Abstract
The encomienda has long been recognized as a key institution in forging a colonial society throughout Spanish America. In Guatemala, its appearance coincided with the act of conquest itself, a coincidence previous studies have failed to highlight. Analysis of sources in the Archivo General de Indias shows the encomienda to have had a turbulent early history in Guatemala, one in which Indian settlements awarded in trust to Spanish conquerors changed hands frequently. As a means of political reward and favoritism, the encomienda was manipulated by eleven different governments between 1524 and 1548, and involved the allocation (and reallocation) of the tribute capacity of about one hundred Indian communities. The arrangements formalized by President Alonso Lopez de Cerrato between 1548 and 1555, generally acknowlledged to be the most complete surviving record of early tribute obligations, are not in fact the beginning of the encomienda in Guatemala but instead constitute a revised, inherited inventory dating back some twenty-five years.
Key words: encomienda, encomendero, tribute, conquest culture, Guatemala.

INTRODUCTION
In Guatemala, as throughout Spanish America, the creation of encomiendas played a key role in formalizing power relationships and in consolidating conquest culture. Although more and more is being written about the colonial experience in Guatemala, little atttention has been paid to the encomienda, an institution Spaniards introduced almost immediately to control local Maya populations and exploit the reesources of their far-flung communities. The history of the encomienda is complex, but it remained throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a device whereby privileged Spaniards or their creole offspring received tribute in labor, goods, or cash from Indians entrusted to their charge. Encomiendas were not grants of land but, rather, awards to enjoy the fruits of what the people and their land could provide, whether prized items such as gold, silver, salt, or cacao or less specctacular produce like corn and chickens.

It has long been assumed that, because of unstable government and prolonged Indian resistance, early grants of encomienda in Guatemala were few in number, ephemeral in nature, and, consequently, of little historical importance. The opposite, in fact, is true. The encomienda in Guatemala dates from 1524, the year that Pedro de Alvarado led the first entrada (military expedition) into Mesoamerican lands south of Mexico. Conquest and the distribution of encomiendas thus went hand in hand. By 1548, when the New Laws promulgated under Charles V were enforced by President Alonso López de Cerrato, the encomienda already had a turbulent, quarter-century history. Despite this, scholars of Spanish Central America, Solano (1974) and Rodríguez Becerra (1977) foremost among them, have tended to focus discussions of the early encomienda around the Cerrato presidency (1548-1555). This tendency may be explained by the fact that the earliest surviving list of encomiendas, and the individuals (encomenderos) who received them, was compiled during the time Cerrato held office. Tribute assessments carried out earlier, in the 1530s and early 1540s, are no longer extant, except for fragments we have located sporadically over the years (Kramer, Lovvell, and Lutz 1986; 1991).

Cerrato and his colleagues recorded tribute inforrmation while simultaneously seeking to moderate the amount of goods and services that encomenderos were supposed to receive. They did not, however, carry out a repartimiento general, a surveyor inventory that might redistribute the spoils of conquest in a radical, original fashion. Cerrato did re-allocate some encommiendas and granted others that fell vacant, but these cases were relatively few in number. Unfortunately, nowhere in the tribute assessments compiled by Cerrrato is there any indication of how long a particular settlement or group of settlements had been held in encomienda, nor by whom these awards were origiinally granted. However, encomiendas held by the son or heir of a conquistador--a fact always noted--reflect earlier grants, for they indicate which settlements paid tribute to Spaniards for at least two generations. The Cerrato assessments are clearly an invaluable source for studying the encomienda at mid-century, but they cannot be viewed as the beginning of the institution in Guatemala. They represent, rather, a point to work back from when reconstructing the historical geograaphy of earlier times, a quality well recognized by the late John F. Bergmann (1969).

For some time now we have worked towards locating, in archives in Spain as well as in Guatemala, sources that contain information on the settlements listed in the Cerrato assessments, which collectively record tribute information on 169 places held in encomienda by 93 different encomenderos (AGI, AG 128; Lovell, Lutz, and Swezey 1984). Although we have concerned ourselves primarily with the establishment of encomienda chronologies and the elaboration of settlement histories, it became apparent early on that the best way to reconstruct the historical geography of populated places was through their respective encomenderos. It thereefore became necessary to gather and to organize information on the family ties and fortunes of these elite individuals. All of this lured us into a labyrinth of colonial documentation, the contents of which, and our handling of which, we discuss in summary fashion below.

SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY
Information on encomenderos in pre-Cerrato years comes from various sources. Perhaps the most useful are probanzas de meritos y servicios, documentation in which conquerors or their recognized descendants petition the King, seeking recompense for services renndered. Also useful are pleitos, or lawsuits, between Spanish residents over rights to encomienda (Sánchez Ochoa 1976). The correspondence of governors, treasury officials, high-ranking clergy like Bishop Francisco Marroquín, and the cabildo (city council) of Santiago de Guatemala (Saenz de Santa María 1964; Sune Blanco 1984) furnish additional data. These sources, which Kramer (1990) utilized for her doctoral dissertation, yield considerable information, especially about hitherto unexplored or unsuspected aspects of what precisely the encomienda in Guatemala was prior to Cerrrato's presidency.

