Bartolomé de Las Casas debates the subjugation of the Indians, 1550 | This tract, a summary of a debate concerning the subjugation of Indians, contains the arguments of Bartolomé de Las Casas, the Bishop of Chiapas, Mexico, and Juan Gines Sepulveda, an influential Spanish philosopher, concerning the treatment of American Indians in the New World. [55], But apart from the clerical business, Las Casas had also traveled to Spain for his own purpose: to continue the struggle against the colonists' mistreatment of the Indians. The material contained in the Apologetic History is primarily ethnographic accounts of the indigenous cultures of the Indies – the Taíno, the Ciboney, and the Guanahatabey, but it also contains descriptions of many of the other indigenous cultures that Las Casas learned about through his travels and readings. [76] He continued working as a kind of procurator for the natives of the Indies, many of whom directed petitions to him to speak to the emperor on their behalf. One of his major works, the Apologética was to serve as the introduction to his masterpiece, the Historia de las Indias. Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. The emperor, probably because of the doubts caused by Las Casas's arguments, never took a final decision on the issue of the encomiendas. In return for his participation, Las Casas was granted an encomienda—a Spanish royal land grant—and an allotment of Indian serfs. [61], Before Las Casas returned to Spain, he was also appointed as Bishop of Chiapas, a newly established diocese of which he took possession in 1545 upon his return to the New World. [49] In 1536 Las Casas followed a number of friars to Guatemala, where they began to prepare to undertake a mission among the Maya Indians. It was in essence a comparative ethnography comparing practices and customs of European and American cultures and evaluating them according to whether they were good or bad, seen from a Christian viewpoint. In addition, his critique towards the colonizers served to bring awareness to his audience on the true meaning of Christianity, to dismantle any misconceptions on evangelization. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias, "July 2015: Bartolomé de las Casas and 500 Years of Racial Injustice | Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective", "Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas (Casaus), O.P. Email * Phone. The first edition in translation was published in Dutch in 1578, during the religious persecution of Dutch Protestants by the Spanish crown, followed by editions in French (1578), English (1583), and German (1599) – all countries where religious wars were raging. The Historia, which by his request was not published until after his death, is an account of all that had happened in the Indies just as he had seen or heard of it. He served in the Spanish court for the remainder of his life; there he held great influence over Indies-related issues. The colonists, led by Diego Columbus, dispatched a complaint against the Dominicans to the King, and the Dominicans were recalled from Hispaniola.[21][22]. [112] In 2002 the church began the process for his beatification. Regarding expenses, he argued that "this should not seem expensive or difficult, because after all, everything comes from them [the Indians] and they work for it and it is theirs. Author of, West Indies: European exploration and colonialism, 1492–1800. He became a land owner, employed native slave labor and was a full participant in the Spanish encomienda system. He wrote many petitions, treatises, and books on the subject of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. ", https://www.la-croix.com/Archives/2002-10-03/Ouverture-de-la-cause-de-beatification-de-Bartolome-de-La-Casas-_NP_-2002-10-03-166954, Frayba.org.mx – Fray Bartolome de las Casas Centro de Derechos Humanos, "Bills and Currency in Current Circulation", A Glimpse at the History of Lascassas School, "From Conquest to Constitutions: Retrieving a Latin American Tradition of the Idea of Human Rights", "Historical reality and the detractors of Father Las Casas", "Las Casas and Indigenism in the Sixteenth Century", "Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas: A Biographical Sketch", "The Forgotten Crucible: The Latin American Influence on the Universal Human Rights Idea", "Introduction: Approaches to Las Casas, 1535–1970", "Controversy between Sepúlveda and Las Casas", "Bartolomé de las Casas and Truth: Toward a Spirituality of Solidarity", "Another face of empire. Originally planned as a six-volume work, each volume describes a decade of the history of the Indies from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 to 1520, and most of it is an eye-witness account. Las Casas was finally convinced that all the actions of the Spanish in the New World had been illegal and that they constituted a great injustice. The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; whoever deprives them of it is a man of blood." £53 (cloth), £13.99 (paper). [58] On November 20, 1542, the emperor signed the New Laws abolishing the encomiendas and removing certain officials from the Council of the Indies. Some privileges were also granted to the initial 50 shareholders in Las Casas's scheme. Bartolom é de Las Casas was a missionary, Dominican theologian, historian, and bishop of Chiapas. The plan ended in disaster, but Las Casas did not give up. By Bartoleme de Las Casas (1542) The Indies were discovered in the year one thousand four hundred and ninety-two. Unlike some other priests who sought to destroy the indigenous peoples' native books and writings, he strictly opposed this action. Updated November 07, 2020. [15] He participated in slave raids and military expeditions against the native Taíno population of Hispaniola. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bartolome-de-Las-Casas, United States History - Biography of Bartolomé de Las Casas, The Mariners' Museum - Exploration through the Ages - Biography of Bartolomé de las Casas, The Catholic Encyclopedia - Biography of Bartolome de las Casas, Bartolomé de Las Casas - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Bartolomé de Las Casas - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias. Demographic studies such as those of colonial Mexico by Sherburne F. Cook in the mid-20th century suggested that the decline in the first years of the conquest was indeed drastic, ranging between 80 and 90%, due to many different causes but all ultimately traceable to the arrival of the Europeans. Las Casas's influence turned the favor of the court against Secretary Conchillos and Bishop Fonseca. Bartolomé de Las Casas was born in 1484 in Sevilla, Spain. To secure the grant, Las Casas had to go through a long court fight against Bishop Fonseca and his supporters Gonzalo de Oviedo and Bishop Quevedo of Tierra Firme. The Tears of the Indians: An Historical Account of the Cruel Massacre of Twenty Million Innocent … That Las Casas was more closely associated with the laws than anyone else makes them central in his life. [11] According to one biographer, his family were of converso heritage,[12] although others refer to them as ancient Christians who migrated from France. [99] Menéndez Pelayo also accused Las Casas of having been instrumental in suppressing the publication of Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda's "Democrates Alter" (also called Democrates Secundus) out of spite, but other historians find that to be unlikely since it was rejected by the theologians of both Alcalá and Salamanca, who were unlikely to be influenced by Las Casas. While he was gone the native Caribs attacked the settlement of Cumaná, burned it to the ground and killed four of Las Casas's men. Las Casas's group of friars established a Dominican presence in Rabinal, Sacapulas and Cobán. In 1531 a complaint was sent by the encomenderos of Hispaniola that Las Casas was again accusing them of mortal sins from the pulpit. When his preaching met with resistance, he realized that he would have to go to Spain to fight there against the enslavement and abuse of the native people. He also informed the Theologians of Salamanca, led by Francisco de Vitoria, of the mass baptism practiced by the Franciscans, resulting in a dictum condemning the practice as sacrilegious. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. In 1527 he began working on his History of the Indies, in which he reported much of what he had witnessed first hand in the conquest and colonization of New Spain. LAS CASAS, BARTOLOM É DE (1474 – 1566). Cambridge University Press, 2016, 190. [42] He suggested fortifying the northern coast of Venezuela, establishing ten royal forts to protect the Indians and starting up a system of trade in gold and pearls. The second was a change in the labor policy so that instead of a colonist owning the labor of specific Indians, he would have a right to man-hours, to be carried out by no specific persons. Sometimes indigenous nobility even related their cases to him in Spain, for example, the Nahua noble Francisco Tenamaztle from Nochistlán. Millions suffered and died because of the ruthlessness and barbarity of a few Spanish commanders and hundreds of their evil men. [111] He is also often cited as a predecessor of the liberation theology movement. After several months of negotiations Las Casas set sail alone; the peasants he had brought had deserted, and he arrived in his colony already ravaged by Spaniards.[44]. He is the subject of the poetic sequence "Homage to Bartolomé de Las Casas" by the American poet Daniel Tobin, which appears in his book Double Life. LAS CASAS, BARTOLOM É DE (1474 – 1566), Spanish historian and missionary. Las Casas's point of view can be described as being heavily against some of the Spanish methods of colonization, which, as he described them, inflicted great losses on the indigenous occupants of the islands. For this reason it was a pressing matter for Bartolomé de las Casas to plead once again for the Indians with Charles V who was by now Holy Roman Emperor and no longer a boy. Those who survived the journey were ill-received, and had to work hard even to survive in the hostile colonies. Las Casas entered the Dominican Order and became a friar, leaving public life for a decade. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. But, rather than a chronicle, it is a prophetic interpretation of events. It has also been noted by historians that exaggeration and inflation of numbers was the norm in writing in 16th-century accounts, and both contemporary detractors and supporters of Las Casas were guilty of similar exaggerations. A wealthy matriarch tries to maintain her family's facade of perfection after her husband's mistress exposes their dirty secrets. The Dominican friar, Bartolomé de las Casas (1474-1566) founding an Indian colony in Cumana (Venezuela). Las Casas was disappointed and infuriated. They were not impressed by his account, and Las Casas had to find a different avenue of change. He described in detail social arrangements, distribution of work, how provisions would be divided and even how table manners were to be introduced. In the end a much smaller number of peasant families were sent than originally planned, and they were supplied with insufficient provisions and no support secured for their arrival. De Las Casas came from a modest family and was well educated. He joined the Dominican order in 1523. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. On Bartolomé de las Casas. Sauvage spoke highly of Las Casas to the king, who appointed Las Casas and Sauvage to write a new plan for reforming the governmental system of the Indies. [9] Subsequent biographers and authors have generally accepted and reflected this revision. Under the New Laws, encomenderos (land grantees) were required to release the serfs on their land after the span of a single generation. With the help of the archbishop, the Plan para la reformación de las Indias was conceived, and Las Casas, named priest-procurator of the Indies, was appointed to a commission to investigate the status of the Indians. The Reverend Author of this Compendious Summary was Bartholomaeus de las Casas alias Casaus, a Pious and Religeous person, (as appears by his zealous Transports in this Narrative for promotion of the Christian Faith) elevated from a Frier of the Dominican Order to sit in the Episcopal Chair, who was frequently This method was championed by prominent Franciscans such as Toribio de Benavente, known as "Motolinia", and Las Casas made many enemies among the Franciscans for arguing that conversions made without adequate understanding were invalid. Arriving as one of the first Spanish (and European) settlers in the Americas, Las Casas initially participated in, but eventually felt compelled to oppose, the abuses committed by colonists against the Native Americans. The recruitment drive was difficult, and during the process the power relation shifted at court when Chancellor Sauvage, Las Casas's main supporter, unexpectedly died. Las Casas himself was granted the official title of Protector of the Indians, and given a yearly salary of one hundred pesos. He later wrote: "I saw here cruelty on a scale no living being has ever seen or expects to see. [105] Other historians, such as John Fiske writing in 1900, denied that Las Casas's suggestions affected the development of the slave trade. This historiographic phenomenon has been referred to by some historians as the "Black Legend", a tendency by mostly Protestant authors to portray Spanish colonialism in the worst possible light. After various adventures in Central America, where his ideas on the treatment of the indigenous population invariably brought him into conflict with the Spanish authorities, Las Casas wrote De único modo (1537; The Only Way), in which he set forth the doctrine of peaceful evangelization of the Indian. Las Casas returned to Spain the next year. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. . [107], Revisionist histories of the late 20th century have argued for a more nuanced image of Las Casas, suggesting that he was neither a saint nor a fanatic but a person with exceptional willpower and a sense of justice, which sometimes led him into arrogance, stubbornness, and hypocrisy. They did revoke some encomiendas from Spaniards, especially those who were living in Spain and not on the islands themselves; they even repossessed the encomienda of Fonseca, the Bishop of Burgos. The history is apologetic because it is written as a defense of the cultural level of the Indians, arguing throughout that indigenous peoples of the Americas were just as civilized as the Roman, Greek and Egyptian civilizations—and more civilized than some European civilizations. He was appointed as the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians". To restabilize the political situation the encomenderos started pushing not only for the repeal of the New Laws, but for turning the encomiendas into perpetual