Bartoleme De Las Casas, Brief

Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. (1542)

I used to think that all of the European explorers and missionaries from the Old World supported the barbaric actions of European imperialism. However, Bartoleme de Las Casas' Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. (1542) shows me that I was wrong. Instead of demonizing the indigenous people, Bartoleme de Las Casas praises them as guileless and calls them free of duplicity, in contrast to how he characterizes the Spaniards who conquered and ruled the natives.

Las Casas' contemporary characterization of the native population would not necessarily pass today's standards of political correctness. His praise for the Indians is partially rooted in the natives' obedience and fidelity to their masters, as well as their humility. Las Casas' description suggests that the natives are, to some extent, more innately 'Christian' than the supposed European Christians. The Spaniards justified conquering non-whites to civilize the natives in the name of Christ. But the Indians are already Christ-like in their humility. They do not fight between themselves and lack any desire for vengeance, although one might think that they are well deserved in feeling violent towards their Spanish rulers. The natives' acceptance of their poverty and lack of desire for material goods, in contrast to the gold and territory-seeking Europeans is also remarked upon by Las Casas.

Las Casas suggests that the natives are natural Christians. They are "docile and open to doctrine, very apt to receive our holy Catholic faith, to be endowed with virtuous customs, and to behave in a godly fashion," he writes in his Brief Account. For Las Casas, a 'good' native person is one who accepts the Christian faith. Still, Las Casas is notably tolerant for his age. He is not horrified by the fact that the Indians do not wear clothing, portraying them as 'natural men' living in a kind of Eden, and condemns the Spaniards who behave like wolves towards these good people. He calls the Spanish governors Christian in name only, as they greedily demand more and more from the natives, even after being given food and gifts. The Europeans seek to enslave or murder all who might thwart their path to greater wealth, which is very unchristian behavior.

Reference

Las Casas, Bartoleme de. Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. (1542).

Accessed October 5, 2010 at http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/02-las.html

Reaction 2: Bartolome de Las Casas' brief biography and timeline

The Christian humanitarian Bartolome de Las Casas is characterized as one of the world's earliest international human rights advocates. During the Age of European Imperialism and conquest of the New World, Las Casas is justifiably called a colonist rather than a conquistador, although at the beginning of his ventures in the New World he took part in a "violent and bloody conquest of Cuba" and received "Indian serfs for his efforts" (Las Casas, Philosophy 302, 2010). Although he was a Dominican priest, and many Christian missionaries acted barbarically towards the native population, Las Casas became more and more Utopian in his outlook. He fought to ban slave labor and briefly set up a colony to teach the native people about Christ. He treated the natives in an equitable fashion. The first man to be ordained as a priest in the New World, fighting for the rights of the native people became his life's work during a time that few people cared about this cause.