[1][2] Juan de Quevedo was born in Vejorís, Cantabria, Spain and ordained a priest in the Order of Friars Minor.
[3] On September 9, 1513[3] - at the request of King Ferdinand, husband of Queen Isabella - Pope Leo X appointed him Bishop of Santa María de La Antigua del Darién[4]: 47 On January 29, 1514, he was consecrated by bishop by Diego de Deza, Archbishop of Seville.
[3] He left for the Indies in 1514 along with Hernando de Luque[4] on a fleet commanded by Pedro Arias Dávila.
[5] In spite of Quevedo's record as a champion of the rights of Native Americans, his views were still coloured by his time and his missionary fervour.
He regarded all the aborigines of America to be a race of men whom it would be impossible to instruct or improve unless they were collected in villages or missions and kept under continual supervision.