Colonial Administration
The early centers of Spanish colonial administration were Mexico City in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (established in 1535) and Lima in the Viceroyalty of Peru (established in 1542), of which present-day Argentina was a remote and neglected dependency. Colonial administration in the New World was carried out through two major institutions in Spain: the House of Trade, a clearinghouse for all goods and trade to the Indies, and the Council of the Indies, where all judicial, political, and military affairs of the colonies were decided.
The first concern of the Spanish crown was to secure the exploitation and shipment of mineral wealth to Spain. Each year a fleet brought European goods to Panama and Lima and left with a cargo of bullion for Seville by way of the Caribbean. The idea of an Atlantic outlet to Europe was rejected because of the dangers of a long and difficult transshipment of bullion and goods through the deserted interior and the threats of foreign interlopers in the South Atlantic.
The Roman Catholic Church was an important element in the social fabric of colonial society, and it was responsible for evangelizing the Indians. Priests and friars had accompanied the early conquistadores in the exploration and colonization of the New World, and the religious orders of Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits established themselves as missionaries in the most remote areas of Spanish America.
In colonial times the local church was the major social center, a place where all classes met for religious celebrations. The church was also the main educational institution, and it founded schools and universities, trained young men for lay and/or religious careers, encouraged the arts, and provided a number of social services to the sick and the poor. Aside from its apostolate, the church performed economic functions using funds bequested by the faithful; it served as an investment/lending institution whose investment capital derived from the exploitation of large urban and rural estates. In a subtle way, the church also exercised control over the Indian labor force that it befriended through the process of evangelization.
The Spanish conquistadores were men who came to the New World with high expectations of wealth and prestige and who had no desire to perform manual tasks, which they considered beneath their standing. The availability of a native labor supply was an important element for the establishment, permanence, and successful exploitation of any settlement. Crown and church, however, prohibited the enslavement of native populations.
Spanish colonization in Argentina followed the traditional pattern of establishing urban settlements in areas that offered conditions for defense, had mineral wealth and a water supply, and had an exploitable labor force. Once the site had been chosen, a settlement was founded in the name of the king. The settlers appointed representatives to the cabildo (town council), which had political and social functions in the administration of the town.
To counteract these policies, an old Spanish feudal institution of Roman origin was introduced to the New World — the encomienda (literally, in trust). It established a series of rights and obligations between the encomendero (grantee) and the Indians under his care. The Indians were required to pay tribute and provide free labor to the encomendero, whereas he was responsible for their welfare, their assimilation into Spanish culture, and their Christianization.
The encomiendas came under attack in the first half of the sixteenth century as sources of abuse against the Indians. One of the most important voices for the Indian cause was Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish priest who became known as the "Protector of the Indians." He based his plea on the ideas of Saint Thomas Aquinas concerning the dignity of man. Las Casas influenced the Spanish crown to promulgate the New Laws in 1542-43, which encouraged humane treatment of the Indians, regulated tributes, prohibited the inheritance of labor grants, and outlawed the holding of encomiendas by religious and civil officials.
Nevertheless, disease and overwork decimated the Indian population all over the New World, and the remainder was absorbed into the lower class. The encomienda system was finally abolished in the early eighteenth century.
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