The Government of Santa Marta

The Government of Santa Marta The King: Our governors and any other justices of our Indies, Islands, and Mainland of the Ocean Sea, and to each one of you to whom this my warrant is shown: know that we, in fulfillment of the settlement and capitulation that we ordered to be taken with the Adelantado Don Pedro Fernandez de Lugo, now deceased, regarding the conquest and population of our provinces that were to be conquered in the province of Santa Marta, we have provided the governorship of it to the Adelantado Don Pedro Alonso Luis de Lugo, his son... etc. etc.25 Seville, April 29, 1541. Know that, at the request and request of Don Alonso Luis de Lugo, we ordered and gave a royal charter and provision, signed in our royal name and sealed with our seal and released from those of our Council of the Indies... And now on the part of the said Don Alonso Luis de Lugo, Adelantado of the Canary Islands, it has been reported to us that in fulfillment of what is contained in the said our letter and for the better service of us, he wishes to prepare at once and provide himself with people, horses and artillery and ammunition and tools and supplies and other things necessary for the conquest and population of that province. and to go in person to it and set sail in the whole month of April next, which is next from the following year, 1541. And so that the people of war who are in that province may come in,.. knowing that he is going in person to the governorship, they are calm and do not disturb or make scandals in our service and to the injury of the natives, he begged us, as well as for this to do him favor, to give him leave so that the person whom he would appoint with his power and in his name, approved by those of our Council, could go and go to that said province and present himself with the said provision in that city of Santa Marta and take in his name the possession of the said office of governor and captain general... Which seen by those of our Council... we command that Hernán Peraza, presenting himself with this letter of ours and with a special power of attorney from the said adelantado Don Alonso Luis de Lugo in the council of that city of Santa Marta, give him as his lieutenant, the possession of the said office of governor and captain general of that city of Santa Marta... and thou didst make him give all the favor and help that he asked of you and needed, and in all things you obeyed him and obeyed him and kept his commandments... Madrid, December 10, 1540.26 Inasmuch as on the part of you, Don Alonso Luis de Lugo, adelantado of the Canary Islands and our governor and captain-general of the provinces of Santa Marta and Nuevo Reino de Granada, it has been reported to us that you have news that in a certain part of the said governorate there is fine Brazil, and that you, desirous of serving us and of the increase of our royal crown, at your own expense and mission wish to have it sought, and begged me, mindful of the expenses you have to make in it and the work that follows from it, to do you the favour of ordering that for a period of seven years you and the persons who have your power to do so, and no others, that they could seek out and take out the Brazil that had been discovered, and discovered in the said your governorship, and bring it to these kingdoms, giving us and paying us the tenth part of the whole of the said Brazil that you will thus extract, or whatever my worship may be. And I, attacking the aforesaid, and doing favor to you, will do it for good. Therefore, we hereby give permission to do so, so that you and no other person, for the term of seven years running and reckoning from the first of January of the coming year of one thousand five hundred and forty-one years, may seek and cause to be searched and discovered any and all Brazil that may be in the said province of Santa Marta and the New Kingdom of Granada. and thus sought and discovered, to take it out and bring it to these our Kingdoms and to bring it into them by the ports of San Lucar de Barrameda and Cadiz, and not by any other part, paying first to our officers of the said province of Santa Marta the tenth part of the Brazil which you shall thus extract. And I command and defend that during the said time of the said seven years no one or any person shall dare to remove the said Brazil from the said province to these Kingdoms, but you, the said adelantado whom your power has for it. Which we do to you, provided that you do not charge or cause to be charged by yourself or any other person in your name with the said Brazil the Indians who are in the said province, if they are not slaves, under penalty that for the same case you will incur a penalty of one thousand Castilians for our chamber and treasury and so on; and henceforth you may not enjoy this said bounty. And we command the bishop of the said province to take care to see if the aforesaid is done and complied with, and that the said Indians are not burdened in any way, and to warn us of it. And in order that this may be done and fulfilled, we command that, before you begin to seek and discover the said Brazil, the said bishop shall take the reason for this my decree. Dated at the town of Madrid, December 10, 1540.27 This third capitulation, heir to the previous one of 1534 that he negotiated with the monarch in the name of his father, corresponds to the time of the resurrection of the method of discovery and rescue, with the new laws, when much more thought was given to the indigenous populations. to save them from the clutches of wild fantasies, the Spaniards themselves from adventure. Naturally, at that time of 1541-1542, at that time, at the court, there coincided with many other courtiers, such prominent figures in the approach to Indian problems as Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, Las Casas and Hernán Cortés. All of them, together with the men of the Council, drafted at this time a new order, based on the disturbing effects on the natives, since in addition to the facts that were peculiar to all armed action, the human consequences were taken into account.28 And the curious thing is that now it is far from thinking of a full regalism, such as the one promoted by Fonseca. for the politics of Don Carlos's time was not characterized by the iron maintenance of such ideas. On the contrary, from the beginning of the reign – as was the case with the donation to the Admiral of Flanders – feudalist concessions were certainly not scarce, although they failed with some exceptions, such as that of Cortés, since the marquisate of Pizarro itself did not materialize. Time and time again – as now – circumstances were imposed with the same result, even if there was no premeditation in it, as in the case of the New Laws, which we commented, since the promoters could not be more antagonistic to the trajectory of the advisor of the Catholic Monarchs.