Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Two Republics - Fueros

The discovery and exploitation of the New World was not entirely without problems for Spain. For ont thing, the crown feared that Hérnan Cortés (1518 — 1522) would attempt to create a kingdom in Mexico, with himself as the King, entirely independent of Spain. For another, the conquistadores (including Cortés) had been awarded encomienda in the New World (entailed estates to be inherited, in perpetuum): not exactly a healthy situation for Spain, just united under Ferdinand and Isabella. Thus the Spanish crown sought ways to ensure that no new, independent kingdom would be established, and that the encomienda would be administered with due attention to the laws of vassalage.

What are some of the things the Spanish crown did to nullify these dangers?


1   See María Elena Martínez, "Genealogical Fictions: Limpieza de Sangre, Religion, and Gender in Colonial Mexico", Stanford Univ. Press, 2008, p. 206:
     "Protestant powers in particular accused Castile of basically committing genocide, of not curbing the greed of its conquerors, of not protecting its overseas subjects, of utilizing evangelization as a pretext to further its own financial interests, and of illegitimately claiming dominium in the Indies on the basis of papal donations and the Requerimiento. ... That is to say, given the ideological centrality of religion to Spanish colonialism — its importance in justifying expansion, conquest, and colonization — the native people had to be recognized as pure. Both the crown and the church had to support the idea that they had the quality of limpieza de sangre and were in a different category than Jews and Muslims. After all, if the indigenous people were lumped with conversos and moriscos — communities generally regarded as reluctant and backsliding converts — what was Spain doing in the Americas? Why should the church attempt to convert populations that could not be converted?”
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2   Magnus Mörner, "Race Mixture in the History of Latin America", Queens College, Little, Brown and Company, 1967, pp. 45-52.
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3   María Elena Martínez, "Genealogical Fictions: Limpieza de Sangre, Religion, and Gender in Colonial Mexico", Stanford Univ. Press, 2008, pp. 104-105.

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