Manhattan D.A. Bragg announces return of 16th Century Manuscript to Paraguay

The 13-page manuscript, valued at nearly $20,000, had been housed in the National Archive of Paraguay since at least 1870 until it was stolen over a decade ago. It next surfaced at an auction house in Manhattan in 2013, where it was sold to a NYC-based rare book dealer. After receiving a tip in January 2025 from the Consul General of Paraguay in New York, the Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU) recovered the manuscript in early April. The return of the manuscript marks the Office’s first-ever repatriation with Paraguay.

“I am thrilled that, for the first time, we have been able to return a stolen artifact to the people of Paraguay,” said District Attorney Bragg. “I thank our team of prosecutors, investigators and analysts for unraveling this theft and returning this manuscript back to Paraguay’s National Archives.”

“The return of this historical manuscript is a meaningful gesture of friendship and respect between our nations. It symbolizes our shared commitment to the preservation of cultural heritage and historical memory. We are deeply grateful to the District Attorney’s Office for its invaluable cooperation in making this repatriation possible,” said Fabiola Torres Figueredo, Consul General of Paraguay in New York.

The manuscript was written, signed, and dated by the colonial governor Hernando Arias de Saavedra, called Hernandarias, in 1598 and detailed the laws governing the daily life of the Indigenous population of the Spanish colony. This manuscript is seen as an important precursor to Hernandarias’ 1603 abolition of the punitive encomienda system, a form of enslavement that allowed colonists to demand tribute and forced labor from Indigenous peoples.

Main Image: The now returned manuscript. Photo courtesy of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.