Bartolomé de las Casas

814:. Another important part of the plan was to introduce a new kind of sustainable colonization, and Las Casas advocated supporting the migration of Spanish peasants to the Indies where they would introduce small-scale farming and agriculture, a kind of colonization that did not rely on resource depletion and Indian labor. Las Casas worked to recruit a large number of peasants who would want to travel to the islands, where they would be given lands to farm, cash advances, and the tools and resources they needed to establish themselves there. The recruitment drive was difficult, and during the process the power relation shifted at court when Chancellor Sauvage, Las Casas's main supporter, unexpectedly died. In the end a much smaller number of peasant families were sent than originally planned, and they were supplied with insufficient provisions and no support secured for their arrival. Those who survived the journey were ill-received, and had to work hard even to survive in the hostile colonies. Las Casas was devastated by the tragic result of his peasant migration scheme, which he felt had been thwarted by his enemies. He decided instead to undertake a personal venture which would not rely on the support of others, and fought to win a land grant on the American mainland which was in its earliest stage of colonization. 1633: 773:, and given a yearly salary of one hundred pesos. In this new office Las Casas was expected to serve as an advisor to the new governors with regard to Indian issues, to speak the case of the Indians in court, and send reports back to Spain. Las Casas and the commissioners traveled to Santo Domingo on separate ships, and Las Casas arrived two weeks later than the Hieronimytes. During this time the Hieronimytes had time to form a more pragmatic view of the situation than the one advocated by Las Casas; their position was precarious as every encomendero on the Islands was fiercely against any attempts to curtail their use of native labor. Consequently, the commissioners were unable to take any radical steps towards improving the situation of the natives. They did revoke some encomiendas from Spaniards, especially those who were living in Spain and not on the islands themselves; they even repossessed the encomienda of 1616:

or mining areas. Here, Las Casas argued, Indians could be better governed, better taught and indoctrinated in the Christian faith, and would be easier to protect from abuse than if they were in scattered settlements. Each town would have a royal hospital built with four wings in the shape of a cross, where up to 200 sick Indians could be cared for at a time. He described in detail social arrangements, distribution of work, how provisions would be divided and even how table manners were to be introduced. Regarding expenses, he argued that "this should not seem expensive or difficult, because after all, everything comes from them and they work for it and it is theirs." He even drew up a budget of each pueblo's expenses to cover wages for administrators, clerics, Bachelors of Latin, doctors, surgeons, pharmacists, advocates, ranchers, miners, muleteers, hospitalers, pig herders, fishermen, etc.

1729: 790: 1568:, a friend of Las Casas, to reinstate the rule of law, and he in turn defeated Pizarro. To restabilize the political situation the encomenderos started pushing not only for the repeal of the New Laws, but for turning the encomiendas into perpetual patrimony of the encomenderos – the worst possible outcome from Las Casas's point of view. The encomenderos offered to buy the rights to the encomiendas from the Crown, and Charles V was inclined to accept since his wars had left him in deep economic troubles. Las Casas worked hard to convince the emperor that it would be a bad economic decision, that it would return the viceroyalty to the brink of open rebellion, and could result in the Crown losing the colony entirely. The emperor, probably because of the doubts caused by Las Casas's arguments, never took a final decision on the issue of the encomiendas. 1608:

Las Casas feared that at the rate the exploitation was proceeding it would be too late to hinder their annihilation unless action were taken rapidly. The second was a change in the labor policy so that instead of a colonist owning the labor of specific Indians, he would have a right to man-hours, to be carried out by no specific persons. This required the establishment of self-governing Indian communities on the land of colonists – who would themselves organize to provide the labor for their patron. The colonist would only have rights to a certain portion of the total labor, so that a part of the Indians were always resting and taking care of the sick. He proposed 12 other remedies, all having the specific aim of improving the situation for the Indians and limiting the powers that colonists were able to exercise over them.

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abundant and well provided for, and did not lack anything to live politically and socially, and attain and enjoy civil happiness.... And they equaled many nations of this world that are renowned and considered civilized, and they surpassed many others, and to none were they inferior. Among those they equaled were the Greeks and the Romans, and they surpassed them by many good and better customs. They surpassed also the English and the French and some of the people of our own Spain; and they were incomparably superior to countless others, in having good customs and lacking many evil ones." This work in which Las Casas combined his own ethnographic observations with those of other writers, and compared customs and cultures between different peoples, has been characterized as an early beginning of the discipline of

