Spain issues requerimiento and the Laws of Burgos, the first legal code in the Americas.
Date: 1512
Spaniards now must read aloud a religious justification for their actions and demand obedience from the Native populations, known as El Requerimiento. The law gives Native peoples the "opportunity" to submit to Catholicism and land seizure before being attacked or enslaved, despite the fact that they do not speak or understand the Spanish language. Spaniards use this code to justify their own violence and believe that it is in alignment with their moral values.