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A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies

Name: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies
Author: Bartolomé de las Casas

Bartolomé de las Casas

1552 (written 1542); English translation of 1689 · Renaissance Early Modern · History · Spanish

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Abstract

Written: 1542 (printed 1552)
Setting: 1492–1542; The Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America; written in Spain
Author: Bartolomé de las Casas; trans. Anonymous (1689)
Country: Spain