Bartolomé de las Casas and the Conquest of the Americas

Clayton, Lawrence A. (Editor)

Viewpoints / Puntos de Vista

1. Edition December 2010
204 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd

ISBN: 978-1-4051-9428-0

John Wiley & Sons

Short Description

After Christopher Columbus, Bartolomé de las Casas is the single most important figure in the period of the Encounter, a time of conflict between Europeans and the people of the Americas following Columbus's voyages. Here Clayton provides a history of the age as told through the life of Las Casas. A Dominican friar, he witnessed the brutality of the Spanish explorers and became the most prominent defender of the native peoples. This book provides a foundation for understanding the early days of Spanish exploration, settlement, and conquest, a period which set the stage for the creation of the modern civilization of the Americas.

Further versions

This is a short history of the age of exploration and the conquest of the Americas told through the experience of Bartolomé de las Casas, a Dominican friar who fervently defended the American Indians, and the single most important figure of the period after Columbus.
* Explores the period known as the Encounter, which was characterized by intensive conflict between Europeans and the people of the Americas following Columbus's voyages
* Argues that Las Casas, 'protector of Indians,' was primarily motivated by Scripture in his crusade for justice and equality for American Indians
* Draws on the 14 volume Complete Works of Las Casas as a window into his mind and actions
* Encourages students to understand history through the viewpoint of individuals living it

List of Illustrations

Series Editor's Preface

Acknowledgments

Timeline

Introduction

1. The Era of Columbus and the "Discoverers"

Modern interpretations

Conquest of La Española

2. Justice for All

Discovering his calling

Father Montesinos' sermon

Las Casas goes to Cuba

To Spain

Meeting Ferdinand

3. Social Experiments: The Hieronymite Mission and the Universal Protector of All the Indians

4. The Era of the Conquests of Mexico and Peru, 1520s-1540s

Seville, autumn, 1520

The conquest of Mexico

5. The New Laws of 1542 and Bishop of Chiapa

Laying the groundwork

Bishop of Chiapa

6. "All Mankind is One": On the Nature of Humans, Servitude, and Slavery

Bartolomé de las Casas and the African slave trade

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliographic Essay

Index

Lawrence A. Clayton is Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of History at the University of Alabama. His books include A History of Modern Latin America, second edition (2004), Peru and the United States: The Condor and the Eagle (1999), and The De Soto Chronicles (editor, 1993). He is currently writing the first major biography of Las Casas in more than a generation.

L. A. Clayton, University of Alabama, USA