Francisco de Toledo, Viceroy of Peru (d. 1582)
Francisco Álvarez de Toledo (Oropesa, 10 July 1515 – Escalona, 21 April 1582), also known as The Viceroyal Solon, was an aristocrat and soldier of the Kingdom of Spain and the fifth Viceroy of Peru. Often regarded as the "best of Peru's viceroys", he is as often denounced for the negative impact his administration had on the Indigenous Andean (Indian) people of Peru. Toledo brought stability to a tumultuous viceroyalty of Spain and enacted administrative reforms which changed the character of Spanish rule and the relationship between the indigenous peoples of the Andes and their Spanish overlords. With a policy called reductions, Toledo forcibly relocated much of the Indian population of Peru and Bolivia into new settlements to enforce Christianization, collect tributes and taxes, and gather Inca labor to work in mines and other Spanish enterprises.
He held the position of viceroy from November 30, 1569, until 1 May 1581, a total of eleven years and five months. He has been praised as the "supreme organizer" of the immense viceroyalty, giving it an adequate legal structure and strengthening important institutions under which the Spanish colony functioned for more than two hundred years. He is criticized for the reductions of the Indian population, expanding the forced labor demanded of the Indians under the mit'a of the Inca Empire, and executing Túpac Amaru, the last Inca of the Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba.
1515Jul, 10
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