5/10/2023 0 Comments European war 4 conquest1532-3) when the conquistadors first made contact with him. ![]() Still the document was read out time and time again, including to such elevated figures as the Inca ruler Atahualpa (r. At the very first reading of it, by the notary Rodrigo de Colmenares in Colombia on 19 June 1513, it was already noticed by an eyewitness that "it would seem that these natives will not listen to the theology of the Requerimiento and we have no one here who can help them understand it" (Cervantes, 80). ![]() The Requerimiento was read out to indigenous tribes across the continent for decades. After having listened to or read the document, the locals were then expected to sign their agreement to it. Communication was so ineffective that many of the conquistadors believed it was solely for their own benefit or God's that they were reading out the Requerimiento. Even when efforts were made to translate the document, the result was so confusing that it might as well have remained in Castilian Spanish. Offering a translation of the document in the language of the people concerned was only a recommendation. The document might be read out across a battlefield when a friar or notary could be given this duty and as he would have made sure he was standing well out of range of missiles, even if the audience could have grasped its meaning, they would not have heard the words being spoken. We shall make war against you in all ways and manners…and shall do all the harm and damage that we can… the deaths and losses your fault, and not that of Their Highnesses, nor ours, nor of these gentlemen in our company.Īlthough the Requerimiento was meant to be read out on first contact or before a battle, it was often read only in Spanish and so was incomprehensible to its intended audience. If they did not accept these terms, then the document concluded with a series of ominous threats: The indigenous peoples were expected to accept these peaceful overtures and the new status quo where they were now subjects of the Spanish Crown and prospective members of the Christian Church. Joos van Winghe & Theodor de Bry (Public Domain) To make these concepts clear for both conquerors and conquered, in 1513 the Spanish Crown tasked the noted jurist Juan López de Palacios Rubios with creating an extraordinary document, the Requerimiento. The official line was that native peoples who peacefully accepted the Spanish monarch as their new ultimate overlord should be given in return the opportunity to save their souls and be provided with protection from physical harm and abuse. For many figures in higher authority, conquest was not only an opportunity to gain resources, it also brought a duty to teach indigenous peoples the fundamentals of Christianity. The conquistadors on the ground may not have cared very much about the human cost of their adventures, but there were some voices of protest back in Spain in both the Church and the government. Even those who survived then had to face the fatal threat of European-born diseases. ![]() Thousands were killed in warfare and resistance, many were simply murdered. In this process of colonization, indigenous peoples were robbed, tortured for their valuables, and dispossessed of their land. If anything, the Requerimiento was written for the benefit of the Spanish rather than the indigenous people claimed to be its actual audience. Despite the absurdity of the document and its delivery, the Requerimiento illustrates that even in this relatively early stage of European global imperialism, rulers were not entirely confident they had every right to trample over people in another part of the world, Christian or otherwise. Although legally obliged to declare the contents of the Requerimiento, in practice most conquistadors simply had someone – a friar, for example – skim through the most pertinent elements of the document and shout it across the battlefield as the cannons were being loaded to be fired. Ignoring the fact that the text of the Requerimiento was usually incomprehensible to its intended audience, the document was really a way for the Spanish to ease the guilt of their imperialism. Created in 1513, the document outlined the history of Christianity, the superiority of the pope, and the obligation from this day onwards for all indigenous peoples to submit themselves to Spanish royal authority. The Spanish Requirement or Requerimiento was a document intended to be read out to and agreed upon by indigenous peoples during the Spanish conquest of the Americas.
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