Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wikipedia
The encomienda was a dependency relation system, that started in Spain during the Roman Empire, where the stronger people protected the weakest in exchange for a service. It was later used during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Philippines. The Spanish monarch would assign a Spaniard with the task of "protecting" a specific group of Native Americans.
In the encomienda, the Spanish crown granted a person a specified number of natives of a specific community, with the indigenous leaders in charge of mobilizing the assessed tribute and labor. In turn, encomenderos were to take responsibility for instruction in the Christian faith, protection from warring tribes and pirates, instruction in the Spanish language and development and maintenance of infrastructure.
In return, the natives would give tributes in the form of metals, maize, wheat, pork or any other agricultural product. In the first decade of Spanish presence in the Caribbean, Spaniards divided up the natives, who in some cases were worked relentlessly.
With the ouster of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish crown sent a royal governor, Fray Nicolás de Ovando, who established the formal encomienda system. In many cases natives were forced to do hard labor and subjected to extreme punishment and death if they resisted. However, Queen Isabella of Castile had forbidden Indian slavery and deemed the indigenous "free vassals of the crown," allowing many natives and Spaniards to appeal to the Real Audiencias.
Encomiendas were often characterized by the geographical displacement of those enslaved and the breakup of communities and family units, but the encomienda in Mexico functioned to rule these free vassals of the crown via existing community hierarchies, with the indigenous not forced permanently from their families, homes, and land.
In the former Inca Empire, for example, the system continued the Incaic (and even pre-Incaic) traditions of extracting tribute in the form of labor.
Usage examples of "encomienda".
Order of Santiago, my governor and captain-general of the province of Guatemala, and president of my royal Audiencia resident therein, or the person or persons in charge of its government: as you have understood, the repartimientos and encomiendas of Indians which the kings my forbears and I have been accustomed to grant to various persons in that country, in consideration of their services, have been for two generations.
Santiago, and in all the others of your government, so that all persons who shall desire the said prolongation of their repartimientos or encomiendas may come before you within one year, counted from the day of the said publication.
With those who shall possess their repartimientos and encomiendas without any stipulation for the consolidation, you shall contract in the same manner and form, with the obligation to come to obtain the confirmation.
The king finally forbade the branding of encomienda indios and it came to be used only for the forced laborers and criminals who work in the dreaded silver mines.
Many haciendas were as large as encomienda grants, having villages or even small towns within their borders.