Bartolome de Las Casas Book Review

To me, it is the first time that I had read in detail of terror that came with the colonialization of the Spaniards. The significance of De Las Casas writings is historically important to not only understand someone perspective in that time, but especially because there aren’t many documents that speak of this types of events in respects of the Natives. For example in one instance De Las Casas reveals how he saw the Natives saying, "They are by nature the most humble, patient, and peaceable, holding no grudges, free from embroilments, neither excitable nor quarrelsome." This is a reflection that can't be questioned knowing that the Natives were spiritual with nature, didn’t feel the need for possession, and created a community within their

The notoriety of Las Casas’s A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies lies in the fact that it contains realistic events witnessed by Las Casas

Las Casas portrays how the poor treatment of the natives impacted their lives and his: “Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desperations... My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write” (Zinn 7). Additionally, comparing the vibrant life of the natives before Columbus arrived to the cruelty they endured after, aids the reader in seeing how the Spanish destroyed the native populations’ livelihood and hope. Arriving in what is now Cuba, Las Casas observes, “ [They live in] large communal bell-shaped buildings... made of very strong wood and roofed with palm leaves” and “They are extremely generous with their possessions and by the same token covet the possessions of their friends and expect the same degree of liberality” (Zinn 5). These depictions of Native American society reveals how peacefully they lived with one another without foreign intervention. However, the utopian world they thrived in is crushed after the Spanish arrive. Las Casas’ clear accounts allow the readers to harshly realize this as he explains, “But our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy...”(Zinn 6). As the conquistadors’ mission is immoral and horrifying, especially compared to the kind natives that populate the land, the reader sympathizes with the natives’ perspective, rather than

Columbus wrote of the endless benefits available to the Spanish kingdom. Cabeza de Vaca wrote of the dreadful conditions and cruel environment they were subjected

Bartolome de Las Casas, was a friar and latter a Dominican, who is considered by many as one of the few authors who does justice to the native people of the New World. Casas has a particular purpose on his writings, that being letting the King of Spain at that time Charles V know, of the miseries that were being done to the native people of the New World. De Las Casas does not condemn the arrival of the Spanish in this new land, nor does he condemn the conversion of these gentle and innocent people to Christianity, however, he condemns the measures taken to convert these people into Christianity. He is one of the few writers that extends in different places, and it is certain that he was one of the few who travelled all around the New World.

But obviously Casas’s stance was opposite to the Spaniards. The Spaniards saw themselves as rescuers of those “barbarian natives”. They saw themselves as the greatest nation that came to the new world to save those indigenous from their kings and devilish beliefs ant that their only goal was to spread the Catholic faith through the indigenous people.

As soon as Columbus met the native people of the Bahama Islands, he placed possessional value on them instead of valuing them as humans. He wrote, “They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” Zinn page 1. The indigenous people showered these strangers with gifts, and what did they gain by doing so? They gained nothing and ended up losing their land, freedom and will to go on. The natives of the places Columbus claimed for Spain were subjected to inhumane conditions. Their living conditions were horrid, with the constant torment by the Spaniards. Las Casas’ accounts are horrifying and reveal the truth. Mentioned in his accounts is how the Spaniards treated them and valued them, “thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades.” This is just cruel and immoral. Also mentioned in Las Casas’ accounts is the working conditions. The men were nearly worked to death in the mines, with the futile task of unearthing what little gold there was. While the women were tasked with the laborious job of working the land. They were overworked, and as a result could not properly tend to the care of their children.

When he first came to America, Las Casas took part in the conquest of the West Indies and even owned his own Indian slaves. However, by 1514 he had freed his slaves and was actively preaching against the cruelty and injustices carried out by the Spanish in the American colonies. He wrote of the Indians being placed in “the harshest, fiercest, most horrible servitude and captivity which no one who has not seen it can understand. ”4

Devastation and destruction, the final woes of the Indians in their own lands, and the killers of Spain as well as America who carried the iron death, and death of pen with them. This is a simplified explanation of what happened to the people of Indian decent in during the period that the Spaniards overtook the Southern Americas, and the Americans who stole the land from the natives in the idea of Manifest Destiny. Each generation had their own ideas on how the Indians should be treated, but as history shows each generation chose poorly. The three authors all chose different routes to acknowledge the treatment of the Indians and all three gave compelling evidence towards their arguments whether they are right or wrong.

