Welcome to Cabeza de Vaca.

Episode 3, A Land So Strange.

I'm Brandon Seal.

A strange scene unfolded on April 15, 1528, somewhere near modern-day Tampa Bay, Florida.

Just a day after he had disembarked there, the one-eyed governor-to-be of the North American mainland, Panfilo de Narvaise,

ordered his 300-man expeditionary force to assemble in front of him, for his officers to present

their titles, and for the requirimento to be read aloud. The requirimento, or the requirement,

translated literally, was a pronouncement which Castilian conquistadors were required to read

to the inhabitants of any newly discovered lands.

In this case, it informed the inhabitants of La Florida that God had chosen King Carlos, the reigning

king of Castile, to rule over their lands. They were told that if they behaved well and became

Christians, they would be considered friends of the Castilian king and all of his other

subjects. If, on the other hand, they refused to do so, then the Castilians would treat them very

harshly and carry them off as slaves.

The Recarimiento offered a little bit of something for everyone, the threat of conquest, the promise of salvation,

and some insights into Castilian

civil administration, representing the three aims, really, of Castilian conquest, military, religious,

and civil. The entire performance on that April day in 1528 was recorded by Narvaise's notary,

with all present serving as witnesses that the natives had been duly informed of their rights.

Of course, the natives listening to the requirimento typically didn't appreciate the nuances of everything that had just been said,

because the requirimento was almost invariably read in Spanish, or more properly, in Castellano.

As you may have guessed, however, no natives in Florida at this time understood Castellano or Spanish

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