Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

What Really Happened: When the Spanish began to have doubts about the ‘godliness of their actions, the Pope Alexander VI (better known as Rodrigo Borgia, father of the infamous Lucrezia), wrote out the Requerimiento. Rights of conquest had been postulated by the Treaty of Alcacovas, as well as by many earlier documents. But Spaniards now felt the need for a more particular justification, and the result was the Requerimiento, a document designed to be read to enemy Indians before battle. Its complex message, even if delivered audibly and in a language intelligible to Indians - conditions that were rarely achieved - pointed to one conclusion: that the ensuing battle and subjugation and enslavement and death and robbery were the fault of the Indians, not of the Spaniards.

Having promulgated the Requerimiento in due form, the Spanish captain sent the official report back to Spain with the necessary signatures and his conscience was clear. Certainly this remarkable proclamation offers many vulnerable spots to the barbs of cynics, and the use made of it by the Spaniards affords consummate proof of the hypocritical religiosity in the Spanish character to persons who were affected. We can applaud the chiefs of Sinu, among the first to hear the document, when they answered, "The holy father has indeed been generous with others' property."

Philip II proclaimed a law that made it mandatory for conquistadors to let the Native Americans they were about to subdue know beforehand their duties and obligations toward the Spanish crown and church and "to offer to absorb them peacefully if they would acknowledge those obligations." Consequently, this law required the conquistadors to bring along a priest on all expeditions and forays. The priest would act as a witness to their reading of the Requerimiento to all Native American tribes they confronted. Those who accepted the Requerimiento became labourers under the encomienda system, and those who did not were enslaved. In practice, however, this law was often violated and usually ignored

One copy of the Requerimiento can be found at: http://www.dickinson.edu/~borges/Resources-Requerimiento.htm. Feel free to laugh, I did, but it was deadly serous to the Spanish.

What might have happened: If the Requerimiento can accept some part of the blame for the Spanish depredations in the New World, that what if it had never been written or King Charles V (?) of Spain merely laughs and orders it ignored? The various kings in Europe (the stronger ones at least) made numerous efforts to reduce the authority of the pope over them, while giving lip service to him, and this could have been another of those occasions. Therefore, no Requerimiento and no overwhelming legal basis for contrast in the New World.

Despite the absence of the Requerimiento, I cannot imagine the conquistadors not attempting to conquer the Caribbean islands and later Mexico and Peru. The effect of the Papal Bull that granted those lands to Spain and Portugal on the other European nations is over estimated most of the time, simply, no other European nation had the power to send fleets to the new world on an organised basis until the seventeenth century. Piracy, such as the Drake voyages, was possible, colonisation was a more difficult business as the Spanish attacked settlements until they became too weak to do so. Therefore, the colonisation of Cuba, Hispania, etc, goes ahead as in OTL. The conquest is subtly different though.

The islands, when ‘discovered’ by Columbus, were inhabited by Tiano Indians, who had a basic agricultural society and Caribs, who were more warrior-type. They were no match for the Spanish though, and were rapidly enslaved and forced into fudral estates belonging to the more powerful Spaniards. However, there is no nonsense about bringing the ‘benefits’ of Christianity to the islanders and no real justification for doing such things for the ‘Spanish loyalists’ among the Tiano to accept. There are a number of revolts against Spanish authority, which are stamped on as hard as possible, the poorer, Indian-less Spanish, attempting to destroy the property of the richer Spanish to express their frustration.

To add to the woes of the poor islanders, in 1507 (1 year earlier than OTL), smallpox hits the islands and rapidly wipes out huge number of Indians. This causes a major labour shortage on all of the islands, and the Spanish attempt to fill the holes by raiding surrounding areas for Indian slaves, and by importing black slaves. This introduces Malaria to the woes of the Tiano, and by 1510, they are extinct.

This leads to a vast drift of Spaniards from the islands, while the richer estate holders attempt to turn them into plantations by importing hundreds of blacks from Africa and ordering a further exploration for slaves and territory. This leads to the voyages of Joao Ramalho and others like him. In pre-European times, the area that is now Sao Paulo state was occupied by the Tupinakin people, who subsisted through hunting and cultivation. The first European to settle in the area was Joao Ramalho, a Portuguese sailor who may have been shipwrecked around 1510, ten years after the first Portuguese landfall in Brazil. He married the daughter of a local chieftain and settled there, having little real prospects back home.

