Michael Jordan

10/05/2014
Reflections on the Bartolome de las Casas Impact on the West
Indies
Introduction
Bartolome de las Casas was a Dominican friar. He was also a
Spanish historian, and a social reformer. He was born in Seville in
1484.1 He eventually travelled to the New World. This is where he
ended up writing his documents advocating for social reform in the
Indies. He was motivated to change the way that the Spanish treated
the Indians after travelling to the New World and participating in some
of the atrocities committed against the Indians. De las Casas arrived in
what is now Haiti in 1502, and became a moderately well off priest
with command over a decent amount of Indian taken as slaves through
warfare. 2In 1515 he changed his views about the Indians, and came to
oppose the horrible treatment of them.
He was a defender of the Indians, and an apostle to them.3 He
wrote the work A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies in
1542, though it was published in 1552, in which he advocated for a
reconsideration of the native Indian peoples as having souls, and thus
being deserving of better treatment by the Spanish crown, he sent his

1 From A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, xviii.

2 From A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, xix.
3 From Lecture Notes on 9/20/2014.

report to Phillip II of Spain, but he had written it for Charles I of Spain.4

The short account he wrote was intended to get the king to take action.
De las Casas was trying to argue that the Indians were subjects of the
Castilian Crown, not chattel, and thus treating them as such violated
Gods laws.5 Because he took up these views, he became the chief
reporter on the atrocities committed by the conquistadores in
America.6
De las Casas is remembered as a monumental figure in history
because his writings became the moral conscience of the enterprise
of the indies, and he even managed to get the New Laws of 1542
passed that abolished native slavery in the New World for a while,
which was a landmark accomplishment.7 De las Casas was an early
champion of equal human rights for all, and he stood up to major
political powers in order to advocate for claims of equality. His ideas
challenged the foundation of Spanish philosophy itself that were
presented by the Spanish philosopher Juan Gins de Seplveda, with
whom he had famous debates arguing against Sepulvedas claims that
the Indians were natural slaves to be used by the Spanish.8 This is why
he is remembered as one of the most important figures in Spanish
history in the context of social reform.

4
5
6
7
8

From
From
From
From
From

Lecture Notes on 9/24/2014.

A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, xvii.
Lecture Notes on 9/24/2014.
A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, xxvii.
A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, xxix.

Conquistadores
The Conquistadores can broadly be defined as any Spanish or
Portuguese soldiers, and explorers of the New World during the 15th17th centuries. The conquistadores had precisely the opposite view as
Bartolome de las Cases regarding the native Indians. The sentiment
they had was encapsulated by the position of Sepulveda, who
advocated for the claims that the Indians were natural slaves to be
used by the Spanish, they were heathens with a dirty religion that
needed to be saved by the Spanish Christians.9 This position is also
exemplified in various letters sent back to Spain such as Francisco de
Vitorias On the Evangelization of Unbelievers, which speaks about
the need to convert the Indians to Christianity, and justifies all the
atrocities committed against them.10
It was commonplace for the majority of letters sent back to Span
to falsify their reports in order to make it seem like a grand venture
that was benevolent, as opposed to the bloody horror that it really was,
which only de las Casas dared to leave in his reports.11 So it was easy
for the conquistadores to commit such atrocities against the Indians
because they viewed them as sub-humans without souls, to be utilized
for their own gain. The practical reason behind the subjugation of the

9 From Lecture Notes on 9/24/2014.

10 Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History, page 70-72.
11 From A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, xxxii.

Indians was forcible conversion.12 But the ulterior motives of the

conquistadores was simply to gain land, wealth, and honors by
conquering the New World for Spain; in other words, it was done
almost entirely out of greed, without any sense of nobility.13 De las
Cases actually described them as no longer human beings, but
something else, consumed with savagery.14 The only real goals of the
conquistadores were to take as much land for Spain as possible, and to
enrich themselves with the maximum amount of personal slaves, and
possessions. They were driven to commit all manner of atrocity by
their greed, mixed with their views of the Indians as savages, when it
was really they who were the savages.