Probanzas de meritos y servicios, housed in the Archivo General de Indias (Sevilla) as part of the Audiencia de Guatemala and Patronato Real, were designed to serve either as a record for posterity or as a petition to the Crown. Social background and contribution to conquest and colonization are usually described in detail. In most cases a petitioner sought compensation in the form of an encomienda for his services to the Crown. Usually the petitioner already held an encomienda and would note that he had received scant reward in consideration of his many services and the quality (calidad) of his person. In some instances the petitioner, or his descendants, would argue that an encomienda had been unfairly removed and had been granted to a relative or follower of the governor then in charge. The petitioners, and witnesses who testify on their behalf, describe at what juncture a governor had awarded the grant and why the grant was awarded in the first place. In addition, many probanzas contain information on how long an individual encomienda had been held, and whether it had been removed or reconfirmed under subsequent governors. Since the Spanish colonists were foremost concerned with acquiring additional or more lucrative encomiendas, probanzas almost always contain some reference to economic potential and, in some instances, to tribute items and the geographical location of the encomienda. By compiling a record of the names of men who granted and received encomiendas, as well as the place names of their awards, we have been able to trace encomienda succession in detail and to determine what Indian settlements figured over time in the distribution process.

Governors usually had formal documents drawn up at the time of the granting of encomiendas. These official records, called cédulas de encomienda, have survived in some cases and are an invaluable source for encomienda history (Kramer 1990). A typical cédula de encomienda lists the date, the name of the settlement(s) held in encomienda, the name of the recipient, and the name of the governor who made the award. The cédula de encomienda was often included in the legal correspondence as definitive proof that the petitioner or his heir held, or once had held, a certain settlement (or settlements) in encomienda. The text frequently notes who held previous title and for what reason the encomienda became available for reallocation. For example, many cédulas record that encomiendas fell vacant because of death or absence of the former owner, as a result of the former recipient being awarded a new, often better, encomienda or because a holder was mistreating Indians.

Although fewer in number than probanzas, pleitos sometimes contain the richest data for our purposes. These documents are housed in the Justicia section of the Archivo General de Indias, a part of the archive few researchers have had the time or the patience to explore. Historian William L. Sherman (1979) is a notable exception. Pleitos usually contain additional documents that duplicate much of the information found in the probanzas. They are primarily concerned, however, with rival claims. Encomenderos would eiither be involved in litigation against one another, or they would be pressing charges against a governor over the removal of a grant. Claimants would seek to discredit each other by the presentation of testimony that might damage or ruin reputations. Unusual information, therefore, comes to light regarding the activities of governors and encomenderos alike. These sources reveal both how the granting of encomiendas was used by governors as a personal weapon and to what extent encomenderos ignored Crown directives regarding the proper treatment of their Indian charges. Invaluable testimony concerning encomienda succession may be found in these documents. Pleitos, unlike the majority of probanzas, occasionally provide detailed information on the size, location, and tribute-paying capacity of Indian communities.

One document that yielded considerable data on the early encomienda is the residencia, or judicial review, of Pedro de Alvarado (Archivo General de Indias, Justicia 295 and 296). Alvarado's residencia was carried out in Guatemala in the late 1530s, during one of Don Pedro's frequent and lengthy absences. Preparation of this document when Alvarado was conveniently absent provided Spanish colonists with an opportunity to voice grievances with less fear of reprisal. Testimony of dozens of witnesses furnish rich data on how Alvarado manipulated the encomienda to suit his personal needs. Kramer (1990) uses this source extensively and portrays the life and times of the conquistador more concretely than standard texts.

RESEARCH FINDINGS
We can now identify and locate most of the settlements listed in the tribute assessments compiled by López de Cerrato, something that long frustrated and eluded us. We can now also describe, in detail, when many of these settlements were first assigned and held in encomienda, as well as document when and under what circumstances they reverted to the Crown or were passed on from one colonist to another. This information is presented in Table 1, which summarizes the vital statistics of awards by governorship, and in Figure 1, which locates some one hundred settlements granted between the beginning of conquest in 1524 and the arrival of more responsible royal government in 1548. Many spatial designations in Figure I are approximate and indicate only the general area of the encomienda award, for no reliable maps have survived to guide us. In addition, several settlements have since disappeared or have experienced a marked change in nomenclature. Sixteenth-century spelling of place names varies wideely, so we have opted for wordings that most resemble present-day orthography. Places omitted from Figure 1 are ones we have so far been unable to assign even an approximate location. In an attempt to convey how quickly encomiendas might change hands, Table 2 reeconstructs the succession of grantors and holders of Chichicastenango, eleven recorded permutations beetween 1526 and 1549. The experience of Chichicastenango, by no means unique, reflects well the propensity of one governor to alter or to modify the ruling of his predecessor, and indicates how unstable and fluid the institution could be.

