Colonial Labor System

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Evolution of Colonial Labor Systems The Columbian exchanged offered the exploration, conquest, and settlement of the New World; a new world that with the arrival of Europeans in the Americans resulted in what was perhaps the greatest demographic collapse in history. It is stated that the native population around 1492 have been between fifty to sixty million and by the end of the 16th century it was reduced to five or six million. The decline in the native population and the expansion of other social groups was a consequence of the introduction of old diseases and the arrival of immigrants who set in motion economic, social, and political changes that altered the character and distribution of the population. Through the political aspects…show more content…
Adapted by the first set of conquistadors, encomiendas serve as a base to control natives in New Espanola. Nevertheless, natives in both Mesoamerica and the Andeans region have been already providing agricultural and labor tributes to their native lords. For example, aztecs would own slaves who could buy their freedom through labor. The Incas had their servers collect tributes around the ayllus to maintain a reciprocity system around the empire. After the conquest and through the declined of the natives surrounding their overworked and poorer conditions, Spaniards did but little to care at the expense of their wealth. Bartolome de las Casas and the New Laws reduced this labor system which angered in part the encomenderos who through civil wars and lack of heirs had their encomiendas reverted to the crown. The repartimiento/mita which is a labor draft within the Inca Empire was changed to a forced labor draft for the Spaniards in order to mine, obraje labor, and agricultural surplus. Negatively speaking, it was an easy faster way to make Spaniards rich. Natives were used to a monetary system and were unconsciously willing to work in order to meet this new type of payments. The constant with the first two labors and the ones to come gave the knowledge that Spaniards did a…show more content…
Even when some where free, spanish enslaved indians around the Americas in order to create a faster way to profit themselves. In addition, slave indian migrations took place soon after the decline of some natives population around the andean region. To make matter worst, Portugal who first introduce african slave migrations in New Espanola expanded slavery trade around the globe into brazil who needed worker in their sugar fields. The introduction of slavery reduced the other labor forces; nevertheless, it didn't really work in all the Americas. For example, Mexico and Peru who had incorporated slaves as primary agricultural labor force had a less common slavery rate than Portugal/Spain did in Cuba and Portugal in Brazil. Main reasons included the gold and silver mining were abundant around this two empires; also agricultural surplus were massive than tropical export agricultural found in Brazil at the time before African slaves arrived to brazil. In addition, commercial political regulation and troublesome fleet system limited access to European consumers and additional potential profits. Concisely, african slave trade provided labor power that develop plantations around the Equatorial region and Caribbean. In order areas it was a supplement to labor for a declining indigenous population. It is also introduce
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