World history concepts · AP World History: Modern
Mit'a (mita) system
Mit'a (mita) system: A system of rotational labor obligation used by the Inca and later adapted by Spanish colonizers, notably to staff silver mines.
By the CollegePrepRoom editorial team · Updated · How we write and check these pages
What it means
In the Inca Empire, the mit'a required communities to provide labor for public projects for set periods. Spanish authorities adapted it to force Indigenous men to work in silver mines such as Potosí, where conditions were deadly.
The silver produced flowed into global trade, much of it eventually reaching China, linking the mita to the global economy.
Example
Indigenous workers drafted under the colonial mita labored in the Potosí silver mines in present-day Bolivia.
On the exam
The mita is a common example in comparisons of labor systems and in questions on the global silver trade.
Lessons and practice questions
Related terms
- Encomienda systemA Spanish colonial labor system that granted colonists the right to demand labor or tribute from Indigenous people in exchange for supposed protection and religious instruction.
- Columbian ExchangeThe transfer of plants, animals, diseases, people and ideas between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after 1492.