Luis de Velasco (1511-1564) was the second viceroy of New Spain (now Mexico). A devoted and loyal public servant, he consolidated Spanish control over New Spain and implemented legislation ending Indian slavery in his viceroyalty.

Luis de Velasco was born in the town of Carrión de los Condes in Spain. The son of a noble family, he attended fine schools and joined the military. He soon rose to the rank of captain general in the kingdom of Navarre.

In 1550 Spanish monarch Philip II appointed him viceroy of New Spain. Velasco arrived in Mexico City at a difficult time. The New Laws of 1542, which prohibited Indian slavery and the granting of new encomiendas as well as their bequests to heirs of encomenderos, had created much discontent and had brought the Spanish Empire in America to the verge of disintegration. Although the Crown repealed the inheritance prohibition and...