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Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566

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Bartolomé de las Casas

This article is about a Spanish priest in the 16th century. For more uses on Las Casas, see Las Casas (disambiguation)

Bartolomé de las Casas, O.P. (August 24, 1484 – July 17, 1566), was a 16th century Spanish Dominican priest, and the first resident Bishop of Chiapas. As a settler in the New World, he was galvanized by witnessing the torture and genocide of the Native Americans by the Spanish colonists. He is commemorated as a missionary in the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on July 17.

Biography

Las Casas was born in Seville, probably in 1484, although 1474 is the traditional date.^[1] With his father, he emigrated to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1502 on the expedition of Nicolás de Ovando, during which he witnessed the extermination of the Tainos. He became a priest eight years later, and served as a missionary to the Arawak (Taino) of Cuba in 1512. There, he received a repartimiento (land teinure) which he exploited. Starting in 1514, however, he became an adament opponent of Spanish colonialism, and joined the Dominican Order in 1522. His 1520-21 attempt to create a more equitable colonial society in Venezuela was sabotaged by his colonial neighbors, who incited a native rebellion against him.

Historical importance

Las Casas became well-known for his advocacy of the rights of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, whose cultures he described with care. His descriptions of the caciques (chiefs or princes), bohiques (shamans or clerics), ni-taínos (noblemen), and naborias (common folk) in the Caribbean clearly showed a feudal structure. His book A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies (original title in Spanish: Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias), published in 1552, gave a vivid description of the atrocities committed by the conquistadors in the Americas – most particularly, the Caribbean, Central America, and what is now Mexico – including many events to which he was a witness, as well as some events he reprints from others' eyewitness accounts. Together with Las Casas' "De Regio Potestate o Derecho de Autodetermiacon" published in 1571, they inspired the Dutch to write their "Act of Abjuration" or "Dutch Declaration of Independence in 1581. ^{[citation needed]} Las Casas' "Doctrine of Self Determination" maintained that: all power derives from the people; power is delegated to rulers in order that they may serve their people; and all important governmental acts require popular consultation and approval. “No state, king, or emperor can alienate territories, or change their political system, without the express approval of their inhabitants,” he wrote. In one of his last works, De thesauris in Peru, he vigorously defended the rights of the natives of Peru against the slavery imposed on them by the early Spanish Conquest. The work also questioned the right Spain had to take the treasures derived from the ransom of Atahualpa (the Inca leader), as well as those valuables found and taken from the burial sites of the Indios population.

The book was dedicated to King Philip II of Spain. Las Casas explained that he had supported the Spanish conquest when he first arrived in the New World, but that he soon became convinced that it would eventually lead to the collapse of Spain itself in an act of Divine retribution. According to Las Casas, it was the responsibility of the Spanish to convert the Indians, who would then be loyal subjects of Spain, rather than to kill them. To avoid the burden of slavery on them, Las Casas proposed that Africans be brought to America instead, though he later changed his mind about this when he saw the effects of slavery on Africans. Largely due to his efforts, the New Laws were adopted in 1542 to protect the Indians in colonies.

Las Casas also wrote Historia de las Indias and was the editor of Christopher Columbus' published journal. He was instrumental, on his repeated return trips to Spain, in gaining the temporary repeal of the encomienda regulations that established virtual slave labor gangs in Spanish America. Las Casas returned to Spain and was eventually able to bring about the great debate of 1550 in Valladolid between himself and the advocate for the settlers, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda. Though the encomienda system triumphed, championed by the colonial Spanish classes who were profiting from it, the writings of Las Casas were translated and republished across Europe. His published accounts are central documents in the "Black Legend" of Spanish colonial atrocities. They influenced the essayist Montaigne's views of the New World.

Notes

^ Parish, Helen Brand; Harold E Weidman, S.J. (August 1976). "The Correct Birthdate of Bartolomé de las Casas". Hispanic American Historical Review 56 (3): 385-403.