La Conquista & La Encomienda

La Conquista

In 1524 the Spanish Conquistador Pedro De Alvarado arrived in Guatemala under the command of Hernan Cortes after aiding in the successful conquest of Mexico. Moving south from Mexico City, Pedro De Alvarado entered the territory of what is now Guatemala through the North West of the country, encountering the indigenous K’iche & Kaqchiquel communities that inhabited the Highlands of Guatemala. Aided by the Kaqchiquel, Pedro De Alvarado mounted a campaign against the K’iche who held most of the highlands in the Northwest. The K’iche were a warring peoples and put up a strong fight against Alvarado’s forces but were ultimately defeated in 1524. However, victory was not final until 1527 as the Kaqchiquel quickly turned on Alvarado’s forces due to abuses experienced during their allegiance. The defeat of the Kaqchiquel marked the start of a new era that has so far lasted into the present, with the defining characteristic of Indigenous subordination and exclusion.

The Legacy of Colonialism in Guatemala and its impact on the Psychological and Mental Health of Indigenous Mayan Communities

La Encomienda

In Guatemala, as in the rest of the new Spanish territories in the Americas, the encomienda system was established as a means to control and exploit indigenous populations off their labor. Of course, the Spanish did not market this system as one of economic subordination. Rather, they viewed and promoted the encomienda as a system of mutual support with the Spanish serving as stewards for the indigenous peoples through evangelization and the spread of European civility. On the flip side, the “Indians” paid a portion of their labor to the encomenderos as a show of gratitude.

The encomienda defined hierarchical social order and solidified indigenous peoples’ underclass status in colonial society. The system was  “a device whereby privileged Spaniards or their creole offspring received tribute in labor, goods, or cash from Indians entrusted to their charge” (Kramer67). While the encomienda system did not grant land rights to the encomenderos, the hacienda system, which later developed in New Spain, did; dispossessing indigenous communities of their ancestral lands throughout the new Spanish dominion. This pattern of dispossession and economic subordination extends beyond the colonial period, and has so far defined the history of indigenous communities up to the present.

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Sources:

Kramer, Wendy. “Encomienda and Settlement: Towards a Historical Geography of Early Colonial Guatemala.” Yearbook, Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, 1990, Vol. 16, pp. 67-72, https://www-jstor-org.proxy.library.stonybrook.edu/stable/25765724?seq=1.

Minster, Christopher. “The Colonization of Guatemala.” ThoughtCo, 08 June 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/the-colonization-of-guatemala-2136330.

NBC News. “An Introduction to New Spain.” YouTube, uploaded by NBC News Learn, 1 May 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8vsNprk4vc.