patrimony of the encomenderos – the worst possible outcome from Las Casas's point of view. Perhaps the first person in America to receive holy orders, he was ordained a priest in either 1512 or 1513. Another important part of the plan was to introduce a new kind of sustainable colonization, and Las Casas advocated supporting the migration of Spanish peasants to the Indies where they would introduce small-scale farming and agriculture, a kind of colonization that didn't rely on resource depletion and Indian labor. Some historians, such as Castro, argue that he was more of a politician than a humanitarian and that his liberation policies were always combined with schemes to make colonial extraction of resources from the natives more efficient. [27][28], Las Casas arrived in Spain with the plan of convincing the King to end the encomienda system. [29] In the winter of 1515, King Ferdinand lay ill in Plasencia, but Las Casas was able to get a letter of introduction to the king from the Archbishop of Seville, Diego de Deza. This book, written a decade earlier and sent to the attention of then-prince Philip II of Spain, contained accounts of the abuses committed by some Spaniards against Native Americans during the early stages of colonization. [115] In this capacity, an ecumenical human rights institute located in San Cristóbal de las Casas, the Centro Fray Bartolomé de las Casas de Derechos Humanos, was established by Bishop Samuel Ruiz in 1989.[116][117]. In a pastoral letter issued on March 20, 1545, Las Casas refused absolution to slave owners and encomenderos even on their death bed, unless all their slaves had been set free and their property returned to them. Lingering for a while in the Dominican convent of Granada, he got into conflict with Rodrigo de Contreras, Governor of Nicaragua, when Las Casas vehemently opposed slaving expeditions by the Governor. A prolific writer and in his later years an influential figure of the Spanish court, Las Casas nonetheless failed to stay the progressive enslavement of the indigenous peoples of Latin America. Consequently, the commissioners were unable to take any radical steps towards improving the situation of the natives. [65][66] At the meeting, probably after lengthy reflection, and realizing that the New Laws were lost in Mexico, Las Casas presented a moderated view on the problems of confession and restitution of property, Archbishop Juan de Zumárraga of Mexico and Bishop Julián Garcés of Puebla agreed completely with his new moderate stance, Bishop Vasco de Quiroga of Michoacán had minor reservations, and Bishops Francisco Marroquín of Guatemala and Juan Lopez de Zárate of Oaxaca did not object. The two orders had very different approaches to the conversion of the Indians. Unsurprisingly, they were extremely unpopular in the Americas and were met with much resistance. Among those they equaled were the Greeks and the Romans, and they surpassed them by many good and better customs. As a young man, Las Casas participated in several military expeditions in the West Indies. [51] As a direct result of the debates between the Dominicans and Franciscans and spurred on by Las Casas's treatise, Pope Paul III promulgated the Bull "Sublimis Deus," which stated that the Indians were rational beings and should be brought peacefully to the faith as such.[52]. His travels through the New World prior to 1510 when he became an ordained. Christianity and Freedom: Historical Perspectives. Biographical Information Bartolomé de Las Casas was born to an aristocratic family in Seville in 1474. Las Casas managed to secure the support of the king's Flemish courtiers, including the powerful Chancellor Jean de la Sauvage. These congregated a group of Christian Indians in the location of what is now the town of Rabinal. He proposed 12 other remedies, all having the specific aim of improving the situation for the Indians and limiting the powers that colonists were able to exercise over them.[84]. He is also featured in the Guatemalan quetzal one cent (Q0.01) coins. This was his "Memorial de Remedios para Las Indias" of 1516. That said, finding fifty men willing to invest 200 ducats each and three years of unpaid work proved impossible for Las Casas. The Crown had for example received a fifth of the large number of slaves taken in the recent Mixtón War, and so could not be held clean of guilt under Las Casas's strict rules. [citation needed], The book became an important element in the creation and propagation of the so-called Black Legend – the tradition of describing the Spanish empire as exceptionally morally corrupt and violent. He participated in campaigns at Bayamo and Camagüey and in the massacre of Hatuey. He still suggested that the loss of Indian labor for the colonists could be replaced by allowing importation of African slaves. In the following year a great many Spaniards went there with the intention of settling the land. One detractor, the abolitionist David Walker, called Las Casas a "wretch... stimulated by sordid