In 1492 the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus set sell from the Spanish port, in a quest to discover a western sea route to Asia. Christopher Columbus disembarks on Hispaniola in 1492 proclaiming it for Spain. However, the New World was home to millions of people known as Indians. The Indian society had already established a form of government, religious practices, language, agriculture, and hunting. Once, Columbus reported this news to Queen Isabella of Spain, she declared that the Indian were her subjects and should be treated humanely, and converted to Catholicism. Yet, their quest moved towards conquering, colonizing, and exploiting their newly discovered resources in the New World; which lead to the manslaughter of a multitude of Indian and tribes. Thus, Dominican priest Bartolome de las Casas documented the atrocities of the conquest. Bartolome de las Casas wrote, “The Devastation of the Indies” discussing his perspective of the nature and character of both the Indians and Spanish, and the Spanish cruel treatment of the Indians.

De las Casas exposed the atrocities and pitiless conditions committed against the natives by the Spanish colonists. Eventually, Bartolomé wrote to the Prince of Spain about the injustice in the Americas. Bartolomé spent nearly fifty years of his life fighting slavery and the abuse of the indigenous people and continually tried to convince the Spanish to adopt humane policies in the colonies. The conquistadors primarily wanted to gain personal economic wealth and the natives little understood these conquests. Around 1522 Bartolomé de las Casas worked incessantly to denounce these activities and sent information to the Spanish Court reporting the immoral and unreligious actions of the conquistadors. When de las Casas had arrived in the Americas he originally had Indian slaves but later he retracted earlier views and he came to believe that all forms of slavery were wrong.

Bartolome de las Casas took a stand against slavery by writing his book A Short Account of the Destruction of The Indies. He wrote this to show the mistreatment of the Tainos. Although over in Spain they thought they were getting richer and richer but hundreds of tainos were dying and they were getting no richer. They were cutting off hands of innocent tainos above the age of thirteen. If they didn’t get enough gold they would take and enslave thousand of tainos. Bartolome de las casas wrote a book called The short Account of the destruction of the Indies, to show Spain and every other country how bad the Tainos were being treated. He also wrote this book to try and make people killing and slaughtering hundreds of innocent Tainos. Las Casas

A devastating, heartbreaking, infuriating, yet necessary read. Required reading for everyone. I read this a long time ago, and it was a really difficult read at such a young age. The amount of violence perpetrated against and by the Native Americans is astounding. Overall, I enjoyed this book. A strength of this book would be its emotional power. In almost every or every chapter, the reader feels sad about the Indians who have been mistreated and even massacred and end up in terrible conditions. What some might consider

This was a turning point in his life where renouncing the encomienda, or legal system justifying the occupation of natives under Spanish rule (Encomienda) became paramount. His political ventures began in the year 1515 where the Spanish government allocated him authority to establish a colony off the Venezuelan coast where the alleviation of the natives suffering and exploitation could begin (Baym 39). At this juncture in his fight to end slavery, some countermeasures were presented. One of which was the importation of African slaves to ease Indian suffering. This idea was not conducive to Casas’ cause and he soon redacted it. As stated in Casas History of the Indies, “black slavery was as unjust as Indian slavery, and was no remedy at all” (Las Casas). In this instance, Casas was aware of the injustice of slavery no matter the person.

This suggests that Las Casas ultimately believes that Spain has the right (or at least obligation) to conquer the Americas, yet disagrees with the manner in which they are doing so. Subsequently, the influence of nature on modern conceptions of society becomes clear: though a society may recognize the inherent values of nature in human life, it will still look down upon