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Bartolome De Las Casas Research Paper

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Bartolome de Las Casas was a Spanish historian, a religious leader, and a social reformer who has gone down in history as the “protector of the Indians.” He abolished the use of encomiendas, stressed equality, and influenced the Spanish crown to grant the native americans human rights. His brutally honest accounts of Spanish mistreatment have influenced not only the way people view natives, but, how they view the Spanish.
As a young man, Las Casas found himself disgusted at the treatment of the Natives, and, when working as a merchant, he refused to use an encomienda for cheap labor (Stacy). In 1512, Las Casas was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest, and he dedicated himself to stand up for the rights of the Native Americans, arguing that they were “sons of God” with religion, history, and government.
Las Casas sailed back to Spain in 1540 with a mission to reform laws that regulated relations between the races. The New Laws were adopted in 1542, limiting ownership of natives to one generation. In 1544, Las Casas returned to Spain to enforce the New Laws, which were met with great resistance by many …show more content…
He began his writing after an interaction with a Spanish governor who, after ignoring Las Casas’ plea for peace, burned a native american chief at the stake. Las Casas called his accounts The History of the Indies and A Brief Report on the Destruction of the Indians, and he requested that they not be released until after his death. They were officially released in 1875, and these books became quite popular in England, as Englishmen used his stories to justify Spanish ruthlessness, giving them an excuse to seek control of their land holdings. The Spanish, meanwhile, said that Las Casas had “grossly exaggerated” their wrongdoings. These writings became the backbone of nationalists 400 years later who sought independence from Spain (“Bartolome de Las

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