388 Tordesillas, Treaty of viceroy was to strengthen and unify the colonial state under a grand design intended to consolidate Spanish rule and lay the foundations for continuing Spanish domination of the Andes and its native inhabitants Distinguished Heritage Born in Andalusia, Spain, around 1520, Toledo hailed from one of the country’s most distinguished noble families After effectively serving Charles V and Philip II, he was selected as viceroy (supreme administrator and direct representative of the king) of the newly conquered territories of New Castile (Peru) One of his first acts as viceroy was to launch a bold five-year visita, or tour of inspection, of all the Andean dominions subjugated by Spain Accompanied by the pomp and majesty appropriate to his office, Toledo undertook a census of the entire colony; ordered the reducción (forced resettlement) of surviving Indian communities into Spanish-style towns under the rule of Spanish and native authorities; directed the collection of testimonies on the injustice and tyranny of Inca rule with the intention of ratifying the morality of the Spanish invasion and conquest; abolished the Inca system of mita labor in the Andean highlands and in its stead imposed a new and even more onerous system of obligatory native labor and tribute; reorganized and streamlined the territory’s bureaucracy and administration; revitalized the emergent mining economy, particularly the vast silver mines of Potosí and the mercury mines of Huancavelica; and issued a vast corpus of laws and decrees that effectively limited the autonomy of colonial officials, encomenderos, and other elites while linking their fortunes ever more tightly to the well-being of the colonial state Intolerant of dissent or sustained challenge to Spanish rule, he also directed the invasion and destruction of the neo-Inca state of Vilcabamba, hidden for decades in one of the remotest and most inaccessible corners of the eastern highlands His decision to execute by beheading the kingdom’s captured ruler, Tupac Amaru, a sentence carried out on September 24, 1572, in Cuzco, remains among his most controversial actions, even prompting a mild rebuke from King Philip, who declared in a letter to Toledo that “some things about the execution would have been better omitted.” All of these and related measures, commonly referred to as the Toledo reforms, had the effect of centralizing and strengthening the colonial state and laying the groundwork for a mature colonial economy and society that for the next two and a half centuries would ensure Spanish domination and funnel untold riches into Spain, thus marking Toledo as one of the most important actors in all of Peruvian history In 1581, at the conclusion of his tenure as viceroy, Toledo returned to Spain He died in Seville three years later See also encomienda in Spanish America; Peru, conquest of; Peru, Viceroyalty of Further reading: Hemming, John The Conquest of the Incas New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970; Stern, Steve J Peru’s Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest: Huamanga to 1640 Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982; Zimmerman, Arthur Franklin Francisco de Toledo: Fifth Viceroy of Peru 1566–1881 Caldwell, ID: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1938 Michael J Schroeder Tordesillas, Treaty of A modification of the papal Bull of Demarcation issued in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI, the Treaty of Tordesillas (June 7, 1494) divided the recently discovered New World between its two signatories, Spain and Portugal The treaty created an imaginary pole-to-pole meridian in the Atlantic Ocean 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, granting all lands west of the demarcation line to Spain, and all lands east of it to Portugal In this era of uncertain geographic knowledge, both sides recognized that the division was imprecise and unlikely to prevent future conflict Spain reckoned that the newly discovered Indies (Caribbean) fell well within its sphere of dominion, while Portugal was mainly interested in securing its sea route to Asia around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope Notably, the treaty was concluded six years before the Portuguese, under Pedro Álvares Cabral, discovered Brazil (1500), though once Brazil was on the map, there was little doubt that the land fell under Portugal’s jurisdiction Thornier problems arose once it became clear that the Indies (Americas) lay between Europe and Asia, a fact that became clear after Portuguese navigator Vasco de Gama’s journey to India and back in 1497–99, Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa’s discovery of the Pacific Ocean in 1513, and Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan’s journey to the Pacific around the southern tip of South America in 1520 in the service of Spain In the wake of these advances in Europe’s knowledge, Portugal refused to abide by a treaty that essentially granted all of Asia to its Iberian rival