Every Day Is Special: December 27 – Laws of Burgos

December 27 – Laws of Burgos - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Posted on December 27, 2018

On this date in 1512, the Spanish government passed a detailed set of laws that governed the behavior of Spaniards in the Americas.

(At that time, the Spain didn't actually exist, so when I say the "Spanish government," I basically mean the Crown of Castile.)

The Good:

These laws specifically made mistreatment of Native Americans illegal. They detailed requirements for hygiene and feeding and housing and pay for the Native Americans who work for the colonizing Spaniards, and the desire to protect the Indians was evident in the laws. For example, women who were more than four months pregnant didn't work but were still housed and fed.

The laws specified that the Indians would only leave their land and come live with the Spaniard colony voluntarily, not by force. And after working with the Spaniards for two years, they were free to go. (But...I thought that they were ALWAYS free to go. They were working with the Spaniards on a volunteer basis, right? Hmm....)

The laws also stated that the Spaniards who were in charge of all of this food / housing / etc. were not allowed to use any form of punishment on the Native Americans. Instead, the Spanish law officials of the nearest town were to be used to enforce laws for both Spaniards and Native Americans.

The laws required cabins and huts built for Native Americans to be built alongside / near cabins and huts built for Spaniards. In other words, there was a sort of officially-mandated racial integration.

The Laws of Burgos specified that Indian chiefs and officials be respected in many ways. They were exempted from doing ordinary jobs, and they were given servants (other Indians).

The Bad:

You have probably already guessed that the Spanish laws, although they tried to be respectful of Native Americans' human rights in some ways, didn't respect the Native Americans' spiritual beliefs / religions. Instead, the Laws of Burgos specifically supported converting the Indians to Christianity (Catholicism).

This sort of mandated conversion is extremely damaging to a people's way of life, to their full independence and equal rights, to their self-respect, to their connection with their ancestors and their heritage.

The Ugly:

The fact that so many specific, detailed laws concerning the decent treatment of Native Americans hints that there was a lot of INdecent treatment of Indians. And apparently the good part of these laws were not well enforced.

What is certain is that a LOT of Native Americans were killed, either by Spanish attacks, by inhumane treatment, or unintentionally by such causes as disease. The Spaniard Bartolome de Las Casas, a Dominican monk and historian, wrote descriptions of horrible situations and accused the Spaniards of devastating the native peoples.