Definition of "encomienda" in English

noun

1. (uncountable) A system in Spain and, later and more extensively, in Spanish colonies, in which the right to exploit the labour of certain groups of subject people (initially, Muslims, during the Reconquista) was granted to conquerors; servitude within this system.

2. (countable) A permission to exploit labour within the encomienda system; an enterprise established to exploit such a permission.