In A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Bartolome De Las Casas’ made it clear that the Spaniards behavior towards the Native people of the Americas was cruel, unjustified and needed to be put to an end. Las Casas’ goal was to create a piece that would persuade the Spanish crown to remove the conquistadors from the New World while leaving friars to spread their savior’s religion, Christianity. He succeeds in doing this by elaborating on the horrors conducted by the Spaniards. Yes, Las Casas’ goal made him the first true friend of the Natives because his work appeared to be fighting for their lives. But in reality, the friars intentions were just as malicious as that of the conquistadors. Not only did they want to strip away the …show more content…
natives culture, but they were very much dependent upon the conquistadors cruel actions to do so. When Las Casas writes about the interaction that took place in the Kingdom of Yucatán between the friars and the natives, he shares his plan to legitimately claim to land.
After talking about the way the natives fell in love with the word of Christ and the “good example”. of the friars, Las Casas writes “at the suggestion of the brothers, twelve or fifteen local lords… gathered together their people and, with their full approval, voluntarily subjected themselves and them to the Spanish crown.” This shows that Las Casas believes that the best way to claim the land is to get the natives to convert. After their conversion they will simply hand over their land to the Spanish crown. As of 1513 the Spanish were reading aloud the Spanish Requerimento, which not only proclaimed ownership of a particular part of the New World, but subjected the native to the Encomienda system. This was all done in Spanish, a completely foreign language to the natives. Las Casas’ method unlike the Spanish Requerimiento, was …show more content…
peaceful. Although Las Casas idea seems like the best way to claim land, it was unrealistic. Las Casas was writing this as a persuasive piece to the Spanish court. With this in mind, it made sense that he did not mention why the natives may have easily converted to their beloved religion, because of fear and not because of the word of God. Before the arrival of these friars to the Kingdom of Yucatán, the natives had already been subjected to the torture of the conquistadors and may have easily converted because they thought it might save them from the other Christians return. Las Casas writes, “They finally agreed to let [the friars] come among them, provided they came along and brought no Spaniards with them”. This shows that the Natives may have just been using the Friars for protection. Las Casas also provides direct proof of this when he shares a quote from a distressed native man after the return of the conquistadors to Yucatán. This man, under the hurtful hand of the Spaniards, said to the missionaries, “Why did you trick us with your promise that you would keep the Spanish out of our territory?” This shows that the natives believed that inviting the friars to their home and converting to their religion would protect them from the wrath of the conquistadors. Las Casas was well aware of the game the natives were playing. The natives reasons for converting had nothing to do with religion. Because of this, the voluntary nature of the natives to hand over their land and freedom would not be seen in a New World society that had not faced abuse by the Spaniards. The friars were dependent on the fear created by the conquistadors to ensure the natives corporation during their conversion. Las Casas writes, “It was at this point, with these people well on the road to the love of Christ and the friars joyful in the belief that they would be able to convert all the people of the kingdom”. Obviously, the friars were confident in their conversion ability because they were able to convert a mere, fear-stricken people. What Las Casas did not write about was what would happen when these friars came across a society who refused to be converted. Although Las Casas and these friars were saved, they still had the Spanish attitude, the same attitude, that expelled both the Muslim and Jewish people from the Spanish throne. If the natives showed refusal to convert and were not Las Casas’ brothers in the church, they were not free from slavery or extermination. Las Casas also conveniently leaves out the difficulty that would come along with converting these people.
The Spanish and the Native Americans were from opposite sides of the globe, they were different culturally, spiritually and linguistically, therefore communicating must have been difficult. In the unlikely chance that the Natives accepted Christianity, they never accepted it wholeheartedly but merged it with their own religions. For example, the image of the procuress (devil) in Sahagun’s Florentine Codex, although the natives were depicting some sort of devil in their painting, it was not the European idea of a devil. This proves that when the natives accepted the Christian ideas, they were adapting them to their own beliefs. The friars would not have tolerated their imperfect form of
Christianity. Overall, Las Casas was a friend and foe to the native people. Although he may have believed conversion was best for them, it was destroying their culture and dependent upon the conquistadors to install fear around the New World. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, fails to acknowledge the fact that the friars needed the conquistadors, not only to help with conversion but to be in the America’s as well. Spain believed in the three G’s, God, gold and glory, and as important as God is to them, they would not spend money on ships to the New World to convert people without receiving anything in return and the conquistadors made sure that the pockets Spanish crown and their own were heavily compensated. The Encomienda system is proof of this.
