Bartolomé de Las Casas
The Indians are rational human beings, "peaceful, humble and gentle": the conquests are unjust by every natural, divine and human law.
Life
Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484-1566) was a Spanish priest and later Dominican friar. As a settler in Cuba he first held Indians forced to work for him (an "encomienda"), then gave them up in 1514 and spent his life defending the peoples of America before the Crown. Bishop of Chiapas (1544-1550), he debated at Valladolid (1550-1551) against Sepúlveda, who judged the Indians inferior. His Brevísima relación (1552) denounces the violence of the conquest and circulated across Europe.
Main works
An account of the massacres and ill-treatment suffered by the Indians since 1492, written to obtain an end to the conquests.
A defence of the Indians against Sepúlveda, presented at the Valladolid debate: they are not slaves by nature.
In his own words
« They are likewise of a clear, free and lively mind, very capable and docile for every good doctrine, most apt to receive our holy Catholic faith and to be endowed with virtuous manners. »
Son eso mesmo de limpios e desocupados e vivos entendimientos, muy capaces e dóciles para toda buena doctrina, aptísimos para recebír nuestra sancta fe católica e ser dotados de virtuosas costumbres
« The conquests, made against those peaceful, humble and gentle Indian peoples who offend no one, are unjust, tyrannical, and condemned, detested and cursed by every natural, divine and human law. »
pues de sí mismas (hechas contra aquellas indianas gentes, pacíficas, humildes y mansas que a nadie ofenden) son inicuas, tiránicas, y por toda ley natural, divina y humana condenadas, detestadas y malditas
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceA Dominican friar and bishop who defends the Indians in the name of the Christian God and Christian charity.
Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (1552)
The conquests are condemned "by every natural, divine and human law": he treats the wrong done to the Indians as an objective wrong.
Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (1552), prologue