The Requerimiento: How Spaniards Justified Conquest

In 1513, Spanish conquistadors began reading a legal document to Indigenous peoples before attacking them: the Requerimiento. This episode explores the bizarre, tragic history of this 'requirement' — a formal demand that natives submit to the Spanish Crown and the Catholic Church or face 'just war,' enslavement, and death. Lucas and Luna trace its origins in medieval Spanish law, its composition by jurist Juan López de Palacios Rubios, and its chaotic deployment by conquistadors like Francisco Pizarro and Hernán Cortés. They discuss how the Requerimiento was read in Spanish to bewildered audiences, often at night or from ships, and how it became a tool of legal fiction rather than genuine communication. The episode also examines Indigenous responses, including a famous account where a chief rejected the document, and the document's eventual obsolescence amid criticism from figures like Bartolomé de las Casas. Specific figures: Juan López de Palacios Rubios, Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Atahualpa, Bartolomé de las Casas. Key terms: Requerimiento, just war, encomienda, Junta de Burgos, Palacios Rubios, Spanish Empire, New Laws of 1542. #Requerimiento #PalaciosRubios #SpanishEmpire #JustWar #Encomienda #Cortes #Pizarro #Atahualpa #BartolomeDeLasCasas #JuntaDeBurgos #NewLaws #Conquistadors #Colonialism #IndigenousResistance #16thCentury #History #FexingoHistory #Podcast #HernanCortes #Tenochtitlan Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo