Why Does Bartolome De Las Casas

Ultimately, despite the friendly, obedient nature of the Caribbean’s native inhabitants, the Spanish inflicted such cruel, savage treatment upon them. In essence, the Spanish murdered and stole from these indigenous tribes, the island of Hispaniola being the first to experience these devastations. Inevitably, those forcibly taken to Hispaniola died from war, disease, and other undeserving causes. Consequently, some natives resisted by hiding food or escaping the land, even uniting to fight against the Spaniards. Unfortunately, with their superior strength, the Spanish easily crushed the native forces. As a message to those in hiding, the Spanish spared some natives and cut their wrists. Furthermore, the Spanish burnt natives alive, sent dogs
Undoubtedly, because of the greedy exploitation by the Spanish, the reputation of Christianity worsened. In particular, Las Casas shares the story of a native lord named Hatuey set to execution for escaping the Spanish. Knowing the Spanish were Christian and sought Heaven in the afterlife, Hatuey told the friar at the execution that he desired to go to Hell. Of course, when reading about the many cruelties the native inhabitants suffered at the hands of the Spaniards, I understand Las Casas hoped to end these exploits with his writings. At some point, after Las Casas provided a copy of his account to Juan Martnez de Silceo, the archbishop of Toledo, Spain’s ruler received it. Given the various responsibilities of the ruler, Las Casas figured they neglected to read it since the abuses continued. In response, Las Casas provided the ruler with the Short Account, a condensed documentation of the brutal persecution of the natives. Accordingly, Las Casas insisted the ruler read the document to fully grasp the savagery of the unwarranted killings, refusing to permit any more conquests by Spaniards who exploited Christian missionary