Some Notes on the Spanish Colonial Period in Hispaniola

Bob Corbett
1995

INDIANS

1. Tribute. Columbus lied. He found bits of gold. There were/are some traces of gold in Haiti. But, he told the court that there were large amounts. Thus when he came on the second voyage there were expectations of great amounts of gold to be found. The Indians were given a tribute of so much gold that was to be paid to the kind.

2. When tribute failed then service was substitute. The repartimiento and encomienda systems were enforced.

   P. 24 Chapman: "Under Bobadilla a beginning was made of the system of repartimiento (apportionment), whereby the Indians were divided among the colonists. In theory the main objective of the laws was that the Indians might thereby be Christianized and civilized, but in fact its principal feature was that they were made to serve as slaves in the fields and mines."

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   Note from Hanke, SPANISH STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

• P. 19-20. "The theory of the encomienda was simple. The Spanish crown gave or "commended" Indians to Spaniards, who became encomenderos, and this grant gave the Spaniards the right to exact labor or tribute from the Indians. In return, the encomenderos were obliged to provide religious instruction for their Indians and to protect them. The encomenderos also, as the system developed, came to own an obligation to the king, that of defending the land. The early encomiendas were sometimes called repartimientos though this term later had different meanings.

  "In practice, the encomienda system was established by Columbus in 1499 after the failure of his attempt to impose a definite tribute on the Indians of Hispaniola. The pattern evolved that in the islands where there were relatively few Indians and were thus enabled to lead a relatively dignified and comfortable life under semi-feudal conditions. The encomienda, then, started with Columbus, when he assigned three hundred Indians to Spaniards. When Queen Isabella learned this, she asked her famous question: 'By what authority does the Admiral give my vassals away?'

  "The encomienda was put on an institutional basis by the first royal governor, Nicolas de Ovando, who arrived in April 1502 at Hispaniola, principle seat of Spanish government during the first quarter-century after 1492. A great company of men was with him, some twenty-five hundred in all, but none of them had come to labor with their hands. Ovando carried instructions to take away the Indians from Spaniards, put them under the crown, and require them to pay tribute out of the daily wages they would earn. This attempt failed, and by royal order of December 20, 1503, Ovando was permitted to grant Indians."

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3. As these systems took effect it became clear that other areas of the Americas were to be the source of gold and wealth--Mexico, Peru and so on. However, Hispaniola remained the center of the Spanish world for some time since it was first of all the stop off point on the way to Central and South America, and it became the bread basket to supply the conquistadors.

4. As the Indians died out they were, at first slowly and then much more quickly replaced by African slaves.

5. Final note on the demise of the Indians. The entire Taino population died out. But two authors are at pains to point out that the whole blood line could not have died out. Michel Laguerre, a Haitian anthropologist dwells on this point, showing that there was enough time of interaction on a small scale between the African slaves and the last of the Indian slaves that they simply had to be children born of liaisons among them.
   

   Hanke says: That the Spanish took Indian women as concubines and there was a small population of mestizo children born of these unions.

   However, as other authors point up, there are not only no people left today who are anything near full-blooded Taino's, but there are no remnants of people with noticeable Indian features, and there are virtually no cultural influences from Indian culture on the culture of Haiti.

SPANISH

• 1500 Francisco de Bobadilla was sent as governor. Sent Columbus brothers back to Spain in chains.

• 1502 Nicholas de Ovando came with 30 ships + 2500 settlers. Anacaona was thought to be planning an uprising. After she gave a greeting party she was captured, her village burned, many killed. Later she was hung in the Santo Domingo city square. (Sherlock p. 26)

• Encomienda

  Started by Ovando. Forced labor. "By the encomienda system, a Spanish colonist could be awarded a number of Indians to work for him. In return, the colonist was responsible for teaching them Christian principles, paying them wages and looking after them generally. In effect the Indian population was enslaved, and, within half a century, practically exterminated." p. 13. Augier.

  Hispaniola became the base from which the other islands were conquered and the Indians were the help needed.

  Gold and slave trading failed quickly. Hispaniola had ranching. Spanish introduced horses, mules, cattle, pigs, sheep and goats and also the wheel.

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