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This document is part of a set of provisions related to the viceregal administration printed in Lima by Antonio Ricardo. In this provision, the viceroy of Peru, Don Luis de Velasco, due to the mistreatment and oppression to which the Indians were subjected in the divisions, orders that said divisions are not allowed for services to authorities or private persons and that the Indians have the freedom to work where it suits you best.

The distribution of Indians was a system of forced labor implanted by the Spanish in American lands since the 16th century. For Isabel Povea, the abuses committed in this labor system were from the beginning sources of controversy, because in practice, many of the norms that should govern this type of work and protect the Indians from abuses and oppressions were not reflected in the practice. Said abuses ranged from the use of violence and mistreatment, the very low salaries, payment in kind instead of currency or the inclusion in the distribution lists of those exempted from said service, such as sick Indians.

Ivonne Macazana
Proyecto Estudios Indianos

Digital Resources

• Puente Brunke, José de la (1990). Los encomenderos y la administración colonial en el Virreinato del Perú (siglos XVI-XVII).Las mercancías textiles en el Virreinato del Perú del siglo XVI: Calidad y necesidades
• Povea, Isabel (2015). Coacción y disensión. Protestas frente a los repartimientos mineros en Perú y Nueva España, siglo XVIII