More handpicked essays just for you.
The impact of colonialism on Latin America
The impact of colonialism on Latin America
Spanish colonization in the Americas
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Bartolomé de Las Casas Essay Bartolomé de Las Casas wrote “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies” in 1542 to the king of Spain, Prince Philip II, to protest what was happening in the New World to the native people. This essay will explore many aspects of De Las Casas essay. The first thing I will go over is what the book tells us about the relationship between Christianity and the colonialism. The second thing I will talk about is whether the essay did enough to denounce the atrocities against indigenous people. Next, if it is possible to separate how De Las Casas might have been an outspoken critic of the Spanish’s treatment of indigenous people, and how he was still a part of a repressive institution. Finally, I will look …show more content…
into whether it is possible to be a Christian and a colonizer. De Las Casas wrote the book to let the king of Spain know what all was happening in the New World.
He thought it was his right to tell the king what was going on because he was concerned for the souls of the native people, and hoped to convert them to Christianity so they could have eternal life. The book tells us that “De Las Casas came to the Spanish court after he entered the Order, to give our Lord, the Emperor, an eyewitness account of these enormities, not a whisper of which has at that time reached the ears of the people here” (3). I believe that when he told the king what was going on, it was the right thing to do. Others at the time did not think the same. The beginning purpose of the expedition was to try to convert the natives to Christianity. That mission failed quickly when the Spaniards on the expedition did not do what they were told. Instead, they killed millions of the natives in very harsh ways or made them slaves, all for their gold and jewels. But the Spaniard explorers only sent a small portion of gold back to the Spanish purse. The book explains many of the wrongdoings that the Spaniards were committing and in detail some gruesome facts, such as feeding them to the dogs. The incident was extremely unjust for the natives, who welcomed the Spaniards with open arms. In return, the Spaniards stole their land and killed many of natives, starting a mass genocide. So, in the end what played a bigger role? Christianity or …show more content…
colonialism? This book tells us a lot about the relationship between Christianity and colonialism. Originally, the Spaniards went to the New World to convert the natives to Christianity, but gold and jewels soon took precedence. De Las Casas stated that “the reason the Christians have murdered on such a vast scale and killed anyone and everyone in their way is purely and simply greed” (13). The Spaniards only cared about getting the gold and conquering the land. Although they came to the new world with the intention of converting the natives to Christianity, it was easier to conquer and to kill the natives and replace the natives with Spaniard Christians than it was to make each native Christian. The land was easier to convert than the people. The land was especially easy to conquer because the natives were such a docile group of people and had such giving nature. Instead of being grateful or returning the favor, the Spaniards took advantage of that characteristic. De Las Casas says the natives were “submissive” by saying, “Their insatiable greed and overweening ambition know no bounds; the land is fertile and rich, the inhabitants simple, forbearing and submissive” (13). The Spaniards even thought that the natives acted more like a herd of animals in the way they followed orders and listened. The Spaniards were so barbarous that De Las Casas stated that he never thought anyone could be more mean to other human beings, and “brutal slavery that man has ever devised for his fellow-men, treating them, in fact, worse than animals” (13). In the end, colonialism beat Christianity for the Spaniards. They cared more about conquering the land than they did doing the right thing in a Christian way. Some wonder why the Spaniards did what they did when they conquered the land and treated the natives the way they did because the Spaniards came from a Christian Kingdom. To most, killing people isn’t very Christian like. It was so bad that even after De Las Casas made it known that the Spaniards were doing terrible things, mass killings continued the enslavement of natives. While De Las Casa’s book had good intentions, I do not believe that it made the issue disappear. De Las Casas made it known in the book that the atrocious events would still go on even after it his books denounced the Spaniards’ actions. Even once the Spaniards’ wrongdoings were brought to the king’s attention, he didn’t make any changes to help the natives. It was implied that the king cared more about the money that was brought in from the New World than the lives of the natives. King Philip didn’t do anything or enforce a law to enforce conquistadors to convert natives to Christianity instead of just conquering the land. It is also stated in the book that “the local people have died and still die in the blackest ignorance of the faith and without the benefit of the Sacraments” (126). Clearly, the original mission to convert the natives into Christianity failed and still fails today. Although the Spaniards seemed like terrible human beings, some showed that they were actually good people, like De Las Casas. We cannot ignore that De Las Casas was a part of a repressive institution and an outspoken critic of the Spanish’s treatment of indigenous people. He did not go to the New World thinking everything would change like it did and he did not expect their mission to get completely off track. He believed they were going there to help the natives, but he was mistaken. Once he realized the true intentions of the expedition, it was too late to go back. He was forced to be in the New World and face the horrific scenes the Spaniards were committing. While the Spaniards’ actions were unjustifiable, I believe they had some good in them, too. One of the main driving forces behind the genocide was the fact that the Spaniards dehumanized the natives, and thought of them as lesser human. The mindset went so far as to make the Spaniards believe it was a better idea to feed the natives to their dogs as opposed to feeding the dogs to the natives. De Las Casas says, “Here they perpetrated the same outrages and committed the same crimes as before, devising yet further refinements of cruelty, murdering the native people, burning them alive, throwing them to wild dogs…” (26). De Las Casas also states, “The Spaniards have shown not the slightest consideration for these people, treating them (and I speak from first-hand experience, having been there from the outset) not as brute animals – indeed, I would to God, they had done and had shown them the consideration they afford their animals – so much as piles of dung in the middle of the road” (13). The Spaniards were doing absolutely horrible things to the natives and were willing to go so far as to let the natives eat themselves or starve. For the Spaniards, this was acceptable because they refused to see the natives as equals.Although the Spaniards were considered terrible people in this account, De Las Casas showed that he was not one of them. He was one of the few who wanted to uphold Christian values while colonizing the New World. De Las Casas was proof that it was possible to uphold Christian values while colonizing new lands.
