Requerimiento (1513)
Explanation and Analysis of the Document
The Requerimiento is written in the second person, as addressed to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It lays out what the Spanish believed to be the legal and spiritual foundations of Spanish claims to the Americas. It urges the Amerindians to submit themselves to Spanish rule and to convert to Catholicism. It threatens the people with war and conquest if they do not submit.
Paragraphs 1–3
The first paragraph announces that the source of the declaration is King Ferdinand, or Don Fernando, and his daughter, Doña Juana. The latter became queen of Castile (spelled “Castille” in the document) and León in 1504 after the death of Isabella, and later she would become queen of Aragon (as well as the mother of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). She is often referred to by the Latin form of her name, Joanna, and she acquired the sobriquet Joanna the Mad (Juana la Loca) because of her obsession with her husband. The paragraph refers to the...
