Dominican friar Bartolome de Las Casas travels from Cuba to Spain to persuade King Charles I to adopt a more humane policy toward the Indians native to lands in the Americas claimed by Spain. During the meeting, passages are read from Las Casas’s A Very Brief Recital of the Devastation of the Indies (see entry for 1502), which details the gruesome torture and murder of thousands of Indian men, women, and children at the hands of their Spanish conquerors.
As a result of Las Casas’s testimony, the king adopts the New Laws of the Indians. These laws ban Indian slavery and call for an end to the encomienda system (see entry for 1512). When Spanish colonists outraged by these reforms begin to revolt, the Crown modifies the laws to minimize their impact. The incident, however, demonstrates to Spain that the encomienda owners are becoming dangerous to its authority in the colonies. In the future, Spain’s rulers will avoid granting new encomiendas and make inheriting existing ones increasingly difficult.
The French king orders Jacques Cartier to return to North America.
Francis I commands French explorer Jacques Cartier to make a third voyage to North America (see entries for 1534 and for 1535), officially to create a permanent French settlement and to “establish the Christian Religion in a country of savages.” Unofficially, the exploratory party, which includes two goldsmiths, is also to search for fabled Indian villages with vast stores of gold and other precious metals.
Cartier and several hundred men settle near what is now Quebec City, but they are plagued by harsh weather and Indian attacks. In the spring, they give up on establishing a colony and sail home with a hoard of what Cartier takes to be gold and
“We order and command that henceforth, for no reason of war or any other, even though it be by reason of rebellion or purchase, may any Indian be made a slave, and we wish them to be treated as our vassals of the Crown of Castile, which they are. No person may make use of any Indian. . . against his will.”
—from the New Laws of the Indies
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo explores the Pacific coast.
A Spanish exploration headed by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo travels up the coast of the Pacific Ocean and claims the region for the Spanish crown. Cabrillo later writes that the tribes he encounters have become hostile toward Spaniards after hearing about atrocities committed by the Coronado expedition (see entry for 1540). The Ipai Indians, for instance, knew that “men like us were traveling about, bearded, clothed and armed. . . killing many native Indians, and. . . for this reason they were afraid.”
May 21
Hernando de Soto dies en route to Spanish territory.
After two years of exploring the American Southeast, the Spanish soldiers under Hernando de Soto (see entries for 1539 and for 1540) are exhausted from constant fighting with Indians and disappointed by their inability to find gold and other riches. De Soto decides to end the expensive expedition and begins to lead his men back to their camp on the coast of present-day Florida. As the Spaniards reach the Mississippi River, de Soto falls ill and dies. Afraid that Indians will attack them if they know their leader is dead, the soldiers wrap the corpse in chains and drop it in the river. Without de Soto, the men decide to continue their quest for gold for six more months. With no success, they take rafts down the Mississippi and along the Gulf Coast until they reach Spanish settlements in present-day Mexico.
World History
