How Did Las Casas Account For The Destruction Of The Indies

The history of a New World from Eric Foner set a new precedence of how if I view the discovery of America and how people lived and survived in the early 1400’s. The native people of the Americas were full of different societies of Indians who lived, farmed, traded and believed in their land, as it could not be bought or sold. However, the Europeans saw this as an advantage since there were no claims to the land and begun to govern and set laws of the native people, which soon began after Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1493.

Christopher Columbus, a devout Catholic who was an explorer of the sea and wanted to explore the earth. Columbus planned the voyage for an expedition to the New World but found the financial support difficult to find. Though, once Columbus persuaded King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, the funding for his exploration began. The royal

letters from the King and Queen of Spain, along with bankers and merchants allowed Columbus to seek the New World with authorization to negotiate trade agreements with Asian rulers and the search for the land of gold and set beliefs in Christianity. Columbus also sought out to convert Christianity amongst the Jerusalem in hopes of gaining control over the Muslim’s.
I was surprised to learn in 1493, Christopher Columbus arrived with his men to explore the New World. Columbus found the native people and labeled them as ‘Indians’. Columbus then would again set sail on two more explorations in the New World in 1498 and 1502. Columbus believed he discovered the New World by sailing a westward route to Asia, not realizing the continent was founded by another explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. The continent of Southern America was unknown to the Europeans between 1499 and 1502, and would be known as America from the explorers’ name, Amerigo Vespucci and not Columbus.
Columbus viewed the indigenous Americans as simple, gentle, and friendly savages. As time passed, the Indians were viewed as savages who lacked religious beliefs and instead believed in the devil and superstition beliefs. Columbus states in the ‘Excerpts from the Journal of Christopher Columbus, 1492’, the natives we found like those already described, as to personal appearance and manners, and naked like the rest, seemed to speak from the experience he encountered the man in a canoe. Columbus provided the man a kind service, with gifts and return of his canoe, so the man could return with good words to the native people of the large island. The journal asked the King and Queen to note the good gesture would then welcome those who arrive with honor and then acquire what the natives may have on the large island. Columbus treats the indigenous Americans well as an elaborate way of acquiring the land and goods of the native people.
Bartolome de Las Casas, a Dominican priest, set sail with Columbus on his second voyage, who took part in the conquest of Cuba. Las Casas viewed the indigenous Americans as people who were humble, peaceful and calm as he stated in the letter sent to be read at a forum of the Spanish colonization in 1542. The indigenous Americans were ‘deprived of their freedom and were put in the harshest, fiercest, most terrible servitude and captivity’ as Las Casas wrote in the letter titled ‘A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies’. The fellow Spanish colonists did view the indigenous Americans as only being barbaric, savages, and unruly indigenous Americans. The arrival of the Spanish colonists to the new land of the Americas brought on assaults, killings, and slaughter to all who lived on the new land. Las Casas accounts the actions carried on by the Spanish colonists and withdraws his quest with Spain in 1514 was to provide freedom to the indigenous Americans and stop the violence against them.
The accounts of human rights, equality, race, and religion during this period was only viewed as one set forth by the Spaniards. One account was when the Indian people were to be converted to Christianity and no longer have human rights, equality, race or religious beliefs of their own. Another account of the human rights was when the Spaniards enslaved the Indians to only extract gold and silver for the past three centuries to enrich the country, set by the Spanish rules. The other account was when the Spanish colonizers sought out to change the Indians civilization by enslaving them and wanting the Indians to become part of the European civilization. The destruction of the Indian way of life meant taking away their ‘race’, which was the goal of the Spaniards. During this period, these accounts tell us the different views were not allowed amongst the Indians.
After Las Casas accounts of the destruction of the Indies, Las Casas could no longer support the Spaniard’s actions, which was included in the letter Las Casas wrote to Spain.

This was based on reading the extract from Las Casas’ Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Although the countrymen did not agree with Las Casas’ account of witnessing the killings and slaughter of Indian men, women, and children. Therefore, Las Casas continued to fight for the Indians’ rights. Las Casas received criticism but took action to prevent any further destruction of the Indians by suggesting other options for Spain. In 1542, the New Laws demanded that Indians no longer would become slaves. Though, Las Casas later suggested to the importing slaves from Africa to prevent the Indians from slavery and protect their right to enjoy their freedom and land. The Indians were allowed to access their land and work for wages set by the Spaniard’s system of government. The Indians gained their freedom with guidelines set by the Spaniards, consequently the imported slaves from Africa lost their

freedom.