Search results
Slavery
- Bartolomé de 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.
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Bartolom%C3%A9_de_las_Casas
People also ask
Who was Bartolomé de las Casas?
What role did Bartolomé de las Casas play in the New World?
Who funded Bartolomé de las Casas?
Did Las Casas get involved in the 1560s?
Jan 7, 2016 · The life and writings of Bartolomé de las Casas. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press. This essay focuses on and analyzes the role of prophet that Bartolomé de Las Casas (1485–1566) lived out in the conquest and settlement of the New World. Las Casas, a Catholic Dominican friar, was ...
- Lawrence A. Clayton
- 2016
Reports of violence, enslavement, and mistreatment by Spanish conquistadors and colonizers had become increasingly common, and some individuals, such as Bartolomé de las Casas, had begun to speak out against these atrocities. It was in this context that the Spanish crown organized the Valladolid Debate in 1550.
Volume 9. Article 5. 2010. Credibi lity and Incredulity: A Critique of Bartolomé de Las Casas‘s A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Alexander Allen. Getysburg College. Class of 2011. Follow this and additional works at: htps://cupola.getysburg.edu/ghj.
- Alexander Allen
- 2010
‘The charge often made against Las Casas, that he introduced negro slavery into the New World, is unjust. As early as 1505 negroes were sent to the Antilles to work in mines. After that they were repeatedly imported, but without his cooperation. Besides, slavery was at that time sanctioned by Spanish custom and law.
- Overview
- Adviser to Charles V
Las Casas then entered upon the most fruitful period of his life. He became an influential figure at court and at the Council of the Indies. In addition to writing numerous memoriales (petitions), he came into direct confrontation with the learned Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, an increasingly important figure at court by reason of his Democrates segundo; o, de las justas causas de la guerra contra los indios (“Concerning the Just Cause of the War Against the Indians”), in which he maintained, theoretically in accordance with Aristotelian principles, that the Indians “are inferior to the Spaniards just as children are to adults, women to men, and, indeed, one might even say, as apes are to men.” Las Casas finally confronted him in 1550 at the Council of Valladolid, which was presided over by famous theologians. The argument was continued in 1551, and its repercussions were enormous.
The servitude of the Indians was already irreversibly established, and, despite the fact that Sepúlveda’s teachings had not been officially approved, they were, in effect, those that were followed in the Indies. But Las Casas continued to write books, tracts, and petitions, testimony to his unwavering determination to leave in written form his principal arguments in defense of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
During his final years Las Casas came to be the indispensable adviser both to the Council of the Indies and to the king on many of the problems relating to the Indies. In 1562 he had the final form of the Prólogo to the Historia de las Indias published, although in 1559 he had left written instructions that the work itself should be published only “after forty years have passed, so that, if God determines to destroy Spain, it may be seen that it is because of the destruction that we have wrought in the Indies and His just reason for it may be clearly evident.” At the age of 90 Las Casas completed two more works on the Spanish conquest in the Americas. Two years later he died in the Dominican convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha de Madrid, having continued to the end his defense of his beloved Indians, oppressed by the colonial system that Europe was organizing.
At the suggestion of Francisco de Toledo, the viceroy of Peru, the king ordered all the works, both published and unpublished, of Las Casas to be collected. Although his influence with Spain and the Indies declined sharply, his name became well known in other parts of Europe, thanks to the translations of the Destrucción that soon appeared in various countries. In the early 19th century the Latin American revolutionary Simón Bolívar himself was inspired by some of the letters of Las Casas in his struggle against Spain, as were some of the heroes of Mexican independence. His name came into prominence again in the latter half of the 20th century, in connection with the indigenista movements in Peru and Mexico. The modern significance of Las Casas lies in the fact that he was the first European to perceive the economic, political, and cultural injustice of the colonial or neocolonial system maintained by the North Atlantic powers since the 16th century for the control of Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Las Casas then entered upon the most fruitful period of his life. He became an influential figure at court and at the Council of the Indies. In addition to writing numerous memoriales (petitions), he came into direct confrontation with the learned Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, an increasingly important figure at court by reason of his Democrates segundo; o, de las justas causas de la guerra contra los indios (“Concerning the Just Cause of the War Against the Indians”), in which he maintained, theoretically in accordance with Aristotelian principles, that the Indians “are inferior to the Spaniards just as children are to adults, women to men, and, indeed, one might even say, as apes are to men.” Las Casas finally confronted him in 1550 at the Council of Valladolid, which was presided over by famous theologians. The argument was continued in 1551, and its repercussions were enormous.
The servitude of the Indians was already irreversibly established, and, despite the fact that Sepúlveda’s teachings had not been officially approved, they were, in effect, those that were followed in the Indies. But Las Casas continued to write books, tracts, and petitions, testimony to his unwavering determination to leave in written form his principal arguments in defense of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
During his final years Las Casas came to be the indispensable adviser both to the Council of the Indies and to the king on many of the problems relating to the Indies. In 1562 he had the final form of the Prólogo to the Historia de las Indias published, although in 1559 he had left written instructions that the work itself should be published only “after forty years have passed, so that, if God determines to destroy Spain, it may be seen that it is because of the destruction that we have wrought in the Indies and His just reason for it may be clearly evident.” At the age of 90 Las Casas completed two more works on the Spanish conquest in the Americas. Two years later he died in the Dominican convent of Nuestra Señora de Atocha de Madrid, having continued to the end his defense of his beloved Indians, oppressed by the colonial system that Europe was organizing.
At the suggestion of Francisco de Toledo, the viceroy of Peru, the king ordered all the works, both published and unpublished, of Las Casas to be collected. Although his influence with Spain and the Indies declined sharply, his name became well known in other parts of Europe, thanks to the translations of the Destrucción that soon appeared in various countries. In the early 19th century the Latin American revolutionary Simón Bolívar himself was inspired by some of the letters of Las Casas in his struggle against Spain, as were some of the heroes of Mexican independence. His name came into prominence again in the latter half of the 20th century, in connection with the indigenista movements in Peru and Mexico. The modern significance of Las Casas lies in the fact that he was the first European to perceive the economic, political, and cultural injustice of the colonial or neocolonial system maintained by the North Atlantic powers since the 16th century for the control of Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Bartolomé de Las Casas was a Spanish priest who lived and worked in the New World in the early 1500s. For much of his life, Las Casas argued against the poor treatment of American Indians by the Spanish colonists.
A Dominican friar from 1522, Las Casas defended the Indians through his preaching and writings, debate and lobbying. Las Casas related numerous atrocities committed by the conquistadores, condemned the enslavement of the Indians, and defended their rights to self-determination.
