Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. His extensive writings, the most famous being A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Historia de Las Indias, chronicle the first decades of colonization of the West Indies and focus particularly on the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous peoples. The Spanish kings, searching for a way to justify their endeavors, encouraged open debate on the subject of the Native Americans. He wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies in 1542, a shocking catalogue of mass slaughter, torture and slavery, which showed that the evangelizing vision of Columbus had descended under later conquistadors into genocide. In many ways, his thought prefigures that of the twentieth century; in just as many ways, it would have been at home in the twelfth century. Publisher. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Encyclopedia.com. Spanish Conquistadors 981 Words | 4 Pages. Buy A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Casas, Bartolomé de las (ISBN: 9781539797722) from Amazon's Book Store. He made a decisive break with his past in 1515. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies: | | A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies | | | ... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. The purpose of the expeditions was primarily to convert the natives to Christianity and save them from eternal damnation. In 1548 Sepúlveda’s book The Second Démocrates; Or, the Just Causes of the War Against the Indians was refused the royal license that all books in Spain needed before publication. free shipping worldwide. An early traveller to the Americas who sailed on one of Columbus’s voyages, Las Casas was so horrified by the wholesale massacre he witnessed that he dedicated his life to protecting the Indian community. Check system status. The Dominicans, Las Casas among them, recognized and emphasized the rationality of the natives and their aptitude for Christianity. This allowed them to get the gold, jewels, and slaves that they so desired quicker and with greater ease. Here he follows a pattern common to many chroniclers and propagandists of the time: he exaggerates details to create the image of a utopia in the New World. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies: | | A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies | | | ... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. A short account of the destruction of the Indies Item Preview remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. However, precisely because Las Casas is so well remembered, it is easy to forget that he did not operate alone. At first, the clergy made concessions to the natives, and learned their languages and customs in order to better preach the gospel. Amazon.com: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Impact The Short Account had a great impact on European society. Any native who resists can be killed or enslaved. Responsibility edited, with an introduction, by Franklin W. Knight ; translated by Andrew Hurley. Puritan missionary Buy This Book. For the first time, the Spanish court recognized that Native Americans had rights, and attempted to protect those rights. Bartolomé de las Casas reports to the King of Spain on the atrocities and injustices that Spanish soldiers have committed against the native people of the Americas. Always, the Spanish were most concerned with the mining of silver and other precious metals. World Literature and Its Times: Profiles of Notable Literary Works and the Historic Events That Influenced Them. Title. However, in the first 50 years of Spanish presence in the Americas, this serious moral dilemma led to an open, and important, debate on the nature of Native Americans and their rights under Christian law. Especially in the first 50 years after 1492, the Spaniards were deeply concerned that their conquest be justified, both legally and religiously. Thus, he would have been dismayed to learn that his Short Account became the critical document in the Leyendo Negro, the Black Legend. He freed his slaves and traveled to Spain, where he informed King Ferdinand of all the atrocities he had seen. An early traveller to the Americas who sailed on one of Columbus's voyages, Las Casas was so horrified by the wholesale massacre he witnessed that he dedicated his life to protecting the Indian community. A brief personal account written in 1542; published in Spanish (as Brevissima relación de la destrucción de las Indias) in 1552, in English in 1583. One historian writes, “It begins with a brief history of the world since its creation and an account of the establishment of the Papacy, which leads naturally to a description of the donation by Alexander VI of ‘these isles and Tierra Firme’ to the Kings of Spain” (Hanke, p. 33). But the basic argument was simple. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Encomiendas were granted to those who served the King, and encomenderos were expected to care for their natives and educate them in Christianity. Get A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies from Amazon.com. In other words, they are not natural slaves. In fact, Christopher Columbus died believing he had discovered a more efficient passage to the East Indies, not a “new” world. "...I promise, that…, Northeast The roots of the encomienda system lay in the 1502 proclamation of Queen Isabella of Spain, which authorized the governor of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti) to “compel and force” the natives to grow crops, construct buildings, and mine gold—for a fair wage (McAllister, p. 157). Retrieved December 21, 2020 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/short-account-destruction-indies. Despite his strenuous objections to his country’s conduct in the New World, Las Casas remained a loyal subject of Spain and its King. He predicts that “the Indians would turn against them [the missionaries at Verapaz] once more, especially since it was no longer possible to preach the word of God without incidents caused by the wicked Spaniards” (Las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, p. 86). The Laws of Burgos were an important milestone in the Conquest. Thus, he himself, Las Casas, is eminently more qualified to judge the nature of the natives. Deep behind Las Casas’s assertion of Native American nobility lies what was, for European Christians, a debatable question: what kind of humans were the newly discovered peoples? For an all too brief period after the New Laws of 1542, it must have seemed as if the disastrous side-effects of the Conquest could be reversed: Spain appeared to have come to its senses and to be accentuating the more altruistic side of its mission to the New World. Bartolome de Las Casas, author of A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, a chronicle of the atrocities that took place at the hands of Spaniards during the colonization process, reveals conquistadors as individuals who were, primarily, greed driven beings. They responded to this need in a way typical of their conflicted mixture of greed and evangelism: they created the encomienda system. This month’s Illuminating Magdalen post focuses on a true gem in the Old Library’s collection. [T]hey are not obliged to abandon the religion of their forefathers until they come to know another which they find better. Bent on capturing Indians, soldiers on the ship would read the Requerimiento while still at sea to legalize whatever they did to the natives when they landed. Perhaps most horrific is the fate of the pearl diver. And, inasmuch as his complaints frequently found a sympathetic royal ear, we may conclude that all but his most radical assertions played on the conscience of the Spanish court. Author: Bartolomé de las Casas. The book was reprinted as recently as the Spanish American War of 1898, for purposes of propaganda. Pop Quiz How does Las Casas' describe the Spanish Colonists? To emphasize the effect this lust for wealth has on the natives, Las Casas recounts the story of Hatuey. But there was a wrinkle in the fabric of the empire: the lands that Spain had conquered were already inhabited. The Spaniards massacred millions of natives as a result, raping women and killing innocent children and infants along the way. One historian writes, “For the first time in history, a nation and her king initiated discussions concerning the justice of a war that was being waged” (Losada, p. 279). Deeds, Susan M. “Indigenous Responses to Mission Settlement in Nueva Vizcaya.” In The New Latin American Mission History. Designed to clarify the conditions under which the Spanish could make war on, and enslave, native peoples, it finds its justification in the Christian imperative of Inter caetera. His effect on the course of Spain’s endeavors cannot be overstated. These slaves lived in water from dawn until dusk, diving 30 feet and more to claw at oysters on the sea floor. This is undoubtedly overstated: nothing can erase the slaughter of the conquistadors. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. De Las Casas goes through only a handful of the different accounts of genocide, but sufficient to prove his point. In his time, Spain, arguably the most important country in Europe, was engaged in countless political and religious struggles with all its neighbors. 1999. He compares them to Jeroboam, the Jewish king of the Old Testament book of I Kings who ordered his people to worship golden calves. Worse, they were killed by the very people responsible for converting them. He wants the bloodshed to stop; but he wants it to stop so that true Christianity can take root in the New World. The massacres that accompanied the conquest of Cuba haunted Las Casas; and although he treated his slaves well, he was troubled by the severity of his fellow encomenderos. (December 21, 2020). Las Casas reports Spaniards raping, roasting, impaling Native Americans—not only men in battle, but also women and children. The slaves were used for everything from carrying packs, building large buildings, pearl diving, and even attacking other villages when the Spaniards didn't want to use their own men. Las Casas reports that natives were literally worked to death by the encomendero, and killed as soon as they were too weak to work. However, this generosity was their custom and the Spaniards could count on it. Since the Spaniards horded most of the gold that they stole from the native villages and gave only a tiny fraction to the Spanish royal treasury, it was a higher priority for the Spanish nobles to recover the stolen gold and to prosecute the soldiers. Publisher. He gave orders that his final book (a critical history of Spain in the New World) not be published until 40 years after his death, and then only if its publication would not harm Spain in any way. Publication date 1992 Topics But as the tumultuous sixteenth century drew to a close, it became increasingly apparent that the Conquest would follow, if in a somewhat mitigated fashion, the furious pattern of its first half