The religious views of the Indians and the Europeans were different. The Natives were very willing to take up Catholicism as an addition to their religious practice. Although, the Spanish misinterpreted the situation and thought that the Indians were accepting Catholicism as their only religion. If all Natives would have truly converted to Catholicism, then it would have resulted with their own religious practices dying out and Catholicism becoming the only religion. The Native’s refusal to give up their own religious practice, I would say, played a key role in setting a precedent for other believers to continue having the same perspective or form a new one. Similarly, Anne Hutchinson and George Whitfield changed their perspective on how much
Native American civilization was not always a pit of terror and agonizing torture for every single being. The Spanish arrived in Hispaniola, during the early 1500, with the seemingly good intention of introducing to the indigenous the Christian faith. Unfortunately, their mission turned into an almost complete annihilation of a culture unlike their own. Bartolome de la Casas, depicts a graphic and ultimately disturbing castings of the happenings during their expedition. The Spanish Christians involved in these happenings can be seen as hypocritical, heartless, and close minded. Although, in the minds of these men, they were completing their God assigned duties, such as
Question #1: In chapter one, does Zinn portray Bartolome de las Casas as an adversary of Indians?
The Columbian Exchange occurred after the voyage of Christopher Columbus. It was the process of the exchange of culture, food, ideas, animals, disease, and religion from the rest of the world to America and more. The Native Americans suffered vastly from the Columbian Exchange and their death rates rose immaculately. Europe, Spain, and Portugal all interested in the goods that the Americas had to offer, made several voyages passing on not only goods, but their religion.[ "Colombian Exchange." Silvia, Joseph. (accessed February 16, 2014). http://ezinearticles.com/?Columbian-Exchange&id=2323785 ] There were many attempts to convert the native people to some form of Christianity. Some efforts were successful and some were not. The conversion of the natives to new religions changed the values and culture of a people and the idea only traveled and expanded over tim...
Bartolome de las casas had hoped to prevent further harm to Indians, and clarify that they were not barbarians. Of the text named Bartolome de las casas: In Defense of the Indians(c.1550) it covers what is to be the Spanish Conquistadores, and talks of the natives to which at the time seen by many are barbaric, ignorant, incapable of learning, just another group of people to be conquered. But to the Catholic missionaries, they see the Natives as new people to influence and enlighten. But if at any time the person drops the belief in Christianity, they would use deadly force against the person or family. Adding to that, Hernán comments that their cities are “ worth of admiration because of their buildings, which are like those of Venice”(Poole 4).
The discovery and conquest of American Indians inspired efforts to develop an ideology that could justify why they needed to enslave the Indians. The Spanish monarch wanted an ideal empire. "A universal empire, of which all their subjects were but servants. Charles V remained for them the dominus mundi, the legitimate and God-ordained lord of the world." (Weckmann, The Transit of Civilization, 23) Gold and religious conversion was the two most important inspirations for conquistadors in conquering America. Father Bartolome De Las Casas was a Dominican priest who came to the New World to convert the Indians to become Christians. He spent forty years on Hispanolia and nearby islands, and saw how the Spaniards brutally treated the Indians and sympathized with them. The Devastation of the Indies was an actual eyewitness account of the genocide by Las Casas, and his group of Dominican friars in which he demonizes the Spanish colonists and praises the Indians. Father Las Casas returned to Seville, where he published his book that caused an on going debate on whether the suppression of the Indians corrupted the Spaniards' values. What Las Casas was trying to achieve was the notion of human rights, that human beings are free and cogent by nature without the interference of others.