Indigenous People As Human

The Indians in the New World were actually the most human of
all of the actors in the New World it seems. De las Casas had shown
that the true savages were the conquistadores, and the violence
committed by the Indians was mostly in retaliation to their brutal
treatment. The Indians were judged to be inhuman savages because of
their awful practices of infanticide, abortion, and suicide that were
observed by the Spanish, and one of de las Casas enemies, Gonzalo
Fernandez de Oviedo, spoke about how this lack of charity of the

12 Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History, page 70.

13 From A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, xxxii
14 From A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, xl

Indians showed them to be without souls, while de las Casas argued

that it was the conditions that the Spanish put them into that caused
them to act as such.15 Indeed, such behaviors an become common in
horrible, enslaved conditions, so that would seem to account for these
seemingly awful practices for which the Indians were so harshly
judged.
The cultures of the Indians before the Spanish conquest were
actually remarkably peaceful, and benevolent in nature. Music and
poetry were culturally central in Tenocha.16 Andean cultures were fairly
peaceful, and emphasized arts and crafts, especially the Khipu society
that placed a strong emphasis on long lasting materials, and had an
elaborate recording keeping system in place.17 The Aztec and Inca
societies were a little bit worse, since they both wanted to control
resources, and water and sometimes fought wars over them.18 But that
is not necessarily out of character for large societies. When the Incas
conquered a city, they would move half of the population out, and
bring in Inca supporters to replace them; they also instituted a taxation
system.19 This shows a fairly high degree of complexity to their society.
However, these societies contained a sharp divide between the ruling
elite, and the commoners that was perhaps even more severe than the

15
16
17
18
19

From
From
From
From
From

A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, xxvi.

Lecture Notes on 9/10/2014.
Lecture Notes on 9/08/2014.
Lecture Notes on 9/08/2014.
Lecture Notes on 9/08/2014.

divide between commoners and the royalty/nobility of Europe.20

Society was centered about historical recording keeping in order for
elites to justify their rule over the commoners. Elites ate things like
chocolate, and fine, roasted meats while the commoners were
restricted to more mass-produced grains. History was literally
controlled by the elite, and commoners werent allowed to be literate
usually However, women were allowed to hold power in the PreHispanic societies, and a merchant class of traders were able to serve
as a kind of diplomatic middle class to a certain extent.21 Still, the
societies did have an emphasis on social unity, and they were not
overly violent in nature. There seems to be no question that the
Indians were no different than the Spanish. If anything the Indians were
quite similar to the Spanish before the conquest.

The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church was strongly to blamefor the atrocities that
occurred in the New World against the Indians. They provided the
religious justification for the savagery of the conquistadores in their
treatment of the Indians, and almost actively encouraged with a series
of Papal Bulls that told the conquistadores that they were doing Gods
work by conquering as much of the New World as possible, by any

20 From MesoAmerican Memory: Enduring Systems of Remembrance:

Collective Memory in Oaxaca pg 129-131.
21 From Lectures Notes on 9/03/2014.

means necessary to eradicate the heathenism there and replace it with

Christianity.22 The Catholic Church supported the idea of Just War,
which meant any war fought in order to spread Christianity around the
world, and because of this notion all manner of violence was
permissible, and perhaps even encouraged.23. The Requiremento
enacted in 1513 was supported by the Catholic Church directly since
they avowed the claimed divine right of the Spanish monarchy to take
possession of the New World, which lead directly to the attitude of the
conquistadores as viewing any resistance to Spanish conquest as evil,
and defying Gods plan.24 It was Catholic scholars that argued against
de las Casas that the Indians were natural slaves as well. So overall it
seems like the Catholic Church was instrumental in helping to justify
the political goals of the Spanish Crown, and provide justification for
the conquest of the Americas.25 The attitudes of the conquistadores
would not have been possible with the Catholic Church, at least not to
such a degree of severity. Naturally, according to de las Cases, the
conquistadores were not fulfilling their spiritual mission to bring
Christianity to the New World, but rather were only brining destruction
and evil to it themselves.
22 From Lecture Notes on 9/22/2014.
23 From Lecture Notes on 9/15/2014.
24 From Lecture Notes on 9/20/2014.
25 See letters such as On the Salvation of the Indians byJose de
Acosta in Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History, 140-45, and
There Can Easily Be Stamped On Upon Them Whatever Belief We
Wish To Give Them, The First Letter From Brazil, pg. 43-58 in the same
book.