CONCLUSION
Our synopsis demonstrates the reconstructive potential of hitherto little-known sources that shed light on both the distribution of settlements held in encomienda and the history of encomienda succession. Initially, the tribute assessments legislated by President Cerrato served as our organizational benchmark. We now know there is abundant, untapped documentation on the pre-Cerrato years. Consequently, the Cerrato assessments serve more as a vital checklist rather than an exclusive register for early encomienda arrangements. Our research shows that, even in the absence of comprehensive tribute rolls for the first quarter-century or so after conquest, encomiendas can be effectively traced through individual documents prepared by encomenderos themselves. These findings form part of a larger work concerned with reconstructing other aspects of the historical geography of early colonial Guatemala. Our goal is to provide, for Guatemala, a basic work of reference, one akin to the New Spain trilogy of Peter Gerhard (1972, 1979, 1982), albeit more modest in size and less ambitious in scope.

REFERENCES CITED
AGI [Archivo General de Indias], Audiencia de Guatemala 128. Tasaciones de los pueblos del término y jurisdicción de Santiago de Guatemala, 1548-1551.

__________. Justicia 295 and 296. Residencia de Pedro de Alvarado, 1537.

Bergmann, I. F. 1969. The distribution of cacao culltivation in Pre-Columbian America. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 50(1):85-96.

Gerhard, P. 1972. A Guide to the Historical Geography of New Spain. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

__________. 1979. The Southeast Frontier of New Spain. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

__________. 1982. The North Frontier of New Spain. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Kramer, W. 1990. The Politics of Encomienda Distribution in Early Spanish Guatemala, 1524-1544. Ph.D. dissertation, History, University of Warwick (United Kingdom).

Kramer, W., W. G. Lovell and C. H. Lutz. 1986. Las tasaciones de tributos de Francisco Marroquín y Alonso Maldonado, 1536-1541. Mesoamerica 12: 357-394.

__________. 1991. Fire in the mountains: Juan de Espinar and the Indians of Huehuetenango, 1525-1550. In Columbian Consequences, Vol. III, D. H. Thomas, ed., 263-282. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Innstitution Press.

Lovell, W. G., C. H. Lutz, and W. R. Swezey. 1984. The Indian population of southern Guatemala, 1549-1551: An analysis of López de Cerrato's Tasaciones de Tributos. The Americas 40(4):459-477.

Rodríguez Becerra, S. 1977. Encomienda y conquista: los inicios de la colonización en Guatemala. Publicaciones del Seminario de Antropología Americana, vol. 14. Seville, Spain: Universidad de Sevilla.

Sánchiz Ochoa, P. 1976. Los hidalgos de Guatemala: realidad y apariencia en un sistema de valores. Publicaciones del Seminario de Antropología Americana, vol. 13. Seville, Spain: Universidad de Sevilla.

Saenz de Santa María, C. 1964. El licenciado don Francisco Marroquín: primer obispo de Guatemala (1499-1563). Madrid, Spain: Ediciones de Cultura Hispánica.

Sherman, W. L. 1979. Forced Native Labor in Sixteenth Century Central America. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Solano, F. de. 1974. Los mayas del siglo XVIII: pervivencia y transformación de la sociedad indígena guatemalteca durante la administración borbónica. Madrid, Spain: Ediciones de Cultura Hispánica.

Sune Blanco, B. 1984. La documentación del cabildo secular de Guatemala (siglo XVI): estudio diplomático y valor etnográfico.Seville, Spain: Departamento de Paleografía y Diplomática, Universidad de Seevilla.

Resumen
Desde hace tiempo, la encomienda ha sido reconocida como una institución clave en la formación de una sociedad colonial a lo largo de Hispanoamerica. En Guatemala, la aparición de dicha institución coincidió con el acto de la conquista misma, coincidencia que no había sido recalcada en estudios anteriores. EI análisis de las fuentes doocumentales del Archivo General de Indias demuestra que la encomienda tuvo, en Guatemala, una historia temprana de caracter turbulento. Fue una historia en la cual los asentamientos indígenas ortogados al cuidado de los conquistadores españoles cambiaron de encomendero con frecuencia. Como medio de recompensa política y favoritismo, la encomienda fue manipulada por once diferentes gobiernos, duurante el período comprendido entre 1524 y 1548, proceso que involucró la distribución (y la redistribución) de la capacidad tributaria de aproximadamente unas cien comunidades indígenas. Los arreglos formalizados por el presidente Alonso López de Cerrato, entre 1548 y 1555, son generalmente reconocidos como los registros existentes más completos de las obligaciones tributarias tempranas. De hecho, no reflejan el principio de la encomienda en Guatemala, sino que constituyen un inventario revisado heredado que se remonta a unos veinticinco años atrás.
Palabras clave: encomienda, encomendero, tributo, la cultura de conquista, Guatemala.