2. Bartolome de Las Casas
Bartolome de Las Casas (1474-1566)
was a Spanish Dominican bishop of
Chiapas in Mexico.
Known as the “Apostle to the
Indians” he was the fiercest and
best-known activist of the rights of
the American Indians in the
sixteenth century.
Las Casas was a prolific writer of
histories, political and theological
treatises, ethnographies and
innumerable pamphlets.
3. Bartolome de Las Casas
In 1511 a Spanish Dominican named
Antonio de Montesinos gave a sermon
before Spanish dignitaries and Bartolome
de Las Casas which sparked a debate over
the rights of conquerors.
He questioned the Spaniard’s cruel
treatment of the Indians with three
questions. “Are these not men? Do they
not have rational souls? Are you not
obliged to love them as yourselves?”
Following Montesino’s speech, Las Casas
became a changed man and dedicated
himself to tell the world that the American
Indians were human and were true
subjects of the Castilian crown.
4. Bartolome de Las Casas
Today Las Casas is best remembered for two
things; his chronicle of horrors against the Indians
in A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and
his debate with Gines de Sepulveda.
In 1544 Sepulveda had written a dialogue
justifying the wars waged against the Indians
against the Spaniards but the work was turned
down by the theologians.
Sepulveda was furious and demanded a debate
before the Council of the Indies to plead his case
for his book to be published.
They both presented their case before judges in
Valladolid but the outcome was inconclusive.
Sepulveda’s book was not published until the
nineteenth century which was later understood as
a victory for Las Casas who later became a symbol
of the fight against the injustices of colonialism.
