“The history of the Caribbean is a history of exploitation of labor’’.
The exploitation of labor is one of the most common issues faced in terms of human rights in certain countries. To gain power and wealth is only one of the reasons that exploitation of labor is a major issue. People use their power to take advantage of the less fortunate. Exploitation can be defined as an act of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work or to fulfill their own selfish purposes, whereas labor is defined as the use of physical and mental efforts in the creation of goods and services. So based on Caribbean history even laborers before the 20th century were taken advantage by their owners to gain benefits.
Firstly the exploitation of the Caribbean with reference to the encomienda labor system. This system was created in 1512 by the Spanish to control and regulate American Indian labors (Arawaks/Tainos) during the colonization of the Americas. The word ‘encomienda’ comes from the Spanish word encomendar, "to entrust." The encomienda system was the earliest introduction of inhumane slavery as historians believed as one of the most damaging institutions that the Spanish colonists implemented in the New World. In the Americas, the first encomiendas were handed out by Christopher Columbus and institutionalized by Governor Nicolas de Ovando (1503) in the Caribbean. The Spaniards were referred to as the ecomendero because their responsibility was to ensure the well being of the Tainos by offering protections from pirates, educated about new Spanish language, provide them with food, clothing and instruct them on Christianity. But, alas, these promises were short-lived. The Tainos were supposed to provide their ecomenderos/owners: labor/service gold, silver, metals, crops and other agricultural products in exchange for the protection and introduction of Christianity by