Requerimiento (1513) Commentary by Michael J. O'Neal, Ph.D.

Audience

Ostensibly, the audience for the Requerimiento consisted of the native peoples of the Americas. The notion was that colonizers would arrive at an island or village and read the document publicly, particularly to anyone who seemed resistant to Spanish rule. Usually, the document was read in Spanish, which the Amerindians were unable to understand, although occasionally the document was translated. In reality, the true underlying audience for the document was the Spanish colonizers themselves. The earliest colonizers believed that they had a right to conquest. By tradition, they felt justified in simply arriving, seizing desired property, and subjugating the indigenous peoples. Spanish clerics and missionaries fought this belief, as in their view naked conquest was unjustifiable. King Ferdinand wanted to rein in the excesses of the early colonizers, so Palacios Rubios, a member of his royal council, composed the Requerimiento to provide the colonizers with the...