451: 777:. They also carried out an inquiry into the Indian question at which all the encomenderos asserted that the Indians were quite incapable of living freely without their supervision. Las Casas was disappointed and infuriated. When he accused the Hieronymites of being complicit in kidnapping Indians, the relationship between Las Casas and the commissioners broke down. Las Casas had become a hated figure by Spaniards all over the islands, and he had to seek refuge in the Dominican monastery. The Dominicans had been the first to indict the encomenderos, and they continued to chastise them and refuse the absolution of confession to slave owners, and even stated that priests who took their confession were committing a 2177: 2127: 2025:(2007), takes on such a task. He argues that he was more of a politician than a humanitarian and that his liberation policies were always combined with schemes to make colonial extraction of resources from the natives more efficient. He also argues that Las Casas failed to realize that by seeking to replace indigenous spirituality with Christianity, he was undertaking a religious colonialism that was more intrusive than the physical one. The responses to his work are varied. Some claim that Castro's portrayal of Las Casas had an air of anachronism. Others have agreed with Castro's deconstruction of Las Casas as a nuanced and contradictory historical figure. 2034: 1202:, himself an encomendero, decided not to implement the laws in his domain, and instead sent a party to Spain to argue against the laws on behalf of the encomenderos. Las Casas himself was also not satisfied with the laws, as they were not drastic enough and the encomienda system was going to function for many years still under the gradual abolition plan. He drafted a suggestion for an amendment arguing that the laws against slavery were formulated in such a way that it presupposed that violent conquest would still be carried out, and he encouraged once again beginning a phase of peaceful colonization by peasants instead of soldiers. 239: 1353: 320: 1375:, and so could not be held clean of guilt under Las Casas's strict rules. In 1548, the Crown decreed that all copies of Las Casas's Confesionario be burnt, and his Franciscan adversary, Motolinia, obliged and sent back a report to Spain. Las Casas defended himself by writing two treatises on the "Just Title" – arguing that the only legality with which the Spaniards could claim titles over realms in the New World was through peaceful proselytizing. All warfare was illegal and unjust and only through the papal mandate of peacefully bringing Christianity to heathen peoples could "Just Titles" be acquired. 1211: 1397:, and then the council listened to Las Casas read his counterarguments in the form of an "Apología". Sepúlveda argued that the subjugation of certain Indians was warranted because of their sins against Natural Law; that their low level of civilization required civilized masters to maintain social order; that they should be made Christian and that this in turn required them to be pacified; and that only the Spanish could defend weak Indians against the abuses of the stronger ones. Las Casas countered that the scriptures did not in fact support war against all heathens, only against certain 604: 901:, in January 1521, he received the terrible news that the Dominican convent at Chiribichi had been sacked by Indians, and that the Spaniards of the islands had launched a punitive expedition, led by Gonzalo de Ocampo, into the very heart of the territory that Las Casas wanted to colonize peacefully. The Indians had been provoked to attack the settlement of the monks because of the repeated slave raids by Spaniards operating from Cubagua. As Ocampo's ships began returning with slaves from the land Las Casas had been granted, he went to Hispaniola to complain to the 838: 5224: 1695:– the tradition of describing the Spanish empire as exceptionally morally corrupt and violent. It was republished several times by groups that were critical of the Spanish realm for political or religious reasons. The first edition in translation was published in Dutch in 1578, during the religious persecution of Dutch Protestants by the Spanish crown, followed by editions in French (1578), English (1583), and German (1599) – all countries where religious wars were raging. The first edition published in Spain after Las Casas's death appeared in 1492: 68: 869:. To make the proposal palatable to the king, Las Casas had to incorporate the prospect of profits for the royal treasury. He suggested fortifying the northern coast of Venezuela, establishing ten royal forts to protect the Indians and starting up a system of trade in gold and pearls. All the Indian slaves of the New World should be brought to live in these towns and become tribute paying subjects to the king. To secure the grant, Las Casas had to go through a long court fight against Bishop Fonseca and his supporters 8245: 8233: 741:" of 1516. In this early work, Las Casas advocated importing black slaves from Africa to relieve the suffering Indians, a stance he later retracted, becoming an advocate for the Africans in the colonies as well. This shows that Las Casas's first concern was not to end slavery as an institution, but to end the physical abuse and suffering of the Indians. In keeping with the legal and moral doctrine of the time, Las Casas believed that slavery could be justified if it was the result of 1875: 9008: 2191: 1680:. Las Casas's point of view can be described as being heavily against some of the Spanish methods of colonization, which, as he described them, inflicted great losses on the indigenous occupants of the islands. In addition, his critique towards the colonizers served to bring awareness to his audience on the true meaning of Christianity, to dismantle any misconceptions on evangelization. His account was largely responsible for the adoption of the 1864: 9078: 9054: 677: 587:

have destroyed such an infinite number of them by homicides and slaughters never heard of before. Why do you keep them so oppressed and exhausted, without giving them enough to eat or curing them of the sicknesses they incur from the excessive labor you give them, and they die, or rather you kill them, in order to extract and acquire gold every day." Las Casas himself argued against the Dominicans in favor of the justice of the

2163: 5243: 9066: 2205: 1116: 1386:(Another Democrates, or A New Democrates, or on the Just Causes of War against the Indians) had argued that some native peoples were incapable of ruling themselves and should be pacified forcefully. The book was deemed unsound for publication by the theologians of Salamanca and Alcalá for containing unsound doctrine, but the pro-encomendero faction seized on Sepúlveda as their intellectual champion. 823: 9042: 2242:"If one sacrifices from what has been wrongfully obtained, the offering is blemished; the gifts of the lawless are not acceptable. ... Like one who kills a son before his father's eyes is the man who offers sacrifice from the property of the poor. The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; whoever deprives them of it is a man of blood." quoted from 370:, on behalf of rights for the natives. In his early writings, he advocated the use of African slaves to replace indigenous labor. He did so without knowing that the Portuguese were carrying out "brutal and unjust wars in the name of spreading the faith". Later in life, he retracted this position, as he regarded both forms of slavery as equally wrong. 1050:" (On the Only Way of Conversion) based on the missionary principles he had used in Guatemala. Motolinia would later be a fierce critic of Las Casas, accusing him of being all talk and no action when it came to converting the Indians. As a direct result of the debates between the Dominicans and Franciscans and spurred on by Las Casas's treatise, 964:, protesting again the mistreatment of the Indians and advocating a return to his original reform plan of 1516. In 1531, a complaint was sent by the encomenderos of Hispaniola that Las Casas was again accusing them of mortal sins from the pulpit. In 1533 he contributed to the establishment of a peace treaty between the Spanish and the rebel 708:, who were functionaries in complete charge of the royal policies regarding the Indies; both were encomenderos. They were not impressed by his account, and Las Casas had to find a different avenue of change. He put his faith in his coming audience with the king, but it never came, for King Ferdinand died on 25 January 1516. 1067:

Las Casas that this method be tested without meddling from secular colonists, so he chose a territory in the heart of Guatemala where there were no previous colonies and where the natives were considered fierce and war-like. Because the land had not been possible to conquer by military means, the governor of Guatemala,

1503:, where he lived with his assistant and friend Fray Rodrigo de Ladrada. He continued working as a kind of procurator for the natives of the Indies, many of whom directed petitions to him to speak to the emperor on their behalf. Sometimes indigenous nobility even related their cases to him in Spain, for example, the 1409:, summarised the arguments. Sepúlveda addressed Las Casas's arguments with twelve refutations, which were again countered by Las Casas. The judges then deliberated on the arguments presented for several months before coming to a verdict. The verdict was inconclusive, and both debaters claimed that they had won. 526:, in 1493. Las Casas recorded having seen "seven Indians" in the entourage of Christopher Columbus, being exhibited in the vicinity of the Iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari, along with "beautiful green parrots, vibrant in color" and Indigenous artifacts. Pedro de Las Casas, Bartolomé's merchant father, left in 893:

of annual revenue, increasing to 60,000 after ten years, and to erecting three Christian towns of at least 40 settlers each. Some privileges were also granted to the initial 50 shareholders in Las Casas's scheme. The king also promised not to give any encomienda grants in Las Casas's area. That said,

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sermon and pondering its meaning. Las Casas was finally convinced that all the actions of the Spanish in the New World had been illegal and that they constituted a great injustice. He made up his mind to give up his slaves and encomienda, and started to preach that other colonists should do the same.

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Arriving as one of the first Spanish settlers in the Americas, Las Casas initially participated in the colonial economy built on forced indigenous labor, but eventually felt compelled to oppose the abuses committed by European colonists against the indigenous population. In 1515 he gave up his Native

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that Las Casas finally regretted his advocacy for African slavery, and included a sincere apology, writing, "I soon repented and judged myself guilty of ignorance. I came to realize that black slavery was as unjust as Indian slavery... and I was not sure that my ignorance and good faith would secure

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described suggestions for the social and political organization of Indian communities relative to colonial ones. Las Casas advocated the dismantlement of the city of Asunción and the subsequent gathering of Indians into communities of about 1,000 Indians to be situated as satellites of Spanish towns

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Las Casas's first proposed remedy was a complete moratorium on the use of Indian labor in the Indies until such time as better regulations of it were set in place. This was meant simply to halt the decimation of the Indian population and to give the surviving Indians time to reconstitute themselves.

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The New Laws were finally repealed on 20 October 1545, and riots broke out against Las Casas, with shots being fired against him by angry colonists. After a year he had made himself so unpopular among the Spaniards of the area that he had to leave. Having been summoned to a meeting among the bishops

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attacked the settlement of Cumaná, burned it to the ground, and killed four of Las Casas's men. He returned to Hispaniola in January 1522, and heard the news of the massacre. The rumours even included him among the dead. To make matters worse, his detractors used the event as evidence of the need to

889:. In 1520 Las Casas's concession was finally granted, but it was a much smaller grant than he had initially proposed; he was also denied the possibilities of extracting gold and pearls, which made it difficult for him to find investors for the venture. Las Casas committed himself to producing 15,000 687:

Las Casas arrived in Spain with the plan of convincing the King to end the encomienda system. This was easier thought than done, as most of the people who were in positions of power were themselves either encomenderos or otherwise profiting from the influx of wealth from the Indies. In the winter of

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Las Casas spent 50 years of his life actively fighting slavery and the colonial abuse of indigenous peoples, especially by trying to convince the Spanish court to adopt a more humane policy of colonization. Although he did not completely succeed in changing Spanish views on colonization, his efforts

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in the mid-20th century suggested that the decline in the first years of the conquest was indeed drastic, ranging between 80 and 90%, due to many different causes but all ultimately traceable to the arrival of the Europeans. The overwhelming cause was disease introduced by the Europeans. Historians

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Las Casas has also often been accused of exaggerating the atrocities he described in the Indies, some scholars holding that the initial population figures given by him were too high, which would make the population decline look worse than it actually was, and that epidemics of European disease were

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were widely read and published in Europe. As the influence of the Spanish Empire was displaced by that of other European powers, Las Casas's accounts were utilized as political tools to justify incursions into Spanish colonies. This historiographic phenomenon has been referred to by some historians

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to slave owners and encomenderos even on their death bed, unless all their slaves had been set free and their property returned to them. Las Casas furthermore threatened that anyone who mistreated Indians within his jurisdiction would be excommunicated. He also came into conflict with the Bishop of

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Las Casas returned to Guatemala in 1537 wanting to employ his new method of conversion based on two principles: 1) to preach the Gospel to all men and treat them as equals, and 2) to assert that conversion must be voluntary and based on knowledge and understanding of the faith. It was important for

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on 25 November 1517. Las Casas managed to secure the support of the king's Flemish courtiers, including the powerful Chancellor Jean de la Sauvage. Las Casas's influence turned the favor of the court against Secretary Conchillos and Bishop Fonseca. Sauvage spoke highly of Las Casas to the king, who

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records of a contemporary lawsuit that demonstrated he was born a decade later than had been supposed. Subsequent biographers and authors have generally accepted and reflected this revision. His father, Pedro de las Casas, a merchant, descended from one of the families that had migrated from France

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On advocating the importation of a slaves back in 1516, Las Casas wrote 'the cleric , many years later, regretted the advice he gave the king on this matter – he judged himself culpable through inadvertence – when he saw proven that the enslavement of blacks was every

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wrote a letter in which he described Las Casas as an ignorant, arrogant troublemaker. Benavente described indignantly how Las Casas had once denied baptism to an aging Indian who had walked many leagues to receive it, only on the grounds that he did not believe that the man had received sufficient

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Las Casas returned to Spain, leaving behind many conflicts and unresolved issues. Arriving in Spain he was met by a barrage of accusations, many of them based on his Confesionario and its 12 rules, which many of his opponents found to be in essence a denial of the legitimacy of Spanish rule of its

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is a three-volume work begun in 1527 while Las Casas was in the Convent of Puerto de Plata. It found its final form in 1561, when he was working in the Colegio de San Gregorio. Originally planned as a six-volume work, each volume describes a decade of the history of the Indies from the arrival of

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of the native peoples. He is said to have preached: "Tell me by what right of justice do you hold these Indians in such a cruel and horrible servitude? On what authority have you waged such detestable wars against these people who dealt quietly and peacefully on their own lands? Wars in which you

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had reported extensive violence already in the first decade of the colonization of the Americas, and throughout the conquest of the Americas, there were reports of abuse of the natives from friars and priests and ordinary citizens, and many massacres of indigenous people were reported in full by

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He wrote: "I have declared and demonstrated openly and concluded, from chapter 22 to the end of this whole book, that all people of these our Indies are human, so far as is possible by the natural and human way and without the light of faith – had their republics, places, towns, and cities most

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The text, written 1516, starts by describing its purpose: to present "The remedies that seem necessary in order that the evil and harm that exists in the Indies cease, and that God and our Lord the Prince may draw greater benefits than hitherto, and that the republic may be better preserved and

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abolishing the encomiendas and removing certain officials from the Council of the Indies. The New Laws made it illegal to use Indians as carriers, except where no other transport was available, it prohibited all taking of Indians as slaves, and it instated a gradual abolition of the encomienda

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When his preaching met with resistance, he realized that he would have to go to Spain to fight there against the enslavement and abuse of the native people. Aided by Pedro de Córdoba and accompanied by Antonio de Montesinos, he left for Spain in September 1515, arriving in Seville in November.

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But apart from the clerical business, Las Casas had also traveled to Spain for his own purpose: to continue the struggle against the colonists' mistreatment of the Indians. The encomienda had, in fact, legally been abolished in 1523, but it had been reinstituted in 1526, and in 1530 a general

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tribes; that the Indians were not at all uncivilized nor lacking social order; that peaceful mission was the only true way of converting the natives; and finally that some weak Indians suffering at the hands of stronger ones was preferable to all Indians suffering at the hands of Spaniards.

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civilizations – and more civilized than some European civilizations. It was in essence a comparative ethnography comparing practices and customs of European and American cultures and evaluating them according to whether they were good or bad, seen from a Christian viewpoint.

765:, Bernardino de Manzanedo, and Alonso de Santo Domingo, were selected as commissioners to take over the authority of the Indies. Las Casas had a considerable part in selecting them and writing the instructions under which their new government would be instated, largely based on Las Casas's 1338:, a manual for the administration of the sacrament of confession in his diocese, still refusing absolution to unrepentant encomenderos. Las Casas appointed a vicar for his diocese and set out for Europe in December 1546, arriving in Lisbon in April 1547 and in Spain on November 1547. 1173:, Las Casas argued that the only solution to the problem was to remove all Indians from the care of secular Spaniards, by abolishing the encomienda system and putting them instead directly under the Crown as royal tribute-paying subjects. On 20 November 1542, the emperor signed the 1982:, reported many gruesome atrocities committed against the Indians by the colonizers. All in all, modern historians tend to disregard the numerical figures given by Las Casas, but they maintain that his general picture of a violent and abusive conquest represented reality. 809:

Las Casas suggested a plan where the encomienda would be abolished and Indians would be congregated into self-governing townships to become tribute-paying vassals of the king. He still suggested that the loss of Indian labor for the colonists could be replaced by allowing

8782: 1828:"History of the Indies" has never been fully translated into English. The only translations into English are the 1971 partial translation by Andrée M. Collard, and partial translations by Cynthia L. Chamberlin, Nigel Griffin, Michael Hammer and Blair Sullivan in UCLA's 1291:

on 12 January 1546, he left his diocese, never to return. At the meeting, probably after lengthy reflection, and realizing that the New Laws were lost in Mexico, Las Casas presented a moderated view on the problems of confession and restitution of property, Archbishop

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and signed it over to the College of San Gregorio, stipulating that it could not be published until after forty years. In fact it was not published for 314 years, until 1875. He also had to repeatedly defend himself against accusations of treason: someone, possibly

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The impact of Las Casas's doctrine was also limited. In 1550, the king had ordered that the conquest should cease, because the Valladolid debate was to decide whether the war was just or not. The government's orders were hardly respected; conquistadors such as

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finding fifty men willing to invest 200 ducats each and three years of unpaid work proved impossible for Las Casas. He ended up leaving in November 1520 with just a small group of peasants, paying for the venture with money borrowed from his brother in-law.

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and his concern for the souls of the native peoples. The account was one of the first attempts by a Spanish writer of the colonial era to depict the unfair treatment that the indigenous people endured during the early stages of the Spanish conquest of the

700:. On Christmas Eve of 1515, Las Casas met the monarch and discussed the situation in the Indies with him; the king agreed to hear him out in more detail at a later date. While waiting, Las Casas produced a report that he presented to the Bishop of Burgos, 647:

peoples. He later wrote: "I saw here cruelty on a scale no living being has ever seen or expects to see." Las Casas and his friend Pedro de la Rentería were awarded a joint encomienda which was rich in gold and slaves, located on the Arimao River close to

414:, and conflicts with Spanish settlers because of his pro-Indian policies and activist religious stance. He served in the Spanish court for the remainder of his life; there he held great influence over Indies-related issues. In 1550, he participated in the 781:. In May 1517, Las Casas was forced to travel back to Spain to denounce to the regent the failure of the Hieronymite reforms. Only after Las Casas had left did the Hieronymites begin to congregate Indians into towns similar to what Las Casas had wanted. 321: 2370:

Lantigua, David. "7 – Faith, Liberty, and the Defense of the Poor: Bishop Las Casas in the History of Human Right", Hertzke, Allen D., and Timothy Samuel Shah, eds. Christianity and Freedom: Historical Perspectives. Cambridge University Press, 2016,

1042:. The two orders had very different approaches to the conversion of the Indians. The Franciscans used a method of mass conversion, sometimes baptizing many thousands of Indians in a day. This method was championed by prominent Franciscans such as 8873: 5082:"Another face of empire. Bartolomé de Las Casas, indigenous rights, and ecclesiastical imperialism. By Daniel Castro. (Latin America Otherwise. Languages, Empires, Nations.) pp. xii+234. Durham–London: Duke University Press, 2007" 1123:

In Spain, Las Casas started securing official support for the Guatemalan mission, and he managed to get a royal decree forbidding secular intrusion into the Verapaces for the following five years. He also informed the

1087:", "True Peace". Las Casas's strategy was to teach Christian songs to merchant Indian Christians who then ventured into the area. In this way he was successful in converting several native chiefs, among them those of 4037:

Heath, Charles (July 2008). "Daniel Castro, Another Face of Imperialism: Bartolomé de Las Casas, Indigenous Rights, and Ecclesiastical Imperialism. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008. 234 pp. ISBN 978-082233939-7".

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Las Casas's legacy has been highly controversial. In the years following his death, his ideas became taboo in the Spanish realm, and he was seen as a nearly heretical extremist. The accounts written by his enemies

865:. Founded in 1515, there was already a small Franciscan monastery in Cumana, and a Dominican one at Chiribichi, but the monks there were being harassed by Spaniards operating slave raids from the nearby Island of 1985:

One persistent point of criticism has been Las Casas's repeated suggestions of replacing Indian with African slave labor. Even though he regretted that position later in his life and included an apology in his

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have also noted that exaggeration and inflation of numbers was the norm in writing in 16th-century accounts, and both contemporary detractors and supporters of Las Casas were guilty of similar exaggerations.

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population of Hispaniola. In 1506, he returned to Spain and completed his studies of canon law at Salamanca. That same year, he was ordained a deacon and then traveled to Rome, where he was ordained a

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argued that the Indians were less than human, and required Spanish masters to become civilized. Las Casas maintained that they were fully human, and that forcefully subjugating them was unjustifiable.

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heritage, although others refer to them as ancient Christians who migrated from France. Following the testimony of Las Casas's biographer Antonio de Remesal, tradition has it that Las Casas studied a

482:' on 11 November 1484. For centuries, Las Casas's birthdate was believed to be 1474; however, in the 1970s, scholars conducting archival work demonstrated this to be an error, after uncovering in the 996:, he got into conflict with Rodrigo de Contreras, Governor of Nicaragua, when Las Casas vehemently opposed slaving expeditions by the Governor. In 1536, Las Casas followed a number of friars to 1099:. These congregated a group of Christian Indians in the location of what is now the town of Rabinal. In 1538 Las Casas was recalled from his mission by Bishop Marroquín who wanted him to go to 1071:, agreed to sign a contract promising that if the venture was successful he would not establish any new encomiendas in the area. Las Casas's group of friars established a Dominican presence in 1046:, known as "Motolinia", and Las Casas made many enemies among the Franciscans for arguing that conversions made without adequate understanding were invalid. Las Casas wrote a treatise called " 1148:

and no longer a boy. He wrote a letter asking for permission to stay in Spain a little longer to argue for the emperor that conversion and colonization were best achieved by peaceful means.

745:, and at the time he assumed that the enslavement of Africans was justified. Worried by Las Casas' descriptions of the situation in the Indies, Cardinal Cisneros decided to send a group of 1144:

ordinance against slavery was reversed by the Crown. For this reason it was a pressing matter for Bartolomé de las Casas to plead once again for the Indians with Charles V who was by now

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Having resigned the Bishopric of Chiapas, Las Casas spent the rest of his life working closely with the imperial court in matters relating to the Indies. In 1551 he rented a cell at the

1393:, which took place in 1550–51 with Sepúlveda and Las Casas each presenting their arguments in front of a council of jurists and theologians. First Sepúlveda read the conclusions of his 1275:, to whose jurisdiction the diocese had previously belonged. To Las Casas's dismay Bishop Marroquín openly defied the New Laws. While bishop, Las Casas was the principal consecrator of 1194:

from tribute and all requirements of personal service. However, the reforms were so unpopular in the New World that riots broke out and threats were made against Las Casas's life. The

7530: 7389: 1258:, as co-consecrators. As a bishop Las Casas was involved in frequent conflicts with the encomenderos and secular laity of his diocese: among the landowners there was the conquistador 8418: 1588:, who had been falsely accused of heresy. In 1565, he wrote his last will, signing over his immense library to the college. Bartolomé de Las Casas died on 18 July 1566, in Madrid. 801:, was ill and had become tired of Las Casas's tenacity. Las Casas resolved to meet instead with the young king Charles I. Ximenez died on 8 November, and the young King arrived in 1910:

Opposition to Las Casas reached its climax in historiography with Spanish right-wing, nationalist historians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries constructing a pro-Spanish

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He was among the first to develop a view of unity among humankind in the New World, stating that "All people of the world are humans," and that they had a natural right to

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during the first half of the 1550s. Expanding the Spanish territory in the New World was allowed again in May 1556, and a decade later, Spain started its conquest of the

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likewise did not consider Las Casas to have had any substantial impact on the slave trade, which was well in place before he began writing. That view is contradicted by

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Diccionario geográfico-histórico de las Indias Occidentales ó América: es á saber: de los reynos del Perú, Nueva España, Tierra Firme, Chile, y Nuevo reyno de Granada

4164: 1532:, contained accounts of the abuses committed by some Spaniards against Native Americans during the early stages of colonization. In 1555 his old Franciscan adversary 905:. After several months of negotiations Las Casas set sail alone; the peasants he had brought had deserted, and he arrived in his colony already ravaged by Spaniards. 8097: 8017: 1930:

given to exaggeration, and as a traitor towards his own nation. Menéndez Pelayo also accused Las Casas of having been instrumental in suppressing the publication of

811: 7409: 1998:, called Las Casas a "wretch... stimulated by sordid avarice only," holding him responsible for the enslavement of thousands of Africans. Other historians, such as 1780:

because it is written as a defense of the cultural level of the Indians, arguing throughout that indigenous peoples of the Americas were just as civilized as the

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to seek more Dominicans to assist in the mission. Las Casas left Guatemala for Mexico, where he stayed for more than a year before setting out for Spain in 1540.

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island who traded slaves for alcohol with the natives. Early in 1522, Las Casas left the settlement to complain to the authorities. While he was gone the native

5308: 5283: 335: 88: 9118: 1914:, arguing that the Spanish Empire was benevolent and just and denying any adverse consequences of Spanish colonialism. Spanish pro-imperial historians such as 7369: 1226:

of which he took possession in 1545 upon his return to the New World. He was consecrated in the Dominican Church of San Pablo on 30 March 1544. As Archbishop

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When the hearings started in 1542, Las Casas presented a narrative of atrocities against the natives of the Indies that would later be published in 1552 as

326:; 11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a Spanish clergyman, writer, and activist best known for his work as an historian and social reformer. He arrived in 8861: 8408: 5632: 4233: 1776:, but it also contains descriptions of many of the other indigenous cultures that Las Casas learned about through his travels and readings. The history is 8809: 8137: 7364: 2010:, who argued that Las Casas's 1516 Memorial was the direct cause of Charles V granting permission in 1518 to transport the first 4,000 African slaves to 1305: 957: 842: 5256:

Mirror of the Cruel and Horrible Spanish Tyranny Perpetrated in the Netherlands, by the Tyrant, the Duke of Alba, and Other Commanders of King Philip II

8767: 8276: 5723: 4092: 3871:. Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, & Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America. 7982: 1627: 1524: 1153: 344: 1632: 8845: 8438: 4721:

Gunst, Laurie. "Bartolomé de las Casas and the Question of Negro Slavery in the Early Spanish Indies." PhD dissertation, Harvard University 1982.

1329: 8833: 8458: 8032: 5708: 5072: 7606: 1280: 7896: 1842:

De Las Casas copied Columbus' diary from his 1492 voyage to modern-day Bahamas. His copy is notable because Columbus' diary itself was lost.

1728: 956:, in which he reported much of what he had witnessed first hand in the conquest and colonization of New Spain. In 1531, he wrote a letter to 9133: 8443: 8433: 8212: 7611: 789: 238: 5041:

Las Casas as Bishop: A new interpretation based on his holograph petition in the Hans P. Kraus Collection of Hispanic American Manuscripts

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Boruchoff, David A. (2008). "Another Face of Empire: Bartolomé de las Casas, Indigenous Rights, and Ecclesiastical Imperialism (review)".

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The Church of the Dominican Convent of San Pablo in Valladolid where Bartolomé de Las Casas was consecrated as Bishop on March 30, 1544.

574:; appalled by the injustices they saw committed by the slave owners against the Indians, they decided to deny slave owners the right to 7962: 5501: 1332:

did not object. This resulted in a new resolution to be presented to viceroy Mendoza. His last act as Bishop of Chiapas was writing a

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and the new chancellor Gattinara. Las Casas's enemies slandered him to the king, accusing him of planning to escape with the money to

8956: 7414: 5349: 1891: 1756:, but Las Casas changed it into a volume of its own, recognizing that the material was not historical. The material contained in the 1255: 870: 9108: 8689: 8334: 8167: 8157: 8002: 7997: 7374: 2333: 1961:

the prime cause of the population decline, not violence and exploitation. Demographic studies such as those of colonial Mexico by

1235: 9203: 9193: 8469: 7957: 7591: 1321: 8983: 1584:, but nothing came from the case. Las Casas also appeared as a witness in the case of the Inquisition for his friend Archbishop 193: 9128: 9113: 8679: 8269: 8022: 5642: 2062: 1178:

system, with each encomienda reverting to the Crown at the death of its holders. It also exempted the few surviving Indians of

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did result in improvement of the legal status of the natives, and in an increased colonial focus on the ethics of colonialism.

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Las Casas's retraction of his views on African slavery is expressed particularly in chapters 102 and 129, Book III of his

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of scholarship has sought to deconstruct and reassess the role of Las Casas in Spanish colonialism. Daniel Castro, in his

1515:. His influence at court was so great that some even considered that he had the final word in choosing the members of the 8187: 8132: 7716: 7706: 7550: 6714: 6034: 5369:

A list of all the congregations, notable members, priories, churches, and convents of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans)

4973: 4075: 2334:"July 2015: Bartolomé de las Casas and 500 Years of Racial Injustice | Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective" 977: 7520: 7449: 429:

Following his death in 1566, Las Casas was widely venerated as a holy figure, resulting in the opening of his cause for

408:, but served only for a short time before he was forced to return to Spain because of resistance to the New Laws by the 9153: 9123: 8839: 8527: 8344: 8177: 8172: 8147: 7835: 7359: 4570: 4529: 4483: 4479: 3498: 3471: 3159: 1660: 1448: 1166: 735:

and delivered to the regents a written account of the situation in the Indies and his proposed remedies. This was his "

8669: 7108: 6613: 6259: 4395:(1997). "Prophet and apostle: Bartolomé de las Casas and the spiritual conquest of America". In Cummins, J. S. (ed.). 4261: 78: 9198: 9173: 8262: 8207: 7255: 6709: 6059: 5834: 5713: 5441: 300: 6004: 3149: 9178: 8971: 8719: 8428: 8373: 8356: 8314: 8309: 8102: 7726: 7656: 7515: 7499: 7354: 5698: 1413: 5859: 5081: 798: 716: 393:

and participating in debates among colonial churchmen about how best to bring the natives to the Christian faith.

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in honor of its first bishop. His work is a particular inspiration behind the work of the Las Casas Institute at

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Las Casas worked there in adverse conditions for the following months, being constantly harassed by the Spanish

652:. During the next few years, he divided his time between being a colonist and his duties as an ordained priest. 8903: 8626: 8413: 8197: 8192: 8152: 7987: 7977: 7972: 7927: 7464: 6931: 5683: 5284:

Las Casas' Articulation of the Indians' Moral Agency: Looking Back at Las Casas Through Fichte – Rolando Pérez.

3587: 1979: 1938:) out of spite, but other historians find that to be unlikely since it was rejected by the theologians of both 1887: 1533: 1023: 595:, dispatched a complaint against the Dominicans to the King, and the Dominicans were recalled from Hispaniola. 450: 7701: 7434: 6552: 6249: 1915: 9223: 8966: 8734: 8182: 8012: 7815: 7795: 7494: 7489: 7344: 7219: 6911: 6486: 6460: 6149: 6024: 5728: 5678: 5637: 5342: 4000:"Review of Another Face of Empire: Bartolomé de Las Casas, Indigenous Rights, and Ecclesiastical Imperialism" 3945:"Review of Another Face of Empire: Bartolomé de Las Casas, Indigenous Rights, and Ecclesiastical Imperialism" 2078: 724: 367: 8783:

Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore

5301: 2116: 2050: 1063:, which stated that the Indians were rational beings and should be brought peacefully to the faith as such. 530:' second expedition. Upon his return, in 1499, Pedro de Las Casas brought to his son "a young Amerinidian." 9213: 9168: 9163: 8918: 8893: 8117: 8052: 7820: 7666: 7565: 7169: 6789: 6369: 5889: 5536: 2126: 1931: 1577: 1379: 1356: 578:. Las Casas was among those denied confession for this reason. In December 1511, a Dominican preacher Fray 514:

Las Casas's first encounter with Indigenous peoples happened before he even sailed to the Americas. In his

419: 774: 701: 9208: 9188: 8714: 8574: 8448: 8142: 8087: 8037: 7967: 7917: 7790: 7686: 7540: 7474: 7118: 6951: 6804: 5929: 5738: 5556: 5187:

Wynter, Sylvia (1984b). "New Seville and the Conversion Experience of Bartolomé de Las Casas: Part Two".

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appointed Las Casas and Sauvage to write a new plan for reforming the governmental system of the Indies.

1259: 9143: 9032: 9011: 8244: 8232: 8127: 8112: 7875: 7785: 7671: 7439: 6961: 6506: 6294: 6179: 6009: 5794: 5688: 5576: 4913:

Orique, David T. (2009). "Journey to the Headwaters: Bartolomé de Las Casas in a Comparative Context".

1715: 705: 31: 6114: 396:

Travelling back to Spain to recruit more missionaries, he continued lobbying for the abolition of the

8403: 8027: 7937: 7901: 7454: 6799: 6425: 5979: 5839: 5759: 5754: 4399:. An Expanding World: The European Impact on World History, 1450–1800 . Vol. 28. Aldershot, UK: 1919: 696:, but Las Casas was able to get a letter of introduction to the king from the Archbishop of Seville, 484: 17: 6089: 2033: 9218: 9017: 8744: 7880: 7855: 7691: 7616: 7601: 7535: 7394: 7184: 6699: 6354: 5939: 5819: 5733: 5673: 5668: 5335: 4900:(Project Gutenberg EBook no. 23466, reproduction ed.). Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark. 4888: 4675: 4428:"From Conquest to Constitutions: Retrieving a Latin American Tradition of the Idea of Human Rights" 2679: 1999: 1545:

between the two orders, was intended to bring Las Casas in disfavour. However, it did not succeed.

1537:

doctrinal instruction. This letter, which reinvoked the old conflict over the requirements for the

874: 770: 462:. The print was made by two Flemish artists who had fled the Southern Netherlands because of their 339: 114: 7419: 6274: 5854: 4971:

Parish, Helen Rand; Weidman, Harold E. (1976). "The Correct Birthdate of Bartolomé de las Casas".

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writing in 1900, denied that Las Casas's suggestions affected the development of the slave trade.

1464: 8938: 8724: 8122: 7992: 7942: 7922: 7845: 7775: 7676: 7641: 7444: 7032: 6739: 6304: 6139: 6039: 5779: 5647: 5471: 5207: 2502:

Bartolomé de las Casas and the defense of Amerindian rights : a brief history with documents

1500: 1096: 1083:. Through the efforts of Las Casas's missionaries the so-called "Land of War" came to be called " 620: 7646: 6084: 3674: 1684:, which abolished native slavery for the first time in European colonial history and led to the 1667:. One of the stated purposes for writing the account was Las Casas's fear of Spain coming under 1495:

The façade of the Colegio de San Gregorio in Valladolid, where Las Casas spent his final decades

1325: 1251: 8923: 8874:

Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (GRATK)

8522: 8453: 8319: 8254: 7379: 7260: 7194: 6906: 6891: 6774: 6704: 6689: 6588: 6074: 6014: 5909: 5874: 5451: 3183: 1561: 1371:. The Crown had for example received a fifth of the large number of slaves taken in the recent 1038:, to participate in a series of discussions and debates among the bishops of the Dominican and 949: 689: 681: 140: 7399: 6450: 6314: 4862: 4856: 4611: 4605: 4574: 4564: 3488: 1352: 1317: 1272: 1013: 9148: 8928: 8549: 8351: 8092: 8082: 7865: 7429: 7424: 7270: 7189: 7128: 6901: 6628: 6374: 6324: 5994: 5934: 5814: 5586: 5506: 5031: 4776: 4770: 4648: 4642: 2134: 1970: 1516: 1276: 1239: 1170: 1009: 827: 579: 575: 6694: 6527: 6164: 6094: 5401: 3685: 3682: 3678: 3670: 1585: 1467:, who learned the native languages to discover more about their cultures and civilizations. 1210: 9103: 9098: 8898: 8609: 8498: 8361: 8107: 7651: 7305: 7285: 7083: 7057: 6976: 6844: 6824: 6734: 6547: 6394: 6384: 6279: 6054: 5954: 5919: 5849: 5824: 5616: 5571: 5546: 5541: 5461: 5153:

The Idea of Natural Rights: Studies on Natural Rights, Natural Law and Church Law 1150–1625

5108: 4493: 4124: 4118: 2148: 1991: 1955: 1896: 1853: 1817: 1692: 1508: 1451:

also encouraged nonviolent policies concerning the religious conversions of the Indians in

1133: 1043: 1016:, before traveling into the interior region called Tuzulutlan, "The Land of War", in 1537. 527: 519: 6759: 6440: 5174:(1984a). "New Seville and the Conversion Experience of Bartolomé de Las Casas: Part One". 1939: 1293: 837: 538: 356:. He described the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous peoples. 8: 8604: 8503: 8324: 7810: 7681: 7224: 7113: 6379: 6299: 6234: 6144: 6099: 5999: 5611: 5270: 5259: 4676:"The Forgotten Crucible: The Latin American Influence on the Universal Human Rights Idea" 2308: 2058: 2054: 1704: 1581: 1549: 1398: 1125: 1068: 945: 463: 353: 6420: 6209: 5894: 5769: 2119:, the Centro Fray Bartolomé de las Casas de Derechos Humanos, was established by Bishop 1974: 1227: 1158: 857:, Las Casas petitioned a land grant to be allowed to establish a settlement in northern 854: 603: 571: 9058: 8988: 8978: 8579: 8544: 8488: 8329: 8237: 7860: 7800: 7636: 7596: 7570: 7265: 7174: 7138: 6936: 6916: 6865: 6839: 6754: 6633: 6593: 6445: 6399: 6359: 6284: 6184: 6044: 5879: 5844: 5799: 5591: 5476: 5161: 5066: 4998: 4959: 4930: 4832: 4819: 4450: 4400: 4380: 4055: 4019: 3980: 3972: 3698: 3558: 3179: 2550: 2182: 2141: 2108: 2105: 1664: 1529: 1436: 1301: 1145: 1084: 993: 53: 7560: 1691:

The book became an important element in the creation and propagation of the so-called

1088: 373:

In 1522, Las Casas tried to launch a new kind of peaceful colonialism on the coast of

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Slavery in the Early Spanish Indies". Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University 1982.

2312: 2066: 1962: 1867:

Fray Bartolomé de las Casas depicted as Savior of the Indians in a later painting by

1685: 1668: 1565: 1472: 1443:. Las Casas's criticism of the encomienda system contributed to its replacement with 1390: 1360: 1347: 981: 940:

in 1523. There he continued his theological studies, being particularly attracted to

415: 8659: 7731: 7027: 5511: 5318: 1412:

Sepúlveda's arguments contributed to the policy of "war by fire and blood" that the

410: 9046: 8943: 8913: 8908: 8867: 8789: 8616: 8304: 8057: 7840: 7805: 7555: 7295: 7250: 7199: 7093: 7012: 6971: 6860: 6764: 6679: 6623: 6618: 6598: 6578: 6491: 6364: 6349: 6269: 6239: 6199: 6119: 6064: 6049: 5989: 5904: 5864: 5606: 5561: 5531: 5526: 5516: 5491: 5466: 5446: 5431: 5421: 5228: 5096: 4982: 4922: 4811: 4517: 4442: 4372: 4047: 3956: 2390: 1745: 1681: 1673: 1648: 1491: 1309: 1092: 1039: 1005: 929:

Devastated, Las Casas reacted by entering the Dominican monastery of Santa Cruz in

784: 762: 712: 314: 263: 257: 166: 67: 7626: 5804: 4858: