Laws of the Indies
Encyclopedia
The Laws of the Indies are the entire body of laws
issued by the Spanish Crown
for its American and Philippine possessions of its empire
. They regulated social, political and economic life in these areas. The laws comprised myriad decrees issued over the centuries and the important laws of the 16th century, which attempted to regulate the interactions between the settlers and natives, such as the Laws of Burgos (1512) and the New Laws
(1542). Throughout the 500 years of Spanish presence in these parts of the world, the laws were compiled several times, most notably in 1680 under Charles II
in the Recopilación de las Leyes de los Reynos de Indias (Compilation of the Laws of the Kingdoms of the Indies), which became the classic collection of the laws, despite the fact that later laws superseded parts of it and other compilations were issued. The 1680 compilation set the template by which the laws were organized.
were from survival conflicts between Indigenous peoples
('Natives' or 'Indians') and the Spanish invaders, due to the Indian Reductions
and other policies. At the same time conflicts on policy and implementation occurred between the colonists and the Crown.
Two of the main sets of laws issued in the 16th century regulated Spanish contact with the Indigenous People
, an issue about which the crown quickly became concerned soon after the voyages of Christopher Columbus
and his governorship. The Laws of Burgos (1512), signed by King Ferdinand II of Aragon
, focused upon the welfare of the conquered Native Americans. The issue was revisited after Bartolomé de las Casas
brought attention to abuses being carried out by Encomenderos
. The Laws of Burgos were revised by the New Laws of 1542
issued by Charles I and quickly revised again in 1552, after the laws met resistance from colonists. These were then followed by the Ordinances Concerning Discoveries in 1573, which forbade any unauthorized operations against independent Native Americans..
To guide and regularize the establishment of presidio
s (military towns), missions, and pueblos (civilian towns), King Phillip II developed the first version of the Laws of the Indies, a comprehensive guide composed of 148 ordinances to aid colonists in locating, building, and populating settlements. They codified the city planning process and represented some of the first attempts at a general plan. Signed in 1573, the Laws of the Indies are seen as the first wide-ranging guidelines towards design and development of communities. These laws were heavily influenced by Vitruvius
' Ten Books of Architecture
and Alberti
's treatises on the subject.
After some of the northern Spanish colonies became a part of the United States, the Laws of the Indies were influential in the creation of regulations that guided the development in the United States, particularly the Land Ordinance of 1785
, which introduced township
s and section
s as organizing devices.
These regulations are included in a body of 143 others (totaling 148) configuring any settlement according to the rule of Spain and its colonies. This continued as a precedent in all towns of Spanish control until the relinquishing of the land to others, as in the case of the American colonies and their growth; however, the Laws of the Indies still serve as an example to design guidelines for communities today.
----
Code (law)
A code is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the code was enacted, by a process of codification. Though the process and motivations for codification are similar in common law and civil law...
issued by the Spanish Crown
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...
for its American and Philippine possessions of its empire
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
. They regulated social, political and economic life in these areas. The laws comprised myriad decrees issued over the centuries and the important laws of the 16th century, which attempted to regulate the interactions between the settlers and natives, such as the Laws of Burgos (1512) and the New Laws
New Laws
The New Laws, in Spanish Leyes Nuevas, issued November 20, 1542 by King Charles V of Spain regarding the Spanish colonization of the Americas, are also known as the "New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians", and were created to prevent the exploitation of the...
(1542). Throughout the 500 years of Spanish presence in these parts of the world, the laws were compiled several times, most notably in 1680 under Charles II
Charles II of Spain
Charles II was the last Habsburg King of Spain and the ruler of large parts of Italy, the Spanish territories in the Southern Low Countries, and Spain's overseas Empire, stretching from the Americas to the Spanish East Indies...
in the Recopilación de las Leyes de los Reynos de Indias (Compilation of the Laws of the Kingdoms of the Indies), which became the classic collection of the laws, despite the fact that later laws superseded parts of it and other compilations were issued. The 1680 compilation set the template by which the laws were organized.
History
The Spanish colonies in the AmericasSpanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
were from survival conflicts between Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
('Natives' or 'Indians') and the Spanish invaders, due to the Indian Reductions
Indian Reductions
Reductions were settlements founded by the Spanish colonizers of the New World with the purpose of assimilating indigenous populations into European culture and religion.Already since the beginning of the Spanish presence in the Americas, the Crown had been concerned...
and other policies. At the same time conflicts on policy and implementation occurred between the colonists and the Crown.
Two of the main sets of laws issued in the 16th century regulated Spanish contact with the Indigenous People
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, an issue about which the crown quickly became concerned soon after the voyages of Christopher Columbus
Voyages of Christopher Columbus
In the early modern period, the voyages of Columbus initiated European exploration and colonization of the American continents, and are thus of great significance in world history. Christopher Columbus was a navigator and an admiral for Castile, a country that later founded modern Spain...
and his governorship. The Laws of Burgos (1512), signed by King Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, jure uxoris King of Castile and then regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of...
, focused upon the welfare of the conquered Native Americans. The issue was revisited after Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
brought attention to abuses being carried out by Encomenderos
Encomienda
The encomienda was a system that was employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas to regulate Native American labor....
. The Laws of Burgos were revised by the New Laws of 1542
New Laws
The New Laws, in Spanish Leyes Nuevas, issued November 20, 1542 by King Charles V of Spain regarding the Spanish colonization of the Americas, are also known as the "New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians", and were created to prevent the exploitation of the...
issued by Charles I and quickly revised again in 1552, after the laws met resistance from colonists. These were then followed by the Ordinances Concerning Discoveries in 1573, which forbade any unauthorized operations against independent Native Americans..
To guide and regularize the establishment of presidio
Presidio
A presidio is a fortified base established by the Spanish in North America between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fortresses were built to protect against pirates, hostile native Americans and enemy colonists. Other presidios were held by Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth...
s (military towns), missions, and pueblos (civilian towns), King Phillip II developed the first version of the Laws of the Indies, a comprehensive guide composed of 148 ordinances to aid colonists in locating, building, and populating settlements. They codified the city planning process and represented some of the first attempts at a general plan. Signed in 1573, the Laws of the Indies are seen as the first wide-ranging guidelines towards design and development of communities. These laws were heavily influenced by Vitruvius
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....
' Ten Books of Architecture
De architectura
' is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect Vitruvius and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide for building projects...
and Alberti
Alberti
-Places:* Alberti Partido, a partido of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina* Alberti, Buenos Aires, the main town of the partido-Other:*Alberti bass, a musical accompaniment figuration, usually in the left hand on a keyboard instrument...
's treatises on the subject.
After some of the northern Spanish colonies became a part of the United States, the Laws of the Indies were influential in the creation of regulations that guided the development in the United States, particularly the Land Ordinance of 1785
Land Ordinance of 1785
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress on May 20, 1785. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation of the inhabitants of the United States...
, which introduced township
Township
The word township is used to refer to different kinds of settlements in different countries. Township is generally associated with an urban area. However there are many exceptions to this rule. In Australia, the United States, and Canada, they may be settlements too small to be considered urban...
s and section
Section (United States land surveying)
In U.S. land surveying under the Public Land Survey System , a section is an area nominally one square mile, containing , with 36 sections making up one survey township on a rectangular grid....
s as organizing devices.
About the Laws
In Book IV of the 1680 compilation of The Laws of the Indies, plans were set forth for settlers in high detail on every facet of creating a community. Examples of the diverse range of rules include:- Those [Colonists] who should want to make a commitment to building a new settlement in the form and manner already prescribed, be it of more or less than 30 neighbors, (know that) it should be of no less than twelve persons and be awarded the authorization and territory in accordance with the prescribed conditions.
- Having made the selection of the site where the town is to be built, it must, as already stated, be in an elevated and healthy location; [be] with means of fortification; [have] fertile soil and with plenty of land for farming and pasturage; have fuel, timber, and resources; [have] fresh water, a native population, ease of transport, access and exit; [and be] open to the north windNorth windA north wind is a wind that originates in the north and blows south. The north wind has had historical and literal significance, since it often signals cold weather and seasonal change in the Northern hemisphere.-Mythology:...
; and, if on the coast, due consideration should be paid to the quality of the harbor and that the sea does not lie to the south or west; and if possible not near lagoons or marshes in which poisonous animals and polluted air and water breed. - They [Colonists] shall try as far as possible to have the buildings all of one type for the sake of the beauty of the town.
