The Encomienda, The Mita, American Labor systems

Slavery can be defined simply as forced labor, or the ownership and control of people by other people. But since slavery has existed at one point in time in nearly every country in world, the ideologies and implications behind those words can very drastically. What does ownership entail? If society pressures me to labor in a certain perimeter of jobs am I a slave to society? If I am forced to work but compensated, am I a slave or an employee? Too ridge a definition of slavery would ignore systems that were much more than forced labor, and too soft a definition would include systems with significant differences in treatment and ideology. So where does one draw the line? Well, it seems that the purpose, treatment, and perception of a slave plays an important role in how a slave system is organized. Therefore any valid definition of slavery must acknowledge those factors but, distinguish between forced labor and true slavery. An examination of the mita system, the encomienda system, and...