avarice only," holding him responsible for the enslavement of thousands of Africans. Bartolome de las Casas: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1542) The Americas were discovered in 1492, and the first Christian settlements established by the Spanish the following year. "[24] Las Casas and his friend Pedro de la Rentería were awarded a joint encomienda which was rich in gold and slaves, located on the Arimao River close to Cienfuegos. [88], The Apologetic Summary History of the People of These Indies (Spanish: Apologética historia summaria de las gentes destas Indias) was first written as the 68th chapter of the General History of the Indies, but Las Casas changed it into a volume of its own, recognizing that the material was not historical. He ended up leaving in November 1520 with just a small group of peasants, paying for the venture with money borrowed from his brother in-law. [6] Although he did not completely succeed in changing Spanish views on colonization, his efforts did result in improvement of the legal status of the natives, and in an increased colonial focus on the ethics of colonialism. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The location selected for the new colony was on the Gulf of Paria in the northern part of present-day Venezuela. Devastated, Las Casas reacted by entering the Dominican monastery of Santa Cruz in Santo Domingo as a novice in 1522 and finally taking holy vows as a Dominican friar in 1523. [16] In 1510, he was ordained a priest, the first one to be ordained in the Americas. [96][97] Spanish pro-imperial historians such as Menéndez y Pelayo, Menéndez Pidal, and J. Pérez de Barrada depicted Las Casas as a madman, describing him as a "paranoic" and a monomaniac given to exaggeration,[98] and as a traitor towards his own nation. (1542) The Indies were discovered in the year one thousand four hundred and ninety-two. [101] The overwhelming main cause was disease introduced by the Europeans. While waiting, Las Casas produced a report that he presented to the Bishop of Burgos, Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca, and secretary Lope Conchillos, who were functionaries in complete charge of the royal policies regarding the Indies; both were encomenderos. "History of the Indies" has never been fully translated into English. In 1548 the Crown decreed that all copies of Las Casas's Confesionario be burnt, and his Franciscan adversary, Motolinia obliged and sent back a report to Spain. [4] Later in life, he retracted this position, as he regarded both forms of slavery as equally wrong. The New Laws, along with his authorship of the Brief History of the Destruction of the Indies , which fueled the Black Legend, are, indeed, what he is best known for in the history of western civilization. Because the land had not been possible to conquer by military means, the governor of Guatemala, Alonso de Maldonado, agreed to sign a contract promising that if the venture was successful he would not establish any new encomiendas in the area. With José Alonso, Germán Robles, Claudette Maillé, Rolando de Castro. The son of a small merchant, Las Casas is believed to have gone to Granada as a soldier in 1497 and to have enrolled to study Latin in the academy at the cathedral in Sevilla (Seville). Burneo de las Casas, Jorge Guillermo. Las Casas was resolved to see Prince Charles who resided in Flanders, but on his way there he passed Madrid and delivered to the regents a written account of the situation in the Indies and his proposed remedies. All the Indian slaves of the New World should be brought to live in these towns and become tribute paying subjects to the king. Together with the Dominicans, he then employed this new type of evangelization in a “land of war” (a territory of still-unconquered Indians)—Tuzulutlan (modern Alta Verapaz, Guatemala). By Daniel Castro. Having been summoned to a meeting among the bishops of New Spain to be held in Mexico City on January 12, 1546, he left his diocese, never to return. But soon his uncompromisingly pro-Indian position alienated his colleagues, and in 1547 he returned to Spain. He is commemorated by the Church of England in the Calendar of Saints on July 20, The Episcopal Church (USA) on July 18, and at the Evangelical Lutheran Church on July 17. [74], In 1552, Las Casas published A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Las Casas had become a hated figure by Spaniards all over the islands, and he had to seek refuge in the Dominican monastery. Las Casas is often considered to be one of the first advocates for a universal conception of human dignity (later human rights). Las Casas resolved to meet instead with the young king Charles I. Ximenez died on November 8, and the young King arrived in Valladolid on November 25, 1517. His reforming activities to take refuge in the Spanish conquest of the theology! Is the life of the Indies. Casas—who was ordained a priest, the highlight of long. 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