Although De Las Casas was a part of the conquest, he did not support it. The book points out that in the past, Christianity and colonialism did not work, but I disagree.. De Las Casas came to the New World to help convert the natives to Christianity, while all of the other Spaniards he traveled traveled across the sea for the gold. De Las Casas’ main goal was to save as many people as possible so they wouldn’t go to Hell. He wanted the natives to have an eternal life, and believed they had to be converted to Christianity. He wrote this book to describe how the others had committed wrongdoings in this
mission. This book gives a great account on the horrific acts the Spaniards committed against the natives. While Christianity and colonialism didn’t work well together in this instance, I believe they have the potential to be effective together. The original plan of the Spaniards’ was to convert the natives to Christianity, but that plan didn’t last long once the Spaniards grew more interested in the gold and land than the natives’ eternal souls in the New World. They had no empathy for the natives and treated them like lesser human beings. I believe that if the Spaniards entered the New World with a different mindset, one that pictured the natives as equals, they could have brought Christianity into the New World instead of hate. . While De Las Casas’ attempts to denounce the Spaniards’ actions was admirable, it was not enough. Money and gold seemed to be more important than saving lives for the king and other Spaniards. I also found out by reading the book that you can separate the critic and repressive institution. Clearly horrible things were going on in the New World, but De Las Casas took note and wrote everything down to tell the king when he returned home. I also think it is possible to be a Christian and a colonizer. Although the majority of the Spaniards did not follow through with Christian-like actions, De Las Casas did, proving that it is possible to be a Christian and a colonizer. I believe that De Las Casas did the right thing by turning in his work to the king, even though some people wanted to shun him for doing such a thing. The type of reader to enjoy this book would most likely be a person who loves history or someone who wants to be informed about the Spaniards conquering the New World. This book is the real story with real accounts of what went on in the New World. De Las Casas made sure to talk about everything he knew, even if it was rather gruesome. De Las Casas deserved a merit for this writing because he published it despite the risks of making the other Spaniards -- his own people -- angry to help the natives achieve eternal life... Despite what other Spaniards were doing in the New World, his sense of justice and ethical compass were true. In the end, this book is a great description of the events that occurred when the Spaniards were taking over the New World.
Anais Nin once said that “we write to taste life twice: in the moment and in retrospection.” In his book, Seven Myths of Spanish Conquest, Matthew Restall tries to change our perception of the past in other to open our eyes to what life was really like during the colonial period. As Restall puts it, the main propose of the book is to “illustrate the degree to which the Conquest was a far more complex and protracted affair” (p.154) than what was supposed in the latters and chronicles left by the conquistadores. Each one of Restall’s chapters examines one of seven myths regarding the mystery behind the conquest. By doing so, Matthew Restall forces us to look back at the Spanish conquest and question
`Black Robe" tells the story of the first contacts between the Huron Indians of Quebec and the Jesuit missionaries from France who came to convert them to Catholicism, and ended up delivering them into the hands of their enemies. Those first brave Jesuit priests did not realize, in the mid-17th century, that they were pawns of colonialism, of course; they were driven by a burning faith and an absolute conviction that they were doing the right thing. Only much later was it apparent that the European settlement of North America led to the destruction of the original inhabitants, not their salvation.
In the first section, Monroy describes the Indian and the Iberian cultures and illustrates the role each played during missionization, as the Indians adapted ?to the demands of Iberian imperialism.?(5) He stresses the differen...
