IB History Treatment of Indigenous Populations Notes

Laws of Burgos (1512)

1. Issued by the Spanish Crown to address reports of abuse under the encomienda system in the Caribbean.
2. Required colonists to provide housing, food, rest, wages, and religious instruction to Indigenous workers.
3. Declared Indigenous peoples free subjects of the Crown, not slaves, but still obligated them to work.
4. Intended to regulate forced labor and promote Christianization under missionary supervision.
5. Poorly enforced in the colonies; most encomenderos ignored the laws to maintain profits.
6. Marked the first legal attempt by a European empire to protect Indigenous rights, later influencing the New Laws of 1542.

Bartolomé de las Casas

1. A Spanish priest who defended indigenous rights.
2. Wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, describing Spanish cruelty.
3. Helped push for reforms like the New Laws of the Indies.

New Laws of the Indies (1542)

1. Issued by King Charles I of Spain (Emperor Charles V) to reform colonial governance after mounting criticism of Indigenous exploitation.
2. Influenced by Bartolomé de Las Casas and other reformers who condemned the violence of the encomienda system.
3. Abolished the enslavement of Indigenous peoples and declared them free subjects of the Crown.
4. Tried to phase out the encomienda system by forbidding inheritance of encomiendas by colonists’ heirs.Aimed to shift control of Indigenous labor directly to the Crown rather than private colonists.
5. Met with strong resistance, especially in Peru and Mexico, where colonists and encomenderos feared economic collapse.
6. The rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro (1544–1548) in Peru forced Spain to soften enforcement, showing the limits of royal authority overseas.