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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, dictates that the ordinances that the viceroy Francisco de Toledo gave in favor of the Indians be kept and complied with, due to the excessive work to which the natives were subjected in the work of the chácaras and in the benefit of coca, especially in the province of Charcas and in the city of Cuzco, where a large number of people worked. It is also ordered that the workers of said chácaras are not assigned divisions or detained against their will, since they had to be registered and live Christianly. Severe punishment is requested for those who violate these rules. It includes a proclamation and a declaration to the Indians of the Cercado.

Francisco de Toledo was the fifth viceroy of Peru, he ruled between the years 1569 – 1581 and is known as the great organizer of the viceroyalty. In 1573 he promulgated a series of regulations called “Ordenanzas del Perú para un buen gobierno”, of great importance for the viceregal administration. Regarding the cultivation of coca, Muñoz points out that Viceroy Toledo prohibited them from working in these tasks: forced Indians, women and children. In addition, it established the rest to noon for the workers and the religious and hospitable attention. It prohibited the creation of new coca farms and the transfer of Indians to them. These ordinances were issued again in 1575 by Francisco de Toledo and ratified by Viceroy Luis de Velasco in 1603.

Ivonne Macazana
Proyecto Estudios Indianos

Digital Resources

• Muñoz, Ángel (2006). La coca en la colonia: cultura, negocio y satanismo
• Gutiérrez-Noriega, Carlos (1944). Datos Históricos sobre la habituación a la coca en el Perú