Tribute

Queen Isabella of Spain (1451–1504) considered the natives of the Americas, from the start of Spanish colonization, as free vassals with certain rights and duties. In exchange for the crown's promise of fair rule, protection, and access to resources, native vassals were expected to serve Spain. This service took the form of tribute, first levied as labor and goods, and then gradually commuted to specie (money in the form of coins).

Crown representatives—first Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) and subsequently governors, viceroys, and other royal officials—assigned the right to exact tribute from the natives to Spaniards whom the crown rewarded for their service with grants of encomienda. Called encomenderos, these beneficiaries promised to protect and Christianize the natives in return for taking their labor and goods. During the first generation or two, the encomenderos, unfettered by peninsular controls, forced the natives to work on personal or public construction projects and in their homes, fields, and mines.

The precipitous fall of the native population from the combined effects of disease, overwork, abuse, and flight led to increasing government control. Early efforts took the form of laws, often observed in the breach. Later, tribute lists (tasas) specified the type and duration of labor service and the types and quantities of items to be delivered on given dates. The problem with these tribute lists was that the population decreased faster than tasas could be revised downward, often leaving the natives overcharged and in arrears. This untenable situation brought eventual reforms. The crown abolished personal service as a form of tribute. Officials restricted tribute items to a limited number of goods produced locally. Quotas were set on an individual basis, not by community. Finally, goods were commuted to silver.

In the second half of the sixteenth century the encomienda came under increasing attack, the crown became a stronger presence in America with the appointment of royal officials, and the native population continued its disastrous decline. Eventually, the crown mandated that scattered native families be moved into new native villages, patterned after the Spanish villas. This concentration of the native population facilitated more effective evangelization and increased Spanish control over native labor, as continued commutation of high tribute quotas into silver forced the natives into the money economy.

see also Columbus, Christopher; Empire in the Americas, Spanish; Encomienda.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bouysse Cassagne, Thérèse. "Tributo y etnias en Charcas en la epoca del virrey Toledo." Historiay cultura (La Paz, Bolivia) 2 (1976): 97-113.

Cook, Noble David. Demographic Collapse: Indian Peru, 1520–1620. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Hampe Martínez, Teodoro. "Notas sobre población y tributo indígena en Cajamarca." Boletin del Instituto Riva-Agüero 14 (1986–1987): 65-81.

Mansilla, Ronald Escobedo. El tributo indígena en el Perú Siglos XVI y XVII. Pamplona, Spain: Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, 1979.

Ramírez, Susan Elizabeth. The World Upside Down: Cross-Cultural Contact and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century Peru. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996. See especially chapter 4.

Sempat Assadourian, Carlos. "De la renta de la encomienda en la decada de 1550." Revista de Indias 48 (182-183) (1988): 109-146.

Tord Nicolini, Javier. "El corregidor de indios del Perú Comercioy tributos." Historiay cultura (Lima) 8 (1974): 173-214.