Notes

The Requerimiento (Spanish) "requirement" as in "demand") of 1513 was a written declaration of sovereignty and war, read by Spanish military forces to assert their sovereignty (a dominating control ) over the Americas. Written by Council of Castile jurist Juan López de Palacios Rubios in 1513, it was used to justify the assertion that God, through historical Saint Peter and appointed Papal successors, held authority as ruler over the entire Earth; and that the Inter Caetera Papal Bull, of 4 May 1493 by Pope Alexander VI, conferred title over all the Americas to the Spanish monarchs.[1] The Requerimiento probably had its origins as early as the 8th century in the Dawah messages sent to non-Muslim nations by Arab conquerors, demanding that their recipients submit to Islamic rule (see Aslim Taslam).[2]
The Requerimiento emerged in the context of moral debates within Spanish elites over the colonization of the Americas, and associated actions such as war, slavery, 'Indian reductions', conversions, relocations, and war crimes. Its use was criticised by many clerical missionaries, most prominently Bartolomé de las Casas. The Spanish crown abolished its use in 1556.