The source of the first passage that I read was History of the Indies written by Bartolome de Las Casas written in 1528. Bartolome was a 16th century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar/priest, who condemned the treatment of Indians in the Spanish empire. Bartolome widely disseminated History of the Indies and helped to establish the Black Legend of Spanish cruelty (Give Me Liberty, 28). The source of the second passage that I read was the “Declaration of Josephe” which was created by Josephe on December 19, 1681, and Josephe was a Spanish-speaking Indian questioned by a royal attorney in Mexico City investigating the Pueblo Revolt, which is the revolt of the indian population, in 1680, which temporarily drove Spanish settlers out of present day New Mexico
One question posed by the authors is “How did Columbus’s relationship with the Spanish crown change over time, and why?” In simple terms, Columbus’s relationship with the
Cortes letter had the sound of someone attempting to explain or justify their actions. This is reasonable since we know that he had disobeyed orders. He wrote, “Having passed six days, then, in the great city of Tenochtitlan, invincible Prince, and having seen something of its marvels, though little in comparison with what there was to be seen and examined, I considered it essential both from my observation of the city and the rest of the land that its ruler should be in my power and no longer entirely free; to the end that he might in nowise change his will and intent to serve your Majesty, more especially as we Spaniards are somewhat intolerable and stiff-necked, and should he get across with us he would be powerful enough to do us great damage, even to blot out all memory of us here in the land; and in the second place, could I once get him in my power all the other provinces subject to him would come more promptly to the knowledge and service of your Majesty, as indeed afterward happened” (Cortes, 1929). Cortes was explaining his reasoning, and attempting to make it appear that he did the right thing. Also, the Florentine Codex’s tone was angry and spiteful. Then again, that is understandable seeing as how they had just lost their home. The codex said, “And the Spaniards walked everywhere; they went everywhere taking to pieces the hiding places, storehouses, storage places. They took all, all that they
One of the most interesting aspects of Diaz’s narrative is towards the end when Cortés broaches the subject of Christianity with Montezuma. Conversion and missionary work was one of the most important and lasting goals of the conquistadors and other contemporary explorers, they were charged with this duty by the rulers who sent t...
In Matthew Restall’s book The Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, he argues that many of the widely accepted modern beliefs about the Spanish Conquest are misguided or skewed. These myths more importantly show how dependent history is on the perspective of the one who is writing it, and how the writer perceives the events happening around them. One example, is the myth of white Spaniards going to a foreign land on the decree of a king and finding barbarous natives who are inferior to these so-called great men. Using documentation written from both sides, and taking into account the context of the time period, Restall explores the myths of the Spanish Conquest in order to frame a less romanticized, well-rounded view of what actually happened
Bowden’s idea of why this happened focused mainly on the old misunderstood traditions of the tribes living in Mexico. He shows how the friars, churches and icons took the blunt of the revolts force. Bowden points out the religious differences and similarities be...
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
Bartolomé de Las Casas was born in 1484 AD in Seville and died in 1566 in Madrid. In the ending of the 15th century and the beginning of 16th, he came to America and become a “protector of Indian”. In 1542, most based on his effort, Spain has passed the New Law, which prohibit slaving Indians (Foner, p. 7). In 1552, he published the book A Short Account of the Destruction of The Indies.
In A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Bartolomé de Las Casas vividly describes the brutality wrought on the natives in the Americas by the Europeans primarily for the purpose of proclaiming and spreading the Christian faith. Las Casas originally intended this account to reach the royal administration of Spain; however, it soon found its way into the hands of many international readers, especially after translation. Bartolomé de Las Casas illustrates an extremely graphic and grim reality to his readers using literary methods such as characterization, imagery, amplification, authorial intrusion and the invocation of providence while trying to appeal to the sympathies of his audience about such atrocities.
There have been circular arguments,internaionally, concerning whether Columbus discoverd or invaded the west Indies. through this essay I will explore all counter arguments for this particular topic. Its complex yet simple, one step at a time.
From Spain's early arrival in the Caribbean through their establishment of the Spanish empire indigenous people were exploited through cheap, slave like labor. One of the most incredible subjects raised by the documents presented in Colonial Spanish America is the topic of Labor Systems that were imposed on the indigenous people. Spain tried to excuse this exploitation by claiming to save these indigenous people by teaching them the ways of Christ but many of the Articles in Colonial Spanish America, Struggle & Survival, and The Limits of Racial Domination prove otherwise. Through letters, personal stories, and other documents these books present accounts that tell about the labor system used in this area. They tell of the Spanish labor systems such as the encomiendos and later rapartamientos and how these operations were run.