Prepared by: P. Smith

Walton High School

2780 Reservoir Avenue

Bronx, New York

When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Latin America a brutal period of exploitation and slavery followed. The new arrivals from Spain were looking to take out as many resources from this new land as they could. The Spanish were looking to export and improve their wealth back in Spain. The Spanish conquistadors treated the Native Americans poorly. This was made worse because when the Spanish first arrived several Indian tribes thought they were gods. The Spanish were seeking to exploit natural resources from this new found land. A natural resource is anything that occurs naturally and that can be used to benefit the people living there. Gold and coal were both extremely valuable natural resources during this period in history, and they remain valuable today. The lands that the Spanish conquered were rich in both gold and coal.

As the Spanish expanded and solidified their power they ran into a problem. There was so much work to do that the Spanish needed help. They needed additional support in order to be able to more fully exploit and plunder the natural resources. The Spanish founds workers for their mines by turning to the very people whom they had conquered. These people were related to people that the Spanish had murdered and brutalized. The Indian population during the time of the conquistadors dropped rapidly. Many, many Indians lost their lives. Those who did survive now found themselves to be part of a forced system of labor. This labor system was called the Encomienda.

Under this new system of labor Indians were forced to work in dangerous jobs like mining or physically demanding jobs like laborer. The conditions that the Indians found themselves working in were deplorable. This new labor system was one of the precursors to modern slavery. You have been appointed by the Spanish government to investigate this system. The Spanish are wise and know that they will be judged in the future, based on the past. Although the rulers of Spain need the resources that the conquistadors are providing they are also concerned with how the rest of the world will view their actions in Latin America. The potential reputation of Spain in history lies in your hands. You will play a major role in determining whether the world remembers a Spain of tyrants or a compassionate, philanthropic Spain.

You have been appointed by the Spanish government to research and report your finding concerning the new forced labor system. You will have to give an evaluation of the system that addresses worker fairness, and systemic efficiency. In your write up to be reviewed by the Spanish government you need to be sure to include an overview of the system and include references to the perspectives of both the Spanish conquers and the conquered Indians. In all you need an overview, and a look at both perspectives.

In order to complete your investigation and prepare your report to the Spanish government you will have to do several things. We will be using the Public Policy Analysis, or PPA.

This approach to looking at public policy involves several steps. The more you master these steps the more you will be able to evaluate and affect public policy, not only that but it will help you on the Regents exam.

Step 1- Defining the problem

Step 2- Gather evidence to support that a problem exists

Step 3- Determine the causes and contributing factors of the problem

Step 4- Evaluate at least one public policy that sought to address the problem

Step 5- Compare your policy with another policy from similar times or similar circumstances.

All of these individual steps are explained here-

Some of the steps require worksheets.

- A definition is a statement of meaning or explanation. The problem we are looking at is the exploitation of Native Americans by the Spanish conquistadors. The system of labor the Spanish used to force the Indians to work for them was called the Encomienda. In order to complete step one you must provide a complete definition of the word “Encomienda” from a reputable source. In addition to your definition you should try to determine both who was hurt by this system and who benefited from it.

Steps 2-5 all require the completion of worksheets that can be found at the T.I.P.S website. http://www.maxell.syr.edu/plegal/tips.html

To complete these worksheets you will need to browse the internet. Two recommended sources are www.google.com and www.yahoo.com .

- Through your research you will compile evidence that the forced system of labor that the Spanish instituted was a public policy problem. Use the recommended search engines to gather the necessary information to complete worksheet # 2

- Follow the above link to worksheet # 3 and review the questions it is asking you. In this step you are working to determine the causes of the problem of forced Native American labor under Spanish conquistador rule. Not only are you searching for the causes of the problem you are also trying to look deeper at the factors that contributed to the Encomienda. You are trying to figure out what circumstances led the Spanish rulers to exploit the Indians under their rule.

