What was the New World encomienda?

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The encomienda was a Spanish system in which explorers were granted control over a group of New World natives, to whom the explorers were supposed to give religious education in exchange for tributes. The explorers were also supposed to protect the natives over whom they had jurisdiction, but the arrangement quickly devolved into a forced labor arrangement that hardly differed from slavery. The Spanish crown attempted to curb the abuses to no avail. Ultimately, the encomienda was replaced by another system in which outright forced labor was practiced. "So that, however it may be mistaken, the end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom: for in all the states of created beings capable of laws, where there is no law, there is no freedom . . ."

What Was the New World Encomienda