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Fray Juan De Zumárraga and Indian Policy in New Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Carlos E. Castañeda
Carlos E. Castañeda*
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin, Texas
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Extract

The Full Realization that the brave Admiral of the Ocean Sea had discovered not a new route to India and the fabled wealth of Cipango and Cathay but an otro mundo, another world, soon became inescapable. Here was another world, with all the implications of the term, inhabited by human beings gathered in various groupings, with varying degrees of development, yet none beyond the stone and precious metals stage, none with a fully integrated system of writing, none beyond the stage of human sacrifices in their religious practices. On what grounds had the crown of Spain a right to disturb the existing conditions? The problem presented was new to a Christian world just awakening from the long and troubled slumber of the Middle Ages. The norms developed by Western Europe in its relations with Islam and the Near East did not seem to apply to the peoples of the otro mundo, or New World.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , 1949 , pp. 296 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1949

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References

* This paper was read, in part, at the twenty-ninth annual meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association, held in Washington, D. C, on Dec. 28–30, 1948. The Editors of The Americas are grateful to the Rev. Dr. John Tracy Ellis, Secretary of the Association, for permission to print this study by Dr. Castañeda as a tribute to the memory of Fray Juan de Zumárraga.

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6 Chauvet, op. cit., 28–30; Icazbalceta, op. cit., 31–33. For text of Cédula see Carreño, , Un Desconocido Cedulario del Siglo XVI (Mexico, 1944), 69–70 Google Scholar. The date of the appointment was January 10, 1528.

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8 Carta de Jerónimo López al Emperador, in Icazbalceta, , Documentos para la Historia de México (Mexico, 1866), II, 141–154 Google Scholar. The original manuscript is now in the Univeristy of Texas. López, unfriendly to the Franciscans and the bishop-elect, admits the justice of the protest and verifies the abuses of the Audiencia in this regard.

9 Ibid., 148–154.

10 López, Jerónimo, Memorial in Epistolario de Nueva España (Mexico, 1940), XV, 183–196 Google Scholar; Zumárraga, Carta a su Majestad, August 27, 1529, in Icazbalceta, , Fray Juan de Zumárraga, Appendix, 33–35.Google Scholar

11 Carta de Zumárraga a Su Majestad, August 27, 1529, in Icazbalceta, , Zumárraga, Appendix, 36–41.Google Scholar

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13 Carreño, A. M., Un Desconocido Cedulario del Siglo XVI, 68–69.Google Scholar

14 Real Cédula of September 28, 1534, Carreño, ibid., 97.

15 Ibid., 78.

16 Chauvet, op. cit., 121–130.

17 Memorial del Obispo de México, 1533, in Icazbalceta, , Fray Juan de Zumárraga (1947 ed.), IV, 114–116.Google Scholar

18 Parecer del Sr. Zumárraga al Consejo de Indias, sobre la manera de poblar y enriquecer la Nueva España (1539?); Otro Parecer (undated). Both in Icazbalceta, , Zumárraga (1881 ed.), Appendix, 111–116.Google Scholar

19 Haring, op. cit., 57-S8.

20 Cuevas, op. cit., I, 246–247.

21 Carta colectiva de los Franciscanos al Emperador, October 4, 1543, in Icazbalceta, , Zumárraga (1947 ed.), III, 231–233.Google Scholar

22 Matías, Alonso P., Crónica Seráfica de la Santa Provincia de la Purísima Concepción (Valladolid, 1734), 298.Google Scholar

23 Chauvet, op. cit., 289–292. The text reads “me dará el cielo y en el, el verdadero palio.”