Bartolome de las Casas: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1542)

Introduction

• The Americas were discovered in 1492.
• First Christian settlements by the Spanish established in 1493.
• Spanish exploration expanded significantly, with over ten thousand leagues of coastline explored by 1541.

Indigenous Peoples

• The native populations were described as open, innocent, and submissive.
• Traits of the Natives:
  • Unassuming, long-suffering, not quarrelsome.
  • Lacking in malice, revenge, and hatred.
  • Physically delicate, prone to illness.
  • Economically non-materialistic, uninterested in power or wealth.
  • Diet and living conditions were poor, likened to Desert Fathers.
  • Receptive to Christianity, eager to learn the Catholic faith.

Spanish Conquest

• Compared Spaniards' treatment of natives to ravenous wolves and savage lions.
• Consequences of Spanish Actions:
  • Introduction of torture and suffering.
  • Drastic decline in native population:
    • Hispaniola: From 3 million to 200 survivors.
    • Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica: Near extinction of native peoples.
    • Bahamas: Entire native population wiped out due to forced relocation.
• Only 11 survivors found after 3-year search in the Bahamas.

Observations and Evaluations

• Spanish practices left many islands desolate and uninhabited.
• Las Casas highlights the moral and ethical implications of these events, advocating for the souls of native peoples and critiquing the Spaniards' brutal methods.