ABSTRACT
Devising a workable labor system for the American colonies was the central problem of Spain’s Indian policy. The agitation begun by the Dominicans raised the larger question of the legality of Spain’s claim to the Indies. To satisfy the royal conscience, the jurist Doctor Palacios Rubios drew up a document, the requerimiento, which was supposed to be read by all conquistadores to the Indians before making war upon them. In certain industries and areas, however, such as the silver mining area of northern New Spain and the silver mines of Potosi, more or less free labor came into fairly wide use. Among the many personalities who intervened in the great controversy about Spain’s Indian policy, the figure of Bartolome de las Casas has grown most in stature with the passing of the centuries. Indian forced labor, once it was legally separated from the encomienda, soon appeared in another form.
