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Bartolome De Las Casas Essay

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Bartolome De Las Casas Essay
Normanique Thomas
World History
September 28, 2017
De Las Casas
The author of the primary source titled “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies” is Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish colonist, social reformer and Dominican friar from the 16th-century. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, the first officially appointed Protector of the Indians and was also appointed an officer of the King of Spain in the New World. Based on these positions he held, it could be acknowledged that De Las Casas was higher up on the hierarchy than most of the population. After he held his role as an officer for the king, he was given an estate with native laborers who were who were forced to work for him. Casas had a revelation when he listened …show more content…
However, the Christian Spaniards had a different agenda that involved the killing millions of people for their gold. The common phrase “money is the root of all evil” would epitomize these occurrences. As humans, we associate wealth with power and power leads to greed which leads to unjust and immoral actions. The Christians Spaniards were described by De Las Casas as inhumane, tyrannical, cruel and evil. In contrast, the Indians were seen to be pure, peaceful and innocent people. This view can be seen as slightly biased because he was once just like the Christians which can lower the credibility of the author. Las Casas recalled that the soldiers took advantage of the hospitality the Indians provided so that they could take over their land and resources with the least resistance. They acquired gold, jewels, and slaves. Slavery was a recurring theme faced through history which is linked to power and greed. The Spaniards also devastated millions of natives Indians by raping women and killing innocent children and infants. It could be presumed that in this society women were of no value to these men so they used them for their pleasure without any regard. In conclusion, though De Las Casas had a change of heart and defended the Indians, he could have been less biased when trying to get his point across to the King of
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