Bartolome de Las Casas

Bartolomé de Las Casas was a Spanish clergyman, writer and activist best known for his work as a historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman, then became a Dominican friar. He was appointed as the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians". His extensive writings, the most famous being A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Historia de Las Indias, chronicle the first decades of colonization of the West Indies. He described the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous peoples. Arriving as one of the first Spanish settlers in the Americas, Las Casas initially participated in, but eventually felt compelled to oppose the abuses committed by European colonists against the indigenous peoples of the Americas. As a result, in 1515 he gave up his Native American slaves and encomienda, and advocated, before Charles V, on behalf of rights for the natives. In his early writings, he advocated the use of African and white slaves instead of Natives in the West Indian colonies but did so without knowing that the Portuguese were carrying out "brutal and unjust wars in the name of spreading the faith". Later in life, he retracted this position, as he regarded both forms of slavery as equally wrong. In 1522, he tried to launch a new kind of peaceful colonialism on the coast of Venezuela, but this venture failed. Las Casas spent most of his life fighting for the rights and dignity of the indigenous peoples, denouncing their exploitation and mistreatment by the Spanish authorities and colonists. He wrote numerous petitions, treatises, reports and memorials to the Spanish court, exposing the injustices committed by the conquerors and arguing for a more humane and Christian approach to colonization. He also participated in several debates and commissions on colonial affairs, such as the Junta of Valladolid in 1550-1551, where he defended his views against Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, a humanist scholar who supported the Spanish right to wage war against the natives. Las Casas was also a prolific writer who documented many aspects of the history, culture and religion of the native peoples he encountered or learned about from other sources. He collected testimonies from eyewitnesses, read official records and reports, consulted maps and charts, and drew from his own observations and experiences. He wrote several works that are considered among the most important sources for the early history of the Americas, such as Apologetic History of the Indies, History of the Indies, De Thesauris in Peru (On the Treasure in Peru), and De Unico Modo (On One Way). He also edited and preserved Christopher Columbus's journal of his first voyage. Las Casas died in Madrid in 1566 at the age of 81. He was buried in the Basilica of Our Lady of Atocha, where his tomb can still be seen today. His legacy as a defender of human rights and a critic of colonialism has been widely recognized and debated by historians, scholars, activists and religious leaders. He has been honored with various titles and awards, such as Servant of God by the Catholic Church, Father of anti-imperialism and anti-racism by some modern scholars, Patron saint of social justice by some Latin American movements, and one of America's founding fathers by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. [^10^] His writings have also inspired many literary and artistic works, such as the play The Royal Hunt of the Sun by Peter Shaffer, the novel The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier, and the opera La Conquista by Lorenzo Ferrero. ¹¹