There was also at this time established throughout the island a social and economic system borrowed from Hispaniola, where it had not been in operation long enough for its evil effects to be demonstrated. Its intention was unquestionably benevolent, and, given a sufficiently altruistic quality of human nature, its results might have been good. With human nature what it was, it became almost unrelievedly evil. This was known as the system of Repartimiento, or Encomienda. First of all, the whole territory of the island was partitioned among the seven cities. Then in each there were appointed persons whom we might describe as land-holders and slave-holders. The former, known as vecinos, were the representatives of the king in ownership of the land, all of which was regarded as the property of the crown, to be apportioned for working to suitable loyal subjects. The latter were called encomenderos, and to them were apportioned the native population, in tutelage and servitude.
Now the fundamental evil of the system lay in the appropriation of the land. It was all taken for the crown, and the natives who had been occupying it were ipso facto transformed into squatters, or trespassers. But as the king claimed the whole area of the island, there was no other land for them to occupy; wherefore they must remain on the king's land. But if they did that, they must become his serfs. They were therefore apportioned among the land-holders; to remain in their homes and to be educated, fed and clothed and generally cared for by the latter; and in return to do a certain amount of useful work. Thus they would become civilized and Christianized, and perhaps themselves fitted to become land-holders.
It was an excellent plan, in theory; and it seemed the more likely to succeed because the Spanish colonists manifested no such caste prejudice against the natives as those of some other lands did. Thus it was an unusual thing for a French settler in North America, and a still more unusual thing for a British settler, to marry an Indian woman, and such unions, when they did occur, were generally regarded as debasing. But there was no such feeling among the Spanish, and intermarriages between the races, of an entirely legal and honorable character, were not uncommon and were not regarded with disfavor. Nevertheless, the repartimiento system soon lapsed into utter evil, as such a relationship between a superior and an inferior race seems certain to do. In brief, it became slavery, pure and simple.
The benevolent and statesmanlike spirit of Velasquez was shown, in contrast to that of most other conquistadors of that time, in the circumstance that he ordered the natives to be thus impressed into work for a period of only a single month, to be paid for their labor at a prescribed rate, and to be engaged as largely as possible in agricultural pursuits. He did not prohibit the employment of them at gold mining, but he strove earnestly to extend agricultural enterprise. This was partly, no doubt, in pursuance of the king's order, that he should make Cuba a source of food supplies for the supposedly less favored regions at Darien and elsewhere, but was partly, too, because Velasquez recognized the agricultural possibilities of Cuba and was determined to make it self-supporting. He exercised this authority, not merely as Governor General of the island, but also as Repartidor, or Partitioner of the Natives, to which office he was expressly appointed by the king, with responsibility to nobody but the king himself. He apportioned the natives in lots of from not fewer than forty to not more than three hundred, according to the land held by the vecino, and ordered that they be well treated, and of course be not sold nor transferred from one master to another.
There was, unfortunately, another class of native servitors, to wit, those taken as captives in battle in the occasional hostilities between the two races. These were by royal decree made outright and life-long slaves, subject to be bought and sold and even branded with their owners' names, like cattle. The number of these being few after the collapse of Hatuey's short-lived resistance, the practice arose of adding to their number natives from Mexico, Darien and elsewhere, who were seized and brought to Cuba as slaves. All this was declared to be illegal and was ordered abolished by a royal decree which was promulgated in Cuba in November, 1531. But long before that time the evil system had become widespread, and had involved in absolute slavery encomendado natives as well as the captives. The bad results of the system were reflected upon the masters if possible more than upon the slaves, and were felt for many years after the native population had so nearly vanished as to be no longer a factor in Cuban affairs worthy of consideration.
Following the establishment of these political and industrial systems, Cuban colonization made extraordinarily rapid progress. The island which for years had been neglected and all but ignored became the chief centre of Antillean interest. It drew from Hispaniola, Darien and other lands, both insular and continental, many of their best colonists, including some who afterward became famous for their achievements elsewhere. Thus, Hernando Cortez was alcalde of Santiago de Cuba. Bernal Diaz, whose honest soul revolted against the infamies of Pedrarias Davila at Darien, settled for a time at Sancti Spiritus before following Cortez to Mexico. Vasco de Figueroa was a great plantation owner at Camaguey. Las Casas was at Trinidad until he returned to Spain to begin his propaganda for the welfare of the Indians. Ponce de Leon also spent some time in Cuba, and so did La Salle. Velasquez himself was of course settled at Santiago de Cuba, with Christopher de Cuellar, the royal treasurer, and Hurtado de Isunsolo and Amador de Lares, fiscal agents of the King. At Santiago was established the royal assay office and refining works for the output of the gold mines of the island.
In brief, the island prospered greatly in all respects. The mines were rich, the plantations fertile and productive, and live stock greatly thrived. The island, according to Oviedo, became "much populated with both Christians and Indians." It appears to have been at the instance of Velasquez that its name was changed in 1515 from Juana to Fernandina, in honor of the king; an incident which added to the high regard which that monarch cherished for Velasquez, of whom he said that "no man could more wisely administer the affairs of the island." This tribute was probably deserved. But it cannot be said that Velasquez served his King for naught, or that he promoted the interests of the island to the neglect of his own, since he himself so greatly prospered that he became the richest man in all Cuba and probably in all the Antilles, and was so secure in his place that he could feel quite independent of even the Admiral himself, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola.
A noteworthy tribute to Velasquez was paid, also, in a series of cedulas issued by the King. The first, dated December 12, 1512, thanked him for his pacification of Cuba and his tactful and humane treatment of the natives. Another, on April 8, 1513, was much to the same effect, adding the exhortation: "Because I much desire that all diligence possible be used to convert the natives of the island, I direct that you undertake this with all means possible. In nothing can you do me greater service." Five days later a third cedula formally appointed Velasquez Governor of the town and fortress of Baracoa, with a salary of 20,000 maravedis a year. After the complete organization of the insular government and industrial system, as already described, the King in a cedula of February 28, 1515, commended all that had been done, adding: "The chief recommendation I would make to you is that you have all possible care for the conversion and good treatment of the Indians of the island, and that you endeavor in every way to have them taught and indoctrinated in our Holy Catholic Faith and to have them remain in it; so that we may be without burden on our conscience regarding them and so that you may free yourself of all the obligation which you have assumed for their welfare."
It was impossible that Velasquez should, however, escape the attacks of envy and malice. Suggestions were made to the King that he was growing too rich, and that he was manipulating the affairs of the island in his own interest rather than in the interest of the royal treasury.