What he and his men did to the Indigenous people is told in horrifying detail by the Dominican priest Bartolome de Las Casas, “whose writings give the most thorough account of the Spanish-Indian encounter.” Las Casas witnessed firsthand Columbus’ soldiers stabbing Natives for sport, dashing babies’ heads on rocks, and sexually abusing Indigenous women. His testimony was corroborated by other eyewitnesses, such as a group of Dominican friars, who addressed the Spanish monarchy in 1519, hoping to bring an end to the atrocities. At the very least, Columbus was complicit in the actions of his men. He cared so little for the welfare of the Indigenous people that he let his soldiers commit reprehensible acts that would be considered crimes against humanity in the present day. Christopher Columbus’ actions suggest he had no issue with serving as an enabler of the horrifying actions committed by his men against the Indigenous
When they found the “new world” is too weak to resist the invasion of European, they started to establish the colony in America. Bartolomé de Las Casas used to be a priest who explored America on Hispaniola and Cuba. But after he witnessed the colonists enslave and mistreat Indians, he changed his mind and start to protect the Indians. He free his Indian slaves in 1514, and start to against Spanish mistreat them (Foner, p.7). After that, he made the effort to liberate the Indian slaves, and he had backed to Spain several times want to make the King reduce the heavy labor of Indians. Finally, Spain published New Laws in 1542, which indicate that Indians no longer be enslaved (Foner, p.7).
...tence it at least allowed him to educate the natives about Christianity and that their experiences before now with the Europeans were not of a Christian nature. Throughout the letter, Las Casas seems careful to be very consistent and never veers from ensuring that his audience knows of the atrocities of the people of their own land to the natives fellow humans. God has a plan for everyone and this is not it.
The Spanish began their movement to Southwest America in the late sixteenth century. From that point on, their influence both on the Native Americans and the environment was extraordinaire. The goal of the Spaniards with regards to the Native Americans was to transform them “into tax-paying Christians.” This is in contrast to the idea that their goal was to eradicate the Indians form the Americas. Consequently, the Spaniards took many Indians so that they may plant their religion in the Natives and to use them as cheap labor. This led many Indians to learn the customs and language of the Spaniards so they could to be able to thrive in the Spanish culture. Thus, some Natives acquired Spanish, which was the main source of their Hispanicization; this was the notion of Indians becoming encompassed by the Spanish society. Furthermore, Indians gradually learned skills, obtained land, and sometimes found Hispanic spouses, thus furthering their Hispanicization. They now began to live in a Spanish manner and blend into the bottom of the Spanish societal ladder. This “acculturation” of the Native Americans was in contrast to the models of early English colonization. Spanish goals and plans sought to involve the Indians so that they may live in their society even if at the lower end of it’s ladder. English colonies viewed the Natives as savages and looked to them for slave labor or to rape their women. They did not plan to take the Indians into their society as the Spaniards did so throughout this era.
