The Catholic Church decrees that Indians have souls.

Responding to the continuing debate on Indian humanity (see entries for 1502 and for 1511), Pope Julius II declares that Indians are descended from Adam and Eve. At the Fifth Lateran Council, which the pope assembles in Rome, Indians are found to have souls. These declarations reinforce the obligation of Spanish conquistadores and colonists in North America to attempt to convert Indians to Catholicism. (See also entry for 1550.)

Spanish intellectuals approve holy wars against non-Christian Indians.

As the Spanish Crown prepares to create a legal code to govern Spaniards relations to Indians, it seeks advice from legal scholars and the clergy. The most significant contributors confirm that Spain has a legitimate claim to title to its lands in North America and to authority over the Indians living there. They also agree that wars waged against Indians in order to force them to convert to Catholicism are just.

The Spanish Laws of Burgos formalizes the encomienda system.

The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, a code of laws to govern Spanish-Indian relations. The laws focus on the encomienda system, through which the nobles who had helped drive the Muslims from Spain were rewarded with land grants. The Laws of Burgos are intended to regulate the granting of encomiendas in North America, where conquistadores have already begun to institute the system to reward their most valued men (see entry for 1498). Many of these early encomienda owners have made great fortunes by enslaving the Indians on their lands and forcing them to farm, build houses, and mine for gold and silver. The Indians have been worked so hard and so ill treated that they have died in large numbers.

The Laws of Burgos require that landowners provide food for Indians on the encomiendas and

Improve their working conditions. One provision, for instance, stipulates that Indian miners be given 40 days of rest after every five months of labor. The encomienda owners’ most important obligation, however, is to instruct the Indians in Catholicism and encourage their conversion.

And a fountain that, according to Indian tales, can restore a person’s health and youth. Ponce de Leon finds neither, and he returns to Spain the following year. (See also entry for 1521.)