Essay on
‘The devastation of the Indies: A brief account’
By: Bartolomé de Las Casas
The Spanish Dominican priest, bishop and writer Bartolome de Las Casas describes in his Essay ‘The devastation of the Indies: A brief account’ how the Spanish Christians treated the ‘Indians’ after the discovery of today’s America. In terms of political correctness I will, in the following paragraphs, refer to ‘Indians’ as Native Americans.
According to de Las Casas the first encounter with the Natives and the Spanish Christians in 1492 was peaceful, because of the kind temper of the Native Americans. But soon the discoverers started to interfere in the peaceful life. They tried to convert them into Christians and the essay points out that they were eager to learn and obey their new Catholic faith. Although the Native American treated the Spanish with respect, the Spanish Christians were lead by their desire for land and gold and started to exploit the Indians. To achieve their goals they attacked, tortured, enslaved and killed the Native Americans, who were by far inferior because they did not use any modern weapons. This was the start of several decades lasting wars fought between Christians and Native Americans. Closing the summary quoting de La Casas:
‘the wars waged by the Indians against the Christians have been justifiable wars and [] all the wars waged by the Christians against the Indians have been unjust wars, more diabolical than any wars ever waged anywhere in the world.’ (p. 13)
Especially considering the time and de Las Casas Christian background as a priest and bishop, his thoughts were very daring stating that the Christians behaved incorrectly. I strongly agree with his views of the Christians fighting unjustified wars. But I do not believe that the Native Americans were eager to become Christians as he points out on page two. As far as I know they have their own gods, myths and beliefs.
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