The Reaction of the Indigenous Peoples

The reaction of the indigenous peoples, the Indians was not
necessarily to peacefully accept the Spanish conquest, nor was it
exceptionally antagonistic at first. The response of the elite of the
Aztec empire to the Spanish conquistadores was to say that they
already shared many commonalities in their religious systems, they felt
they had many shared values with the Spanish, but refused to convert
to Christianity, saying the population would revolt, and they saw no
reason to convert in such an all or nothing way since they were
already so similar to the Spanish.26 Hence, when the Spanish chose to
ignore this, there was a revolt amongst the common people, and they
refused to convert. Subsequently they were deemed as evil, and
impeding the work of God by the conquistadores. However, de las
Cases recounts episodes of Indians only showing resistance when they
were captured, and tried to escape; they only tried to actively kill the
Spanish when the Spanish tried to kill them for escaping.27 De las
Cases even says that they often peacefully complied with Spanish
demands, only refusing to convert, they would only turn violent after
they were treated violently after peacefully complying.28 De las Cases
26 From Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History, pg 19-20,
The Lords and Holy Men Reply to the Franciscans, 1524.
27 From A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, pg 28.
28 From A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, pg 53.

view show us that the Indians were truly the more human, and they
acted rather remarkably peacefully considering the fact that foreigners
came into their land, and suddenly demanded they become servants in
their own home.

Why Couldnt Change Last?

Despite everything that de las Casas did, he made very little change,
and the change did not last. In the end it feels like his reports were
somewhat futile since he was unable to create lasting change. But the
fact that he had the Laws of Burgos overturned at all does stand as a
testament to the effect he managed to have.29 However, the Catholic
Church never relented in its views of the Indians. De las Casas was
fought against continually, so that once he was gone, there was no
voice to replace him. The Spanish Crown momentarily supported him,
but likewise, once he was gone, the greed was allowed to continue. If
the Catholic Church had been swayed by de las Casas though, one
wonders if the change could have been made longer lasting. Another
factor is the reported acquiescence of the Indians to Spanish rule that
de las Casas reports, which surely contributed to their failure to fight
back, leaving no one to actively enforce equal treatment of the Indians
in the long run.30 The combination of all of these forces lead to the sad
29 From Lecture Notes on 9/20/2014.
30 From A Short History of the Destruction of the Indies, pg 25.

fact that despite de las Casas bravery, and tireless efforts, the change
did not last. It shows us that change for good must be constantly
monitored, and fought for by all of us. This is a valuable lesson for us
to take away, and a cautionary tale to remember when we fight for
moral justice in our own time.

Conclusion: The Greatness of Bartolome de Las Casas

It seems exceedingly strange that amongst the thousands of Spaniards
in the New World, only de las Cases was willing to report the truth to
the Spanish Crown, or to stand up for the Indians. Even the orders of
monks and friars that were in the New World basically stood by and
watched the atrocities, even condoning them explicitly; but even by
their inaction, they condoned the horrors implicitly. De las Casas was
also just like everyone else; he came fairly poor, but soon rose to a
level of modest wealth under the encomeida system, which granted
him a number of Indian slaves and some land.31 De las Casas even
attempted to erect a peaceful settlement called Verapaz, but some
rebellious Indians thinking it was a helpless Spanish settlement
conquered it.32 There is seemingly no good reason for de las Casas to
have done what he did other than that he had a special moral
compass. This is the reason that A Short History of the Destruction of
the Indies remains such a monumental work in history. It went
31 From Lecture Notes on 9/20/2014.
32 From Lecture Notes on 9/20/2014.

completely against the prevailing social norms, it went against the

major political and religious doctrines and powers of the time, and it
seemed to come out of nowhere except a humble sense of right and
wrong presented in an honest way by a simple friar. It is for giving the
world a lasting document that shows how an individual can be good
when an entire society is evil that Bartolme de las Casas work stands
as a monument of moral goodness to this day.