What is this source discussing in regards to the change and continuity of labor systems in the Americas?
What is this source discussing in regards to the change and continuity of labor systems in the Americas?
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What is this source discussing in regards to the change and continuity of labor systems in the Americas?
![Source 5: Of the Affairs and Administration of Mexico, by Gonzalo Gómez de Cervantes, 1599.
De Cervantes was a judge, landowner, and (silver) mine owner. Text describing the Spanish use
of the mit'a.
The injuries and offences against these Indians on the wheat farms are beyond the
imagination...It should be noted that the Indians legally are required to work for only eight
days. The landowners, however, seeing the value of their properties decline because it is
impossible to farm them because of the shortage of labor, hold the Indians for fifteen or twenty
days. Since the poor Indian only brought food for eight days and it soon gives out, he suffers
hardship. Then when he returns home, he discovers that his wife or children have died, or his
crops have been ruined by a lack of attention caused by his absence...
Although it must be said that the Indians are treated poorly, their labor (within the mit'a
system] cannot be dispensed with, because then the (silver] mine owners would be done for,
and the Royal quintos' would be lost and trade would shrink to the point of completely ending.
The Indians are allotted the same way they are given to the landowners, and because the mine
owners are so short of labor they keep the Indians not for eight days but for two to three weeks.
With the mines it is not possible to enforce the guidelines described in the previous
chapter in regard to payment for the Indians, because mining is so hazardous and
dangerous...Furthermore, the mine owner or overseer would lose everything even if the
Indians were absent for just an hour...](/v2/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.bartleby.com%2Fqna-images%2Fquestion%2F7c6a3dff-6729-485c-933e-bf615eefedb6%2Ff9f2f39c-ff93-4c40-b965-8cefe9b6cf05%2Flfd9rvr_processed.jpeg&w=3840&q=75)
Transcribed Image Text:Source 5: Of the Affairs and Administration of Mexico, by Gonzalo Gómez de Cervantes, 1599.
De Cervantes was a judge, landowner, and (silver) mine owner. Text describing the Spanish use
of the mit'a.
The injuries and offences against these Indians on the wheat farms are beyond the
imagination...It should be noted that the Indians legally are required to work for only eight
days. The landowners, however, seeing the value of their properties decline because it is
impossible to farm them because of the shortage of labor, hold the Indians for fifteen or twenty
days. Since the poor Indian only brought food for eight days and it soon gives out, he suffers
hardship. Then when he returns home, he discovers that his wife or children have died, or his
crops have been ruined by a lack of attention caused by his absence...
Although it must be said that the Indians are treated poorly, their labor (within the mit'a
system] cannot be dispensed with, because then the (silver] mine owners would be done for,
and the Royal quintos' would be lost and trade would shrink to the point of completely ending.
The Indians are allotted the same way they are given to the landowners, and because the mine
owners are so short of labor they keep the Indians not for eight days but for two to three weeks.
With the mines it is not possible to enforce the guidelines described in the previous
chapter in regard to payment for the Indians, because mining is so hazardous and
dangerous...Furthermore, the mine owner or overseer would lose everything even if the
Indians were absent for just an hour...
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