, at the beginning of the 17th century there was an attempt to diminish the barbarian side of this system, thus being limited to mining, agriculture and livestock.
This represented the economic base for the Spanish for a long period in time, in which the groups of indigenous people who were assigned to someone who emigrated to America, had to serve them in whatever they required in terms of forced labor or labor. services of any other nature.
It was an important century for the indigenous people, since the fight against this rigorous and abusive system took place for decades, during which time it was possible to limit the work time that they had to fulfill. Finally, a first step towards its abolition was achieved at the end of the century, in 1694.
Towards the end of the colonial period, the repartimiento was carried out with less cruelty, since the Spaniards were legally subjected to ordinances that did not allow abuses against the natives. Mexico and Guatemala had a large presence of the system, since there was a large amount of indigenous labor.
The Constituent and Sovereign General Assembly of the year 1813, also known as the General Assembly of the Year XIII, wanted to achieve the complete abolition of the indigenous division, in which the exploitation of the Spaniards to the indigenous people was generated. However, to date these peoples have not been respected and have not been given a fair share to adapt to today's society.
Indigenous forms of work
The indigenous people carried out various jobs, among which the carrying out of public works, being at the service of the administration, agricultural work, among others, in which they not only submitted to the authorities and secular landowners, but also to ecclesiastical authorities.
Of these indigenous labor activities, the main ones include the following:
Mita
The mita refers to a compulsory labor system that existed during the colonial era, in which the work carried out was public, since in this way tribute was paid to the state. The tasks they had to carry out involved mining, the construction of public works and buildings, roads, bridges and even being part of the army.
It should be noted that only married men between the ages of 18 and 50 could perform these types of jobs, for whom the State provided basic needs.
There were three types of mita:
1. The agrarian or livestock mita (field work in the fields of cultivation or livestock), 2. The mita de plaza (shipment of mitayos that were rented for work as a woodcutter, water carrier, servant or bricklayer)
3. The mining mita and the obrajera mita (those who were forced to work in textile workshops).
This type of work had to (despite having the obligation to fulfill it) not be so rigorous or abusive, since the work shifts were rotating, and the works were carried out in the same lands where they lived. It means then, that if the indigenous decided to abandon them voluntarily, they were no longer obliged to carry out the work.
These consisted of working 10 months in mining, 3 to 4 months in grazing and 15 days a year in domestic work. This system was present even before the pre- Hispanic era, when each village surrounding the Inca empire had to provide the Incas with a number of servants to work in crops, defend them in wars, to repair temples, among other tasks.
In these periods of time, the Incas covered the needs of the mitayos. When the Incas were conquered, the Spanish adopted this system with all the indigenous peasants, with the difference that the maintenance of these was in charge of the same villages to which they belonged, they had increasingly extended work shifts, causing the amount of community members decreased, affecting the village as a whole.
Commend
This system consisted in the granting of a group of indigenous people to a Spanish encomendero, who received the benefits and tributes that the aborigines had to contribute through work.
In exchange for the workforce, the encomendero had the obligation to catechize the people who had been entrusted to him in the Catholic religion, and he also had the duty to care for them and provide them with food and clothing.
The function of the encomienda was to populate and defend the territories that the Crown had achieved, but the abuses committed by the encomenderos resulted in the religious ruling against them.
The appointment of encomendero was a type of "reward" on the part of the Spanish monarchy to the Spanish who defended the new conquered territories; however, the encomendero had to comply with the obligations described above. Despite this, the king was not aware of the nature of the abuses that were committed and the conquerors did not respect the conditions, so the encomienda became a system of indigenous exploitation.
Yanaconazgo
Like the mita, the yanaconazgo has pre-Hispanic origin, and consisted of the subjugation of the natives by the Spanish monarchy, who turned them into slaves in its service. In this system, the indigenous who was enslaved lost total contact with their village of origin.
Also, the Yanaconas could be at the service of the military formations, which were considered as "auxiliary Indians. " The truth was that they were considered as a property, whose development took place mainly in Peru, although it was also evident in other states of Latin America. The field pawn of today is considered the yanacona of the contemporary age.
Consequences of indigenous exploitation
The abuses by the settlers of the different indigenous communities for a long time, caused an uprising by these and other personalities, who came out to defend the rights of the aborigines.
Among the consequences of the mita and all the work systems that involve exploitation, are:
- The demographic reduction of the indigenous peoples, the product of countless deaths as a consequence of the diseases that were brought from the first world by the conquerors, to which the latter were immune, such as smallpox or typhus; or death as a result of high-risk jobs, such as the one carried out in the mines, where of 100% of the workers who entered, 10% returned with serious affections in their lungs.
- Long hours of work with little rest (which was outside the law), caused the alteration of the family and community organization, affecting their social dynamics.
- The abuse of women by the Spaniards resulted in the appearance of new racial groups, such as mestizos, mulattos and zambos.
- The injustices of mistreatment, abuse, the retention of their salaries, the high taxes they had to pay, injustices, among others, caused uprisings by indigenous peoples, such as that of May 22, 1765 in Quito, known as the “Rebellion of the neighborhoods”.
- Faced with such foreign intervention, the development of these cultures was forever truncated, which is why it is unknown what the historical course of each of them would have been had it not been for such abuses and invasion in every social, cultural, political and economic aspect. of indigenous peoples.
- Despite not representing a high number compared to the victims who gave in to the diseases, there was a good rate of abortions and suicides due to the collapse of the life of the indigenous in front of all the changes to which they were subjected.
- The transgression of indigenous laws existed as they were relegated, submitted and adapted to Spanish laws, losing sovereignty.
- Before the encomienda system, the taxes that had to be paid were considerably higher compared to the pre-Hispanic ones.
- The impotence of the indigenous in the face of exploitation caused the rate of alcoholism to increase.
