The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regard to native Indians in the New World.

The Laws of Burgos, promulgated on 27 December 1512 in Burgos, Crown of Castile (Spain), was the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spaniards in the Americas, particularly with regard to the Indigenous people of the Americas. They forbade the slavery of the indigenous people and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism. The laws were created following the conquest and Spanish colonization of the Americas in the West Indies, where the common law of Castile was not fully applicable. Friars and Spanish academics pressured King Ferdinand II of Aragon and his daughter, Queen regnant, Joanna of Castile, to pass the set of laws in order to protect the rights of the natives of the New World.

The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the peoples who are native to the Americas or the Western Hemisphere. Their ancestors are among the pre-Columbian population of South or North America, including Central America and the Caribbean. Indigenous peoples live throughout the Americas. While often minorities in their countries, Indigenous peoples are the majority in Greenland and close to a majority in Bolivia and Guatemala.

The "New World" is a eurocentric term used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania. The term arose in the early 16th century during Europe's colonization period, after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci published the Latin-language pamphlet Mundus Novus, presenting his conclusion that the lands to the west of the Atlantic Ocean constitute new continents.

December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; four days remain until the end of the year.