SOURCE: Hanke, Lewis. “Viceroy Francisco de Toledo and the Just Titles of Spain to the Inca Empire.” The Americas 3, no. 1 (July 1946): 3-19.

In the following essay, Hanke discusses how Francisco de Toledo, the Viceroy of Peru from 1569-1582, sought to refute Bartolomé de las Casas' condemnation of the Spanish conquest with historical treatises designed to depict Incan history as savage and tyrannical, and Spain's subsequent domination as legitimate and just.

The best example of the effect produced by Fray Bartolomé de las Casas' theoretical writings concerning the just title Spain held to America occurred in Peru during the rule of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, wise law-giver, energetic administrator, and greatest viceroy Spain ever sent to Peru, who laid the basis for Spanish rule there during the years 1569-1582. Before his coming, Peru had had a most turbulent and bloody history, and Toledo arrived with one great aim—to...