- Within the town, a commons shall be delimited, large enough that although the population may experience a rapid expansion, there will always be sufficient space where the people may go to for recreation and take their cattle to pasture without them making any damage.
- The site and building lots for slaughter houses, fisheries, tanneries, and other business which produce filth shall be so placed that the filth can easily be disposed of.
These regulations are included in a body of 143 others (totaling 148) configuring any settlement according to the rule of Spain and its colonies. This continued as a precedent in all towns of Spanish control until the relinquishing of the land to others, as in the case of the American colonies and their growth; however, the Laws of the Indies still serve as an example to design guidelines for communities today.
Examples of cities implemented with The Laws
- Pueblo de Los AngelesPueblo de Los AngelesEl Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles was the Spanish civilian pueblo founded in 1781, which by the 20th century became the American metropolis of Los Angeles....
(1781) - Santa Fe, New MexicoSanta Fe, New MexicoSanta Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
- San Juan Bautista, CaliforniaSan Juan Bautista, CaliforniaSan Juan Bautista is a city in San Benito County, California, United States. The population was 1,862 at the 2010 census, up from 1,549 at the 2000 census. The city of San Juan Bautista was named after Mission San Juan Bautista...
(1797) - ÁlamosÁlamosThe town and municipality of Álamos in the Mexican state of Sonora was founded in the late 17th century following discoveries of silver in the region. It was named by the conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, and became the capital of the surrounding region...
, SonoraSonoraSonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
, Mexico (1542) - Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Tucson, ArizonaTucson, ArizonaTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
- Fernandina, Florida (1811)
- Laredo, TexasLaredo, TexasLaredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
(1767) - Villa de San Fernando, Texas (1731)
- Vigan, Ilocos Sur (1572)
Sources
- Spain/Council of the Indies and Juan Manzano Manzano. Recopilación de leyes de los reynos de las Indias. 4 vols. Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hispánica, 1973 [1681] ISBN 978-84-7232-204-2
- Spain/Council of the Indies. Recopilación de leyes de los reynos de las Indias, 1681. 5 vols. Mexico: M. A. Porrúa, 1987. ISBN 978-968-842-091-1
- Spain/Council of the Indies. Recopilación de leyes de los reynos de las Indias. 3 vols. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitutionales: Boletín Oficial del Estado, 1998 [1681]. ISBN 978-84-340-1040-6
- Tyler, S. Lyman. The Indian Cause in the Spanish Laws of the Indies: With an Introduction and the First English Translation of Book VI, Concerning the Indians, from the Recopilación de leyes de los reinos de las Indias, Madrid, 1681. Salt Lake City: American West Center, University of Utah, 1980.
- Tyler, S. Lyman. Spanish Laws Concerning Discoveries, Pacifications, and Settlements among the Indians: With an Introduction and the First English Translation of the New Ordinances of Philip II, July 1573, and of Book IV of the Recopilación de leyes de los reinos de las Indias, Relating to these Subjects. Salt Lake City: American West Center, University of Utah, 1980.
External links
- Recopilación de las leyes de los reynos de Indias Spanish languageSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, PDFPortable Document FormatPortable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
, facsimile version of the compilation on site of the Congress of the Republic of PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
.
See also
- Laws of Burgos - Leyes de Burgos-1512
- New LawsNew LawsThe New Laws, in Spanish Leyes Nuevas, issued November 20, 1542 by King Charles V of Spain regarding the Spanish colonization of the Americas, are also known as the "New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians", and were created to prevent the exploitation of the...
- Leyes Nuevas-1542 - Indian ReductionsIndian ReductionsReductions were settlements founded by the Spanish colonizers of the New World with the purpose of assimilating indigenous populations into European culture and religion.Already since the beginning of the Spanish presence in the Americas, the Crown had been concerned...
- Jesuit ReductionsJesuit ReductionsA Jesuit Reduction was a type of settlement for indigenous people in Latin America created by the Jesuit Order during the 17th and 18th centuries. In general, the strategy of the Spanish Empire was to gather native populations into centers called Indian Reductions , in order to Christianize, tax,...
- Urban planningUrban planningUrban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
----