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The Valladolid debate (1550 – 1551) concerned the treatment of natives of the New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
. Held in the Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 city of Valladolid
Valladolid

||-||} is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, upon the Pisuerga River and within the Ribera del Duero wine-making region. It is the capital of the Valladolid and of the autonomous communities of Spain of Castile and Leon, therefore is part of the historical region of Castile ....
, it opposed two main attitudes towards the conquests of the Americas
European colonization of the Americas

The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492, although there was at least one earlier colonization effort....
. Dominican
Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France....
 friar and Bishop of Chiapas
Chiapas

Chiapas is the southernmost States of Mexico of Mexico, located towards the southeast of the country. Chiapas is bordered by the states of Tabasco to the north, Veracruz to the northwest, and Oaxaca to the west....
 Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas

File:Bartolomedelascasas.jpgBartolom? de las Casas, Dominican Order , was a 16th-century Spanish Empire Dominican Order priest, and the first resident Bishop of Chiapas....
 argued that the Amerindians were free men in the natural order and deserved the same treatment as others, according to Catholic theology. Opposing him was fellow Dominican Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda
Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

Juan Gin?s de Sep?lveda was a Spain Dominican Order, philosophy and theology. He was the adversary of Bartolom? de las Casas in the Valladolid debate in 1550 concerning the justification of the Spanish Conquest of the Indies....
, who insisted the Indians were natural slaves, and therefore reducing them to slavery or serfdom was in accordance with Catholic theology and natural law.






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The Valladolid debate (1550 – 1551) concerned the treatment of natives of the New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
. Held in the Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 city of Valladolid
Valladolid

||-||} is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, upon the Pisuerga River and within the Ribera del Duero wine-making region. It is the capital of the Valladolid and of the autonomous communities of Spain of Castile and Leon, therefore is part of the historical region of Castile ....
, it opposed two main attitudes towards the conquests of the Americas
European colonization of the Americas

The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492, although there was at least one earlier colonization effort....
. Dominican
Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France....
 friar and Bishop of Chiapas
Chiapas

Chiapas is the southernmost States of Mexico of Mexico, located towards the southeast of the country. Chiapas is bordered by the states of Tabasco to the north, Veracruz to the northwest, and Oaxaca to the west....
 Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas

File:Bartolomedelascasas.jpgBartolom? de las Casas, Dominican Order , was a 16th-century Spanish Empire Dominican Order priest, and the first resident Bishop of Chiapas....
 argued that the Amerindians were free men in the natural order and deserved the same treatment as others, according to Catholic theology. Opposing him was fellow Dominican Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda
Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

Juan Gin?s de Sep?lveda was a Spain Dominican Order, philosophy and theology. He was the adversary of Bartolom? de las Casas in the Valladolid debate in 1550 concerning the justification of the Spanish Conquest of the Indies....
, who insisted the Indians were natural slaves, and therefore reducing them to slavery or serfdom was in accordance with Catholic theology and natural law. Las Casas and Sepúlveda each later claimed to have won the debate, but no record supporting either claim exists, and the debate had no clear effect on the treatment of the natives.

Las Casas, from the School of Salamanca
School of Salamanca

The School of Salamanca is the renaissance of thought in diverse intellectual areas by Spain theology, rooted in the intellectual and pedagogical work of Francisco de Vitoria....
 and the Humanist
Humanism

Humanism is a broad category of ethics that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal human qualities, particularly rationalism, without resorting to the supernatural or alleged divine authority from religious texts....
 movement, worked for years to expose the cruel treatment of natives in the encomienda
Encomienda

The encomienda system is a trusteeship labor system that was employed by the Spanish crown during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The etymology of encomienda and encomendero lies in the Spanish verb encomendar, "to entrust"......
 system. This work had led to the Laws of the Indies
Laws of the Indies

The Laws of the Indies are the Code issued by the Crown of Castile for its American and Philippine possessions of its Spanish Empire. They regulated social, political and economic life in these areas....
 of 1542, which promised to bring the encomienda system to an end. The humanity of the natives had already been established by the papal bull Sublimus Dei
Sublimus Dei

Sublimus Dei is a papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on May 29, 1537, which forbids the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and all other people....
 of 1537, which had also officially (though not effectively) banned slavery. Moved by Las Casas and others, the King of Spain Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
 ordered that further aggressions against the natives should cease and called a Junta
Jury

A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render a rationalism, impartiality verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence or judgment....
 (Jury) of eminent doctors and theologians to hear both sides and to issue a ruling on the controversy. Las Casas' position found support from the monarchy and the Catholic Church, who wanted to control the power of the encomenderos, while Sepúlveda's arguments supported the interests of the colonists and landowners who benefited from the system.

Though Las Casas tried to bolster his position by recounting his experiences with the encomienda system's mistreatment of the Indians, the debate remained on largely theoretical grounds. Sepúlveda took a more secular approach, basing his arguments largely on Aristotle
Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greeks philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, Poetics , theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology....
 and the Humanist
Humanism

Humanism is a broad category of ethics that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal human qualities, particularly rationalism, without resorting to the supernatural or alleged divine authority from religious texts....
 tradition to say the Indians were naturally predisposed to slavery, and could be subjected to bondage or war if necessary. Las Casas objected, arguing that Aristotle's definition of the "barbarian" and the natural slave did not apply to the Indians, who were fully capable of reason and should be brought to Christianity without force or coersion. In the end, both parties declared they had won the debate, but neither received the outcome they desired. Las Casas did not see an end to Spanish wars of conquest in the New World, nor did Sepúlveda see the New Laws restricting the power of the encomienda system overturned. The debate did result in the weakening of the encomienda system, but did not substantially alter the treatment of the Indians.