Spain’s king acknowledges that the Spanish conquest of the Americas included ‘abuse’
MADRID (AP) — ruler of spain Spain’s conquest of the Americas involved “a lot of abuse” and “ethical debates,” he said Monday, striking a conciliatory tone amid a years-long dispute between them. Spain And Mexican Due to colonial era violations committed by the Spanish crown centuries ago.
King Felipe VI made the remarks while speaking with Mexican Ambassador to Spain Quirino Ordaz about the role of women in pre-Columbian Mexico during a visit to a museum exhibition in Madrid.
About the centuries-old Spanish conquest, Felipe said: “There are things that we will recognize when we examine them, and they clearly cannot make us proud of our present values.”
“But these need to be understood in their proper context, not with excessive moral presentism, but with objective and rigorous analysis,” he said.
The Bourbon king’s symbolic remarks came after years of diplomatic wrangling between Spain and Mexico over demands that the Mexican government apologize for Spain’s conquest of Mexico in 1519–1521; this resulted in the death of much of the country’s pre-Hispanic population.
Colonial Spain ruled one of the largest empires in history, with colonial territories spanning 5 continents, at its peak between the 16th and 18th centuries. This included much of Central and South America.
Mexico City became the center of Spain’s colonial power in the Americas after the Spanish and their Native allies overthrew the Aztecs in 1521. Mexico City was built on the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.
Former President of Mexico in 2019 Andrés Manuel López Obrador In a letter to the Spanish king and Pope Francis, he demanded that Spain “publicly and officially” recognize the abuses committed during the conquest of Mexico. Spain refused to do this, which was bad relationships between two governments.
President of Mexico in 2024 Claudia Sheinbaum Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did not invite Felipe to the inauguration ceremony after the palace refused to issue a formal apology, a move that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described as “unacceptable”. Spain refused to send a representative to Sheinbaum’s inauguration.
But tensions appeared to be resolved last fall when Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares acknowledged the “pain and injustice” experienced by Mexico’s indigenous people at the hands of Spanish invaders. These comments came at the opening of the same museum exhibition that the king attended on Monday.
“There was pain, suffering and injustice against the indigenous peoples to whom this exhibition is dedicated,” Albares said at the time.
Sheinbaum acknowledged that the foreign minister’s remarks were a first step, and then said: “This is the first time a Spanish government official has said he regrets the injustice.”
Felipe’s comments do not constitute an official apology from the Spanish royal court. Sheinbaum said Monday he would look into her remarks.