Joao Ramalho’s case is a typical one for young, poor, ambitious Spanish men in this time line. The availability of estates for those who conquer is far lower than in OTL and they have an exaggerated idea of how long they last - a few years, no more. Slaves just die before they can be more than marginally helpful. This may lead to one of the Spaniards discovering the ‘Hawthorne effect’ early, but is more likely to lead to the Spanish becoming pirates on the Aztecs and other American civilisations.

How likely is this? In OTL, a Spaniard called Nuno de Guzman caused the destruction of large parts of north Mexico, A man in the style of Himmler and Beria, Guzman paid lip service to the Spanish ideal of Christianising New World Indians but his true goals were riches and power. Guzman sold Indians into slavery, seized the estates of his political enemies, and tried to haul a bishop from the pulpit when he preached against him. Faced with disgrace, having heard of the plan to replace him, he decided on a bold move to save face. Announcing that he planned a new conquest, he looted the Treasury, gathered together a band of followers and set off to the west. No one was sorry to see him go, but the Indian monarch King Tangaxoan, ruler of the Tarascan realm in Michoacan, was very unhappy to see him. When his expedition arrived in Michoacan, he seized the king and demanded a huge amount of gold. When Tangaxoan couldn't, or wouldn't, produce it, Guzman had him dragged behind a horse and then burned alive, claiming he did it because of the king’s supposed reversion to Paganism. Here, without any legal defence, thousands of Indians will meet their deaths.

Diego Velásquez, governor of Cuba, sends exhibitions to survey territory for slave raids and possible conquest. These result in no immediate solution for the Governor of Cuba, however, there are indications of a wealthy civilisation somewhere just beyond the Spanish reach. Intrigued and excited about the possibility of finding the source of this wealth, Velásquez commissions Hernán Cortés to explore, trade, and search for Christian captives in the Yucatan. Cortés starts assembling his forces at once, but rapidly runs into problems.

The rapid decline in value of the American territories, and their subsequent monopolisation by the rich Spanish and their black slaves, has changed the social background considerably. Poor Spanish do not believe Cortés promises of wealth upfront, as some of them remember such promises from the conquest of the Caribbean, and therefore Cortés forces are going to be far more limited than in OTL. He is forced to settle for three ships, 50 mariners, 250 solders, (including thirty-two crossbowmen and thirteen arquebusiers) and 10 horses. There is only a small complement of native (Cuban) assistance. In OTL, Cortés purchased six vessels and commissioned 110 mariners and 553 soldiers. He brought along 200 Cuban soldiers and also a few Cuban women for cooking and other menial jobs. Anticipating the terror that they could strike in the Mexicans, Cortés brought fourteen cannons (four light falconets and ten heavy guns) and sixteen horses.

Cortés mission is very different than in OTL. Instead of finding natives to convert, he is on a mission of what is effectively state brigandage, intended to find slaves and treasure.

Shortly after the fleet embarked, hurricane winds forced them far to the south of their intended destination, to the island of Cozumel. Cortés ship was the last to arrive and he found upon landing that one of his commanders, Pedro de Alvarado, had rashly removed the ornaments from the local temples and forced the Cozumelans to flee to the centre of the small island. Upon investigation, Cortés discovers that the Cozumelans are dying, victims of Spanish disease brought by a similar exhibition and helpless to survive. Cortés takes some of them as slaves, a mistake that will have disastrous effects in the future, and takes all the treasure they have, which is very little.

While preparing to leave, Cortés ships are seen and intercepted by a canoe from the mainland. This small ship approached the fleet and one of the passengers, Jeronimo de Aguilar, explained that he was a Spaniard who had been marooned on the island for eight years and asked to join the mission. Aguilar's knowledge of the Mayan dialect caused the Captain-General to realize how important the addition of an interpreter would be in further dealings with the Mesoamericans. Aguilar, however, is unwilling to assist in the enslavement of his adopted people (he had believed – naively – that Cortés was only here to explore) and he escapes to warn the Tabascans about the Spanish.

