Native Americans In De Las Casas's 'For The Record'

“From the fact that the Indians are barbarians it does not necessarily follow that they are incapable…” (de Las Casas 3). In For the Record, it starts off right away in this section of how the Europeans while not sure of what to make of the Indians they knew that these were not the savages as some had described. De Las Casas goes on to describe of a people that were both loyal and committed to the community and to their fellow man. De Las Casas main adversary, Gines Sepulveda, failed to see the parallel in the fate of the Spaniards at the hands of the Romans and Caesar Augustus. “Now see how he called the Spanish people barbaric and wild” (de Las Casas 3) demonstrates the same philosophy of the thoughts of Europeans as they encountered the Indians. Shall those that are fearful for the loss of all they have worked for not fight back and retain what is rightfully theirs. The Indians, especially the Aztecs had built cities, established political and economic organizations and created richly diverse civilizations. In The Jesuit Relations they recount the gratitude shown to the hospital nuns “The Savages who leave the hospital, and who come to see us again at St. Joseph, or at the three Rivers,
Powhatan, the paramount chief, demonstrated the belief of peace instead of war when he said “To cleere us of the feare, leave abord your weapons, for here they are needlesse we being all friends and for ever Powhatans” (Smith, Powhatan 8). The Europeans appreciated the fact these savages had existed and built cities that rival that of Venice. The Europeans bragged of the expertise the Indians had in areas of skill and artistry. In Defense of the Indians, de Las Casas says “They are so skilled in every mechanical art that with every right they should be set ahead of all the nations of the known world…” (de Las Casas