In the Spanish colonies, repartimiento referred to the assignment of Indian workers to labor on public works projects.

The Repartimiento de Mercancias was a colonial labor system imposed upon the indigenous population of Spanish America and the Philippines. A conquistador would take over and supervise a number of indigenous workers, who would labor at crop fields or mines, or in the Philippines in ship building of the Manila Galleons. The one in charge of doing the reparto ("distribution") of workers was the Alcalde Mayor (local magistrate) of the city.