Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Forced Native Labor in Sixteenth-Century Central America

Forced Native Labor in Sixteenth-Century Central America

Sherman, William L.

Paperback

Central American HistoryGeneral Sociology

ISBN10: 0803228007
ISBN13: 9780803228009
Publisher: Univ Of Nebraska Pr
Published: Jul 1 2009
Pages: 512
Weight: 1.64
Height: 1.15 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Little has been written on society in the Spanish Indies during the sixteenth century, although it was during those formative decades that the Latin American class structure evolved. The Spanish conquest of the Indians produced profound social dislocations as many Spaniards of a low station found themselves members of a new aristocracy and native lords were often reduced to servitude. This book presents the first comprehensive investigation of the primary issue of the first century of Spanish American colonization: the massive system of Indian forced labor, ranging from outright slavery to the encomienda, upon which Spanish colonial society rested.

Focusing on the fate of the natives under Spanish rule, the author traces in graphic detail the rupturing of Indian traditions and the fate that befell the Indian people. While demonstrating the excesses of the conquistadores and unscrupulous crown officials, he also emphasizes that Central America was the scene of the first attempts to apply the famous New Laws. Although that legislation was not fully implemented, the reformist judge Alonso López de Cerrato made significant improvements in labor conditions, in the face of furious opposition from the Spanish settlers.

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