century. On the few occasions in which he mentions a native rebellion, he always points out that it is more than justified by native grievances. Buy A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Penguin Classics) Reprint by Las Casas, Bartolome, Pagden, Anthony (ISBN: 9780140445626) from Amazon's Book Store. They also defined the slaveowners’ obligation to provide food, rest, and (most important) religious education. In 1511 an almost unknown Dominican friar named Antonio de Montesinos preached a sermon in the colonial capital of Santo Domingo (in present-day Dominican Republic). World Literature and Its Times: Profiles of Notable Literary Works and the Historic Events That Influenced Them. His boldness in criticizing his own country’s policies, and especially his recognition of Native American culture and achievement, are fairly unusual. It is undeniable that the Short Account fed anti-Spanish sentiment from the 1550s until modern times. One historian defines the Leyendo Negro as “traditional literature that criticizes the people, history, and national character of Spain, in part for cruelty in the conquest of native America, and in part for bigotry, pride, hypocrisy, and other more or less undesirable attributes” (Gibson, p. 4). A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies - Ebook written by Bartolome Las Casas. The title of Las … 0140445625. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies Research Paper ... A brief Destruction of the Indies Bartolome' De Las Casas stated that "those who have traveled to this part of the world pretending to be Christians have uprooted these pitiful peoples and wiped them from the face of the earth (Las Casas, 12). He wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies in 1542, a shocking catalogue of mass slaughter, torture and slavery, which showed that the evangelizing vision of Columbus had descended under later conquistadors into genocide. There were encomenderos who, to enforce discipline or discover the whereabouts of gold, had natives burned at the stake or roasted on spits. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Bartolome de Las Casa - A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies Preparer's notes: 1) Though the original title does not appear in this version, this is (apart from the preface) a translation of: "Brevisima relacion de la destruccíon de las Indias", by Bartolome de las Casas, originally published in Seville in 1552. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies catalogs the horrors the Spanish colonizers perpetrated on the indigenous peoples they conquered, including attacks, murders, rapes, torture, and massacres. These demands are troubling enough to modern sensibilities; but the way Spanish soldiers carried out the Requerimiento dismayed many even in the sixteenth century. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies at Amazon.com. Thus, forty-nine years have passed since the first settlers penetrated the land, the . In the sixteenth century, it was translated into numerous European languages, often accompanied by lurid illustrations. Without his presence, an already black history would appear utterly bleak. This side seems to have been supported by Pope Paul Ill’s 1537 bull Sublimis Deus, which declared that Indians were created by God with human souls. Beginning in 1511 he raised his voice on their behalf, using his power as a Dominican friar (and eventual Bishop of Chiapas) to condemn Spanish atrocities. It is a simple statement of an almost impossible feat for the time. In short, “the sight of Spanish swords and dogs and of their own dwellings in flames was often the first knowledge the Indians had of the presence of Christians in their midst” (Hanke, p. 34). The majority of the natives died en route to being sold as slaves on the ships and simply thrown overboard. About A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Author. The most direct evidence of his impact on the debate over the Conr quest are the New Laws, a sweeping (if only briefly enacted) reform of the Conquest, the encomienda system, and relations between colonist and native. Tell me, by what right or justice do you keep these Indians in such cruel and horrible servitude?” (Montesino in Hanke, p. 17). The soldiers actually used this hospitality as an advantage to pillage the cities and villages since they were faced with less opposition. He wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies in 1542, a shocking catalogue of mass slaughter, torture and slavery, which showed that the evangelizing vision of Columbus had descended under later conquistadors into genocide. DeKalb: Northen Illinois Press, 1971. Although it had little practical effect on Spain’s policies, the debate stands as a cultural and historical lightning rod. Las Casas’s book is at once unique and extremely traditional. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Book) Book Details. “The Controversy Between Sepúlveda and Las Casas in the Junta of Valladolid.” In Bartolomé de Las Casas in History.Ed. He accompanied Diego Velazquez on the latter’s invasion of Cuba in 1512, and was granted a fairly large encomienda. Las Casas achieved it through personal action, eloquent debate, and largely through writing. Skip to main content.us. Encomenderos from Mexico to Peru protested loudly, unanimously, and (in the end) effectively that their rights were being trampled. He holds to this pattern for 19 chapters, following the path of conquest from Hispaniola to Peru. Following the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1497, a great interest in the new and virgin lands was sparked in Europe. Bartolomé de Las Casas was the first and fiercest critic of Spanish colonialism in the New World. The Spanish gained wealth and power on an unprecedented scale, establishing an empire that lasted into the nineteenth century. The answer, as always for Las Casas, is peaceful preaching. Their screams disturbed the Governor’s nap: he ordered the torturer to cease. Essays in the Intellectual History of Colonial Latin Amenca. Exactly what prompted Las Casas to publish his own book the following year is uncertain. He could boast of powerful allies, especially in Spain: in 1544, despite opposition from colonists, he was named Bishop of Chiapas (in southern Mexico). He estimates that at least 12 million Native Americans were killed in the first 40 years of conquest, and suggests that the real number may be closer to 15 million. In reality, as Las Casas points out repeatedly, the encomenderos exploited and even tortured native peoples, and “produced little Christianity” among them (McAllister, p. 166). War against the natives was justified, because only by war could they be forced to accept Christianity. Gibson, Charles. He reports that Spaniards would often crowd a house with the leaders of a tribe, on the pretext of a feast, and then set the house on fire, hacking to death anyone who attempted to escape. The Spaniards, Las Casas claims, begin their slaughters instantly, without provocation, and for no other reason than to strike terror into the hearts of the survivors. Finally, war was urgently needed to end the vile practices of cannibalism, human sacrifice, and idolatry that Sepúlveda claimed were endemic to South America. The New Laws “revoked or limited the right of the Spaniards to service and tribute from Indians, who would ultimately be put under the crown and administered by paid royal officials” (Hanke, p. 83). Juan Friede and Benjamin Keen. The laws did not abolish slavery, but they did regulate how much work slaves could be forced to do, how they could be punished, and how they must be treated. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies was written with the task of informing the King of Spain about the murder and gold hoarding that was occurring in the New World. In addition, his courage in pressing his complaint to the King, and eventually even publishing his book, are noteworthy. Partly to refute those conquistadors who justified their terror by accentuating the sloth and viciousness of Native Americans, he paints a picture of the natives as nearly perfect: kind, gentle, hospitable, and ripe to hear the word of God. Encyclopedia.com. First, and most urgently, it had to discover the most effective means of converting Native Americans to Christianity. In slavery, they are worked mercilessly in gold mines or in the fields. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/short-account-destruction-indies, "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies He warns that such misdeeds destroy natives and doom the conquerors to hell; the wrongdoings also threaten to draw God’s wrath upon Spain itself. In addition, his experience in the Junta seems to have prompted Las Casas to publicly print his Short Account the following year. Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies 28th October 2020. hosts. However, the relationship followed a downward pattern. Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. Soon, the Franciscans, Augustinians, Jesuits, and Dominicans began to send groups across the ocean to begin evangelical activities. In A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Casas provides a scathing commentary on the cruelty exercised by the Spanish colonizers on the natives of Hispaniola—as well as explain the aims that motivated this behavior. In addition, he wrote “The Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies” more formally, “Brevisima Relacion De La Destruccion de Las Indias” in 1540, which he narrated the mistreatment, abuse, and exploitation of the Indians under corrupt Spanish rule and the encomienda system. (Alexander VI is the pope who allowed Spain to settle the New World in 1493; “isles and Tierra Firme” refer to the Indies and to mainland South and Central America.) In this sermon Montesino fulminated against the slave-holding Spanish: “This voice says that you are in mortal sin, that you live and die in it, for the cruelty and tyranny you use in dealing with these innocent people. Although initially an owner of native slaves, he was always uneasy with the Spanish treatment of Native Americans. Account & Lists Account Returns & Orders. Most of them were killed before they even had a chance to hear of the faith that Las Casas believes would have assured them of heaven. The chief asked if Christians went to heaven, and when told that they did, he said he chose hell, so as never to have to see a Christian again. It had been read to the King in 1542, but apparently the friar now came to realize that it needed a wider audience. The majority of the book is taken up by tales of unconscionable violence. He wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies in 1542, a shocking catalogue of mass slaughter, torture and slavery, which showed that the evangelizing vision of Columbus had descended under later conquistadors into genocide. Author: Bartolomé de las Casas. Not only must the Spaniards attempt to gain converts; more basically, they are required to treat Native Americans as fellow human beings, entitled