–Follow the TIPS link to worksheet # 4. In this step you are evaluating a public policy hat was in place at the time we are examining. The public policy for this web-quest is the Encomienda. Answer the questions on worksheet # 4 to evaluate this policy and draw you own conclusions. You may need to do additional web- based research to gather more information. If you can, try to locate some sources that talk about the efforts to dismantle, or abolish the Encomienda.

- Follow the TIPS link to worksheet # 5. In this step you will be comparing the policy that you looked at in the first four steps to another policy. The other policy you choose to compare with should either be a public policy issue from a similar time, or an issue that sought to address similar circumstances. In this case you will be trying to compare another labor related public policy with the Encomienda system. Some possible comparisons include child labor in both the English and American industrial revolutions and the share cropping system of early America.

You will use all of the information you have gathered to compile your report for the Spanish Government to review. Remember it is your job to give a fair and balanced appraisal of the system. Consider fairness, equal rights, and your opinion of how humans should treat one another. Take your task seriously; there are many people depending on your discerning eye, both Spanish and Native American alike.\

Below are several links tat will provide you with a substantial amount of the information you are seeking.

http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/papers/scott-m.html

http://www.bartleby.com/65/en/encomien.html

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Encomienda

http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=633

http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~jlemon/admin.html

http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~jlemon/documents.html

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/New%20Laws%20of%201542

http://teachers.hlpusd.k12.ca.us/~dschmus/coursefiles/Articles/Unit%20I%20Articles/Encomienda.doc

http://www.lamp.ac.uk/tairona/a4casas.html

http://www.cabq.gov/aes/s3hisp.html

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/wilson/ant304/projects/projects98/carterp/carterp.html

http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/CERIO-01.ART

I would also take a moment to recommend both Google and Yahoo search engines. The links for these web sites is located in the process section above. These engines will help you find more general information than the specific links supplied directly above.

Your performance on this web-quest will be evaluated according to the rubric below.

Encomienda Web Quest Rubric- The following criteria will be used in evaluating your report to the Spanish Government.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Mechanics: Organization, Flow, and Proofreading	Student’s written report shows little to no organizing structure. There are many grammatical and spelling errors.	Student’s written report demonstrates an attempt to organize information. The writing has some grammatical and spelling errors.	Student’s written report has an organizational structure. The writing contains few grammatical and spelling errors.	Student’s written report has a clear, well defined organizational structure. The writing is free from grammatical and spelling errors.
Research	Student’s research is very limited in scope and not from quality sources. Research is too broad or misplaced. No reference to PPA	Student’s research is limited in scope. Only some of the sources show quality. Resources are matched to topic. Some steps of PPA have been addressed.	Student’s research is inclusive. All or almost all sources are quality. All sites are topic appropriate. Most steps of PPA have been addressed.	Student’s research is exhaustive and extensive. All sources are quality and matched to topic. All steps of PPA have been addressed.
Balance: Consideration of multiple perspectives	Student’s writing fails to address more than one view point.	Student’s writing makes an effort to consider more then one possible perspective. Sides are not presented evenly.	Student’s writing addresses multiple view points. Sides are presented close to evenly.	Student’s writing clearly shows consideration of multiple view points for multiple situations. More than possibility is presented. All sides are addressed evenly.

Scores-

The highest possible score is twelve. The lowest possible score is three

A score of twelve is equivalent to 100%

A score of three is equivalent to 60%

In completing this web-quest students address the following standards-

English Language Arts standards-

Standard # 1 Student will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

Standard # 2 Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation

Social Studies standards

Standard # 2 World History

Standard # 3 Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Science, Living Environment standards

Standard # 4.2 Students will analyze human decisions and activities which have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment.

When you have finished this quest you will have accomplished many things. You will have:

· Learned the definition of, and reasons behind, the Spanish conquistadors forced labor system of Encomienda.

· Considered at least two possible perspectives relating to the system and the period of history that it represents.

· Prepared a thoughtful written report that offers both an overview and an effort at persuasion.

· Begun to master the intricacies of web based research

· Addressed cross content curricular standards