First Distribution Of Indians Repartimientos

1510



Soon after Ponce's return from la Espanola Guaybana sickened and died.

Up to this time the harmony established by the prudent cacique between

his tribesmen and the Spaniards on their first arrival had apparently

not been disturbed. There is no record of any dissension between them

during Ponce's absence.



The cacique was succeeded by his brother, who according to custom

assu ed the name of the deceased chief, together with his authority.



The site for his first settlement, chosen by Ponce, was a low hill in

the center of a small plain surrounded by hills, at the distance of a

league from the sea, the whole space between being a swamp, "which,"

says Oviedo, "made the transport of supplies very difficult." Here the

captain commenced the construction of a fortified house and chapel, or

hermitage, and called the place Caparra.






Among the recently arrived Spaniards there was a young man of

aristocratic birth named Christopher de Soto Mayor, who possessed

powerful friends at Court. He had been secretary to King Philip I,

and according to Abbad, was intended by Ferdinand as future governor

of San Juan; but Senor Acosta, the friar's commentator, remarks with

reason, that it is not likely that the king, who showed so much tact

and foresight in all his acts, should place a young man without

experience over an old soldier like Ponce, for whom he had a special

regard.



The young hidalgo seemed to aspire to nothing higher than a life of

adventure, for he agreed to go as Ponce's lieutenant and form a

settlement on the south coast of the island near the bay of Guanica.



"In this settlement," says Oviedo, "there were so many mosquitoes that

they alone were enough to depopulate it, and the people passed to

Aguada, which is said to be to the west-nor'-west, on the borders of

the river Culebrinas, in the district now known as Aguada and

Aguadilla; to this new settlement they gave the name Sotomayor, and

while they were there the Indians rose in rebellion one Friday in the

beginning of the year 1511."



* * * * *



The second Guaybana was far from sharing his predecessor's

good-will toward the Spaniards or his prudence in dealing with them;

nor was the conduct of the newcomers toward the natives calculated to

cement the bonds of friendship.



Fancying themselves secure in the friendly disposition of the

natives, prompted by that spirit of reckless daring and adventure that

distinguished most of the followers of Columbus, anxious to be first

to find a gold-bearing stream or get possession of some rich piece of

land, they did not confine themselves to the two settlements formed,

but spread through the interior, where they began to lay out farms and

to work the auriferous river sands.



In the beginning the natives showed themselves willing enough to

assist in these labors, but when the brutal treatment to which the

people of la Espanola had been subjected was meted out to them also,

and the greed of gold caused their self-constituted masters to exact

from them labors beyond their strength, the Indians murmured, then

protested, at last they resisted, and at each step the taskmasters

became more exacting, more relentless.



At the time of the arrival of the Spaniards the natives of Boriquen

seem to have led an Arcadian kind of existence; their bows and arrows

were used only when some party of Caribs came to carry off their young

men and maidens. Among themselves they lived at peace, and passed

their days in lazily swinging in their hammocks and playing ball or

dancing their "areytos." With little labor the cultivation of their

patches of yucca required was performed by the women, and beyond

the construction of their canoes and the carving of some battle club,

they knew no industry, except, perhaps, the chipping of some stone

into the rude likeness of a man, or of one of the few animals they

knew.



These creatures were suddenly called upon to labor from morning to

night, to dig and delve, and to stand up to their hips in water

washing the river sands. They were forced to change their habits and

their food, and from free and, in their own way, happy masters of the

soil they became the slaves of a handful of ruthless men from beyond

the sea. When Ponce's order to distribute them among his men confirmed

the hopelessness of their slavery, they looked upon the small number

of their destroyers and began to ask themselves if there were no means

of getting rid of them.



* * * * *



The system of "repartimientos" (distribution), sometimes called

"encomiendas" (patronage), was first introduced in la Espanola by

Columbus and sanctioned later by royal authority. Father Las Casas

insinuates that Ponce acted arbitrarily in introducing it in Boriquen,

but there were precedents for it.



The first tribute imposed by Columbus on the natives of la Espanola

was in gold and in cotton(1495). Recognizing that the Indians

could not comply with this demand, the Admiral modified it, but still

they could not satisfy him, and many, to escape the odious imposition,

fled to the woods and mountains or wandered about from place to place.

The Admiral, in virtue of the powers granted to him, had divided the

land among his followers according to rank, or merit, or caprice, and

in the year 1496 substituted the forced labor of the Indians for the

tribute, each cacique being obliged to furnish a stipulated number of

men to cultivate the lands granted. Bobadilla, the Admiral's

successor, made this obligation to work on the land extend to the

mines, and in the royal instructions given to Ovando, who succeeded

Bobadilla, these abuses were confirmed, and he was expressly charged

to see to it "that the Indians were employed in collecting gold and

other metals for the Castilians, in cultivating their lands, in

constructing their houses, and in obeying their commands." The pretext

for these abuses was, that by thus bringing the natives into immediate

contact with their masters they would be easier converted to

Christianity. It is true that the royal ordinances stipulated that the

Indians should be well treated, and be paid for their work like free

laborers, but the fact that they were forced to work and severely

punished when they refused, constituted them slaves in reality. The

royal recommendations to treat them well, to pay them for their work,

and to teach them the Christian doctrines, were ignored by the

masters, whose only object was to grow rich. The Indians were tasked

far beyond their strength. They were ill-fed, often not fed at all,

brutally ill-treated, horribly punished for trying to escape from the

hellish yoke, ruthlessly slaughtered at the slightest show of

resistance, so that thousands of them perished miserably. This had

been the fate of the natives of la Espanola, and there can be no doubt

that the Boriquenos had learned from fugitives of that island what

was in store for them when Ponce ordered their distribution among the

settlers.



The following list of Indians distributed in obedience to orders from

the metropolis is taken from the work by Don Salvador Brau. It was

these first distributions, made in 1509-'10, which led to the

rebellion of the Indians and the distributions that followed:



Indians

To the general treasurer, Pasamonte, a man described by

Acosta as malevolent, insolent, deceitful, and sordid...... 300



To Juan Ponce de Leon...................................... 200



To Christopher Soto Mayor...............................100



To Vicente Yanez Pinzon, on condition that he should settle

in the island.............................................. 100



To Lope de Conchillos, King Ferdinand's Chief Secretary,

as bad a character as Pasamonte............................ 100



To Pedro Moreno and Jerome of Brussels, the delegate and

clerk of Conchillos in Boriquen, 100 each...................200



To the bachelor-at-law Villalobos........................... 80



To Francisco Alvarado.......................................80





A total of 1,060 defenseless Indians delivered into the ruthless hands

of men steeped in greed, ambition, and selfishness.