Bartolomé de las Casas
from The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies
(1552)
Portrait of the missionary Bartolomé de Las Casas
Introduction
Born in Spain, Bartolomé de last Casas traveled to Hispaniola in 1502. Initially, he participated in and benefited from the exploitation of the native inhabitants, authorized by the Spanish crown and its encomienda system. After becoming a priest, his perspective changed. He released his own slaves, encouraged others to do the same, and began to advocate for Native American rights. One of his early solutions was to use African slaves instead of native inhabitants; he later regretted this suggestion, realizing that substituting one group for another was no real solution at all. The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies is both a history and a testimony; Casas serves as a powerful advocate for human rights, speaking out on behalf of the colonized while documenting the “devastation” that he witnessed.
Discussion Questions
- Consider how Casas positions himself in the narrative. How does he present himself to his audience? Why or how might this positioning be significant?
- How does Casas present the contact zone?
- Consider how Casas makes his case. How does he build his argument? Where is he most persuasive?
A Short Account Of The Destruction of the Indies
Prologue
of Bishop Brother Bartolomé de Las Casas, or Casaus,
to the most high and most mighty Prince of Spain,
our Lord the Prince Philip
Most high and most mighty Lord:
As Divine Providence has ordained that the world shall, for the benefit and proper government of the human race, be divided into kingdoms and peoples and that these shall be ruled by kings, who are (as Homer has it) fathers and shepherds to their people and are, accordingly, the noblest and most virtuous of beings, there is no doubt, nor could there in all reason be any such doubt, but that these kings entertain nothing save that which is morally unimpeachable. It follows that if the commonwealth suffers from some defect, or shortcoming, or evil, the reason can only be that the ruler is unaware of it; once the matter is brought to his notice, he will work with the utmost diligence to set matters right and will not rest content until the evil has been eradicated. This would appear to be the sense of the words of Solomon in the Bible: ‘A king that sitteth in the throne of judgement scattereth away all evil with his eyes’. For, granted the innate and natural virtue of the ruler, it follows that the simple knowledge that something is wrong in his kingdom is quite sufficient to ensure that he will see that it is corrected, for he will not tolerate any such evil for a moment longer than it takes him to right it.
Contemplating, therefore (most mighty Lord), as a man with more than fifty years’ experience of seeing at first hand the evil and the harm, the losses and diminutions suffered by those great kingdoms, each so vast and so wonderful that it would be more appropr