to life and property and protected by law and justice. M. S.’ and printed in London by Thomas Dawson for William Brome in 1583. One side claimed that the natives were naturally servile, and could be brought to know God only by force and labor, which justified almost anything the Spanish did to keep them in line. Login My Account Feedback Reporting from: Message. Las Casas contrasts these horrors with the peacefulness and hospitality of the Indians. Report wrong cover image. There was never any action to protect the native people who did all they could to succumb to the Spanish Crown's wishes, even swearing allegiance when given the chance. But his memory should remind modern readers that, however sad the actual events of the Conquest are, for at least a little while Europe was able to pause and consider the injustice and impropriety of its invasion. Reprinted in Major Problems of American Colonial History Sepúlveda suspected, probably correctly, that Las Casas had campaigned to have his book refused. This debate took place in 1551 in the Junta of Valladolid, a kind of court for judging grievances and points of law in Valladolid, Spain. In the case of the second settlement (called Verapaz), the missionaries started out well, but the natives in their sphere were attacked by a band of soldiers. He continued to agitate and wrote two voluminous scholarly books on the New World. Although the encomienda system was crippled in the long run, in Las Casas’s time the slaveowners were the ones who won. Meditating on a biblical text that condemns oppression and hypocrisy, he came to believe that “everything which had been done to the Indians in the Indies was unjust and tyrannical” (Griffin in Las Casas, p. xxii). Ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984. : Hackett Pub., c2003. Las Casas reminds his readers again and again that the natives are ready to hear the word of Christ, and that only the greed and violence of the Spanish hold them back. Both sides claimed victory; although, inasmuch as Sepulveda’s book was never licensed, he was perhaps the loser. In the following year a great many Spaniards went there with the intention of settling the land. Widford, Hertfordshire, England Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. On more than one occasion, he bemoans the fate of missions, like his own Verapaz, that were sabotaged by the greed of roving Spaniards. At the heart of the New Laws were two main issues: the organization of the colonial government and the treatment of native peoples. Bartolomé de Las Casas was the first and fiercest critic of Spanish colonialism in the New World. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies A "Keywords" Exercise: History Book Format Pre-Encounter Stage There is plenty of Shelfmark: M.06.23. However, this denigration of Spain had nothing to do with Las Casas’s own intentions. He wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies in 1542, a shocking catalogue of mass slaughter, torture and slavery, which showed that the evangelizing vision of Columbus had descended under later conquistadors into genocide. The debate over the laws established the terms of the argument for the rest of the century. August 5, 1604 Start studying Bartolome de las Casas - From an Account, Much Abbreviated of the Destruction of the Indies.. Hatuey’s assumption, based on the behavior of the Spanish, was that they worshipped gold as a god and wanted to take his tribe’s gold so that they could have more to worship. These laws, passed in 1542 and repealed three years later, are generally considered to be at least partly the result of Las Casas’s ceaseless agitation. There is, of course, a great deal of truth to this picture; but it is not the whole truth. The book was not published until the 1850s. ." . Overall, the story encapsulates the tragic irony of the Conquest: the Spaniards lost all sense of devotion to Christian ethics, even though they used Christ to justify their bloody deeds. He writes, “These people are the most guileless, the most devoid of wickedness and duplicity, the most obedient to their native masters and to the Spanish Christians whom they serve” (Short Account, p. 28). This is an excellent edition of "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies." The son of a merchant who would accompany Christopher Columbus on his second voyage and…, Tribute The Native Americans, they argued, were slaves by nature; the only way for Spaniards to convert them was to drag them forcibly from their own sloth. He was in Hispaniola when Montesino delivered his indictment, but he was not immediately convinced. Keen, Benjamin. Over the course of these decades, the voice of Las Casas became preeminent in the defense of the natives. Ironically, the man who spent his life vindicating the humanity of Native Americans has become, for history, the figure who vindicates the humanity of Spaniards. $14.99. Trans. The account acts as not only an observation on the practices of the colonizers, but is also a reflection of the imperial policies of the Spanish Empire. To benefit from the wealth of Columbus’s discoveries, Spanish settlers would have to find a way to subjugate the numerous peoples and empires of the Americas. Perhaps no document better captures the conflict between the high ideals of the Spanish court and the sordid reality of conquest as practiced by the brutal Spanish soldiers, than the Requerimiento. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. 21 Dec. 2020
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