Answer:
The African slave trade was used by the Spanish Crown to help bolster the encomienda system.
Step-by-step explanation:
The encomienda system under the Spanish Crown was a grant of labor given to conquistadores who acted on behalf of Spain in the colonization of Latin America and also earlier, for example, during the Christian crusades. Conquered peoples were considered vassals of the Spanish Crown, although in the case of the Americas this was complex because the Queen had deemed Native Americans to be free vassals of the Crown. Therefore, the Indigenous population had some legal protections in theory via the Real Audiencias. Slaves were brought from Africa when indigenous populations began to decline. The slaves were brought to Latin America to fill the labor shortages in agriculture primarily but also in the mines in certain regions like the Andes and Mexico.