Unfortunately for the Tabascans, a week’s warning is not enough to prepare a suitably lethal surprise for Cortés, and, after a few brief conflicts, the Spaniards managed to land at Tabasco and prepared for a Tabascan assault. From best accounts, the Tabascans numbered 40,000, which the cannon failed to deter them from attacking. Ignoring their losses and coming on in repeated waves, the Spanish cavalry, led by Cortés, charged at the back of the Tabascan army, breaking the native charge.

Having crushed the opposition, Cortés kidnaps nearly a thousand young Tabascan men and sets sail for Cuba, leaving behind the weak slaves from Cozumel and hanging Aguilar from a tree. This has the nasty effect of introducing the Tabascans to smallpox, while bringing new slaves to Cuba. Treasure, while discovered in large quantities, is insufficient to introduce new economic life to the Spanish territories, and therefore official interest wanes, although the possibility of treasure causes a rush of immigrants interested in repeating Cortés feat.

The effects on the Natives of Mexico and Peru were more, not less devastating than in OTL, but without the Spanish allow the epidemics to burn out without the collapse of civilisation. All the European diseases, even smallpox, were not completely fatal to the Indian way of life. They did not have anything approaching a 100% death rate, even at the worst. The example of the conquest of Peru, where their king was killed well before the Spanish arrived by Smallpox (starting a civil war), showed that the effects of smallpox were limited. Even a small contact with it, though, could grant limited immunity, as the recovery of Indian populations in eastern Mexico/America showed before the Spanish asserted control. The Spanish seizure of power and the subsequent extraction of tribute and servitude destroyed Indian culture and daily patterns of life. The food they demanded and the way they headed the Indians into encomiendas, all meant that their patterns, such as their religious obligations to bathe frequently, and their diet, were destroyed and made them more vulnerable to disease

The effects are stunning though, even with the aspects of their culture that should assist avoiding disease still in place, as forty percent of the respective populations are killed before the epidemic burns out. The emperor Moctezuma II is among the dead, as is many of the high officials of Mexico. The priests, however, proclaim that the disease was brought by the invaders, and demand that the Aztecs destroy any further intrusion. They do have strokes of luck, as they discover other Spanish castaways, some of whom are more than willing to advise the Aztecs. Several are executed, as they can’t tell the Aztecs how to make gunpowder, though some do know the basics of metalworking and teach that. When Cortés (or whoever leads the next slave-raiding party) steps ashore at Vera Cruz, they discover that the Aztecs are ready for them and they need to fight huge battles to capture a few slaves. Such exhibitions soon become very un-cost-effective.

Short Term Consequences – Europe

No Immediate influx of Mexican gold for the Spanish treasury. This will either bankrupt them sooner or force them to develop more careful banking polices.
No great heroic tales of conquest to inspire the explorers of France, Britain and the Netherlands. The colonies that those countries founded may be delayed or more based round exile groups like the Puritans.
The image of the catholic church will be tarnished by their failure to do anything to prevent the holocaust
The Spanish colonies in the Caribbean may be abandoned by 1600, as they’ll appear worthless.
No influx of 400’000+ settlers to Mexico in the first ten years. Those discontented men may go elsewhere.
Possible focus on North Africa for expansion
Possible declaration of independence from the Caribbean islands when the revolt breaks out in Spain.

Short Term Consequences – Mexico and America

Serious losses in population due to disease.
No invasion to destroy the Aztec or Inca empires, once they recover from the epidemics, they may have more life in them.
Sharp changes as slave raiders raid into Mexico to snatch slaves. The Aztecs will need to adapt quickly to fight them, which they may be able to do in time.
Introduction of Spanish techniques such as metalworking, gunpowder, and so forth.
Sharp disruption all over the eastern United States region as tribes and bands are disrupted by disease and the spread of the new technologies.
No DeSoto Expedition to wreak havoc in Florida.

Medium Term Consequences – British Empire

Colonisation of the OTL areas is still likely
Indians may prove more formidable opponents in this timeline
Contact with independent Aztec empire will change the face of British society

Medium Term Consequences – Mexico

Contact with other European powers will add to their technology and may cause the empire to collapse as Europeans get involved in the power balance. Mexico may end up as the jewel in the British crown
Contact between the Incas and the Aztecs will lead to technology sharing

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