In fact, some Spaniards campaigned for their protection. Works calling for justice though would not be published until several years after there was no longer a population to protect. This included Friar Bartolome de las Casa’s Apologetic History of the Indies that was published in 1566 AD. Recalling his experiences in the New World on attempting to convert the natives, he attempted to persuade readers that Native Americans were naturally good and under God. He highlighted their civilization as well-developed with both political and social lives. By nature, the Taino people were peaceful; they had initially greeted the colonists with friendship and assisted Columbus with his endeavors. Regardless, the Spanish colonists that had been replaced by the Tainos turned a blind eye. Experienced with the circumstances within the mines, they had no qualms with subjecting the Native Americans to the same conditions. When the colonists first began forcing labor and conversion upon the tribes, the tribe chiefs had even allowed it and tried their hand at adjusting to the Spanish lifestyle in search of compromise, only to be ignored with the Spanish preference of complete subjugation. Furthermore, the Tainos were labeled as barbarians due to their lack of faith in the Christian god. Consequently, the Spaniards, also greatly influenced by their desires for gold, lacked the compassion needed to take wholehearted action against the cruelties placed onto the
All through the history of the world there have been superior civilizations that have taken over other groups and have forced them in to situations that would seem unimaginable to the most people today. The same situation once happened to the native people that live in what today is considered the south west of the United States. In 1550 Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led a Spanish conquest in the Rio Grande valley the area that a number of pueblo people made this area there home and sacred lands. With Coronado eading the way the gate was opened to the rest of the Spaniard who were looking for their share of fame and riches. After Coronado fruitless search of the seven cities of gold, then Juan de Oñate decided to try his luck in the southwest. Oñates was equipped with a different type of help other than the usual conquistadores, he was came along with at group of Franciscans. With the Spaniard in search for God, Gold and Glory they quickly realized that there was no Gold or Glory in the South west and the viceroy in Mexico quickly came to the conclusion to withdraw and give more of there attention to the other more lucrative areas of there empire. But there seemed to be one small probel the God part of the god, gold and glory, the Franciscans that came up with Oñates objected to the idea of leaving. The Franciscan view it as their duty to convert the natives who in their eyes where living in sin and would go to hell if the friars would not intervene and show them the way to salvation.
The Spaniards arrived at the Americas prior to the English. The Spanish mainly wanted to explore in the first place because after the Black Death, the population increased, and thus, so did the frequency of commerce. There was a sudden new interest in new products and the new strong monarchs who sponsored the journeys wanted to be more affluent. Therefore, explorers such as Christopher Columbus attempted to go west to target Asia. However, he ended up on Cuba and called the natives Indians. The Spanish soon started to consider the Americas less of a blockage and could now see it as a source of resources. In 1518, Cortes arrived into Mexico with his group of conquistadors, or conquerors, which is a proper name because the men after gold exterminated native areas using their military skills, brutality and greed to turn the Southern America into a vast Spanish empire. The smallpox the Spanish unknowingly carried also helped wipe many people out. When they saw the religious ceremonies of the Aztecs that produced many skulls, they thought of these people as savages and not entirely human. This of coarse was quite hypocritical because the Spanish have killed before during the Inquisition for their faith. It was this contempt that made them think it was all right to slaughter the natives. Spanish colonies were established when conquistadors had gotten a license to finance the expedition from the crown to fixture encomiendas. These encomiendas were basically Indian villages that became a source of labor. The Spanish dreamed of becoming wealthier from South America, but they also wanted a profitable agricultural economy and to spread their Catholic religion (the Pueblo Indians converted to Christianity), which became very important in the 1540s.
The arguments presented by Las Casas is in defense of the natives stating that if he can convince the king of the wrongful doings of the Spaniards that they would pay for what they've done. The doings of the Spaniards was a shock to Las Casas making him want to spend as long as he could defending them. In the great kingdom and provinces of Peru, Las Casas states "the way the Spanish have behaved has been an offence to God and a disservice to the Crown; the Treasury has been defrauded and, in my opinion, it will be long and a costly business to recover for the Crown this territory which could easily have provided sufficient food to support the entire population of Spain." Just a short example of how Las Casas feels about how the natives are being treated and how he feels about the land bei...
“Las Casas traveled to Spain and harangued the government. In his books and articles, he demanded that the Spaniards return Indian land and end forced labor. By the end of his life, he also proclaimed a revolutionary idea: the equality of all human races,” (“The Washington Post” Gibbin). Bartolome believed in equality and in the vicinity of Columbus, he should have been the real hero. Not only did Columbus enslave Native Americans, as he punished them by cutting parts of their body off, he like every other Spaniard kept the Indians as slaves expecting taxes of gold every three months. “Whenever an Indian delivered his tribute, he was to receive a brass or copper token which he must wear about his neck as proof that he had made his payment. Any Indian found without such a token was to be punished. With a fresh token, an Indian was safe for three months, much of which time would be devoted to collecting more gold,” (Loewen, 2).