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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, orders that in all towns where there are divisions of Indians for personal services, a list and register of each of them be made, detailing the number of Indians, the type of service , the origin and destination of the indigenous people, the availability to work in closer areas, the people and farms to which they are distributed, the number of wages they are usually paid and if they are sufficient according to the quality of the work, or not. In addition, it was necessary to detail which Indians could be exonerated from work, and for what reasons, and which people had the service of yanaconas and blacks. The prohibition of Indian women from working in chácaras and other services of private persons is emphasized. It includes a proclamation and a declaration to the Indians of the Cercado.

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 sources of controversy from the beginning, 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 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 Virreynato 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