Polo y servicio

Common card · No. 324188

Polo y Servicio, or more accurately termed the Repartimiento, also known as the prestación personal, was the corvée system with compensation imposed upon the local population in the Spanish East Indies and Spanish America during the Spanish colonial period. The word polo refers to community work, and the laborer was called polista. The community activities that polistas have to perform may include cutting trees for timber, and building Galleon trade ships, churches, government buildings, paving roads, and bridges. Polo y servicio was mandatory for males from 16 to 60 years old, for a 40-day period per year. The laborers could be sent to any community project, and anyone who refused was fined and imprisoned.

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