Religion in the New World: Requierimento

Source

The Requirement. Upon arriving on the lands they wished to colonize and claim in the name of the monarchy and in God’s name, explorers from Spain and other countries, beginning with Christopher Columbus, were compelled to read aloud the king’s summons to the Indians, the Requierimento, or Requirement. In essence this was the explorers’ way of taking possession of land for the Spanish monarchy and inform the natives of the truth of Christianity. This example was presented by Gov. Panfilo de Narváez: “On behalf of the Catholic Caesarian Majesty of Don Carlos ... I ... notify and cause you to know in the best manner that I can, that God our Lord ... created the heaven and earth .... because of the infinity of offspring that followed in the five thousand years and more since the world was created, it has become necessary that some men should go in one direction and others in another, dividing into many kingdoms and provinces.” The governor continued by saying that God required the Pope to be “obeyed and be head of all the human race, where so ever they might live and be.” The Spanish notary recorded the episode and obtained witnesses of signatures. The Spanish took this exercise seriously, “with scrupulous regard for the law.” Even though the Indians could not understand what was being said to them, the colonizers repeated this exercise with every arrival in a new land. Only Bartolomé de las Casas ridiculed the practice.

Source

James Axtell, Beyond 1492: Encounters in Colonial North America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).