What is the main argument of Bartolome de las Casas?
While the Pope had granted Spain sovereignty over the New World, de Las Casas argued that the property rights and rights to their own labor still belonged to the native peoples. Natives were subjects of the Spanish crown, and to treat them as less than human violated the laws of God, nature, and Spain.
What does Bartolome de las Casas speak out against and why?
Bartolomé de Las Casas was a Dominican priest who was one of the first Spanish settlers in the New World. After participating in the conquest of Cuba, Las Casas freed his own slaves and spoke out against Spanish cruelties and injustices in the empire.
When did Las Casas argue?
On August 15, 1514, Las Casas delivered a now-famous sermon declaring his intent to return the serfs to the governor of the West Indies. Las Casas thenceforth advocated for better treatment of the American Indians.
What evidence does Las Casas give to show the cruelty of the Spaniards?
Cite evidence from the text. Las Casas portrayed the natives as naïve. They believed that the Spanish were sent from heaven, and as such treated them well until the cruelty started. Las Casas also portrays the weapons that the natives use similar to naïve boys.
What did Bartolome de las Casas believe?
Las Casas sought to change the methods of the Spanish conquest, and believed that both the Spaniards and indigenous communities could build a new civilization in America together. For this reason, during his stay in Spain he conceived the Plan para la reformación de las Indias (Plan for the Reformation of the Indies).
What land did Bartolome de las Casas discover?
Bartolomé de Las Casas was born in 1484 in Sevilla, Spain. In 1502 he left for Hispaniola, the island that today contains the states of Dominican Republic and Haiti. He became a doctrinero, lay teacher of catechism, and began evangelizing the indigenous people, whom the Spaniards called Indians.
How did Bartolome de las Casas describe the natives?
Las Casas characterized indigenous people as human beings in a setting where they were seen as objects of material wealth. Las Casas was passionately against slavery because he saw its targets as human beings.
What criticism did Bartolome de las Casas make of the Encomienda system?
Las Casas became an avid critic of the encomienda system. He argued that the Indians were free subjects of the Castilian crown, and their property remained their own. At the same time, he stated that evangelization and conversion should be done through peaceful persuasion and not through violence or coercion.
What did Bartolome de las Casas suggest that he later regretted?
Until his death, Bartolomé de las Casas, worked tirelessly to prevent the enslavement of all native people and later regretted wholeheartedly his advocacy of African slavery.
