Encomienda politics in early colonial Guatemala, 1524-1544
Subtitle: dividing the spoils
By: Wendy Kramer.
Series: Dellplain Latin American studies ;; no. 31
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Boulder
Language: eng
Number of pages: 293
Subjects: Indians, Treatment of -- Guatemala -- History.; Encomiendas (Latin America); Indians of Central America -- Guatemala -- Government relations.; Guatemala -- Politics and government -- To 1821.
Description: Based on unpublished documentary sources from Spain and Guatemala, this innovative study reveals previously unknown episodes in the history of Guatemala's early colonial period. Kramer traces the distribution of Indian communities to Spanish conquistadors and settlers in the first two decades of the colonization of Guatemala, establishing for the first time a dynamic chronology of the development of the encomienda.

She examines closely the intense rivalries between competing Spaniards, the political maneuvers of the principal authorities, and the role of individual captains and governors in developing the encomienda and pacifying the colony.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-279) and index.