NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Blasco Núñez Vela

Blasco Núñez Vela (1490 - 1546) was the first viceroy of Peru. The king of Spain put him in charge of the conquistadors, keeping them in line. Núñez Vela was a very cocky and selfish man, who wanted all of the power for himself. He is most remembered and known for creating and imposing the controversial New Laws, which dealt with the encomienda system. The encomienda system said that when a person (conquistador) conquered a new town, then they got the rights to it. Blasco's New Laws were not received well by the conquistadors because they said that the Indian slave trade must end, that everyone had to pay their fair share of taxes, and that all of the encomienda rights had to go to the king. This did not go over well with the conquistadors because they thought that they deserved to get all of the land that they had won. Seven hundred of them fought Blasco and his small army of only a couple hundred at a battle in Anaquito. This is where Blasco Núñez Vela met his fate. He was killed fighting in the battle, and then afterwards the conquistadors had him decapitated. They put his head on a spike and marched with it to show everyone that they had won and that they were in charge. Events Tirant Lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell, Martí Joan De Galba is published. ... Events Spanish conquest of Yucatan Peace between England and France Foundation of Trinity College, Cambridge by Henry VIII of England Katharina von Bora flees to Magdeburg Science Architecture Michelangelo Buonarroti is made chief architect of St. ... A viceroy is somebody who governs a country or province as a substitute for the monarch. ... The Republic of Peru (Spanish: Perú; Quechua, Aymara: Piruw) is a country in western South America, bordering Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the east, south-east and south, Chile to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ... This article treats the generic title monarch. ... The Kingdom of Spain or Spain (Spanish and Galician: Reino de España or España; Catalan: Regne dEspanya; Basque: Espainiako Erresuma) is a country located in the southwest of Europe. ... Conquistador (meaning Conqueror in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under Spanish rule between the 15th and 17th centuries. ... During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the New Laws of 1542 were created to prevent the exploitation of the indigenous people by the encomenderos. ... The Encomienda system is a trusteeship system, by which conquistadors were granted the towns of the indigenous people they conquered. ... A monument celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, Westminster, London Wiktionary has a definition of: Slavery Slavery can mean one or more related conditions which involve control of a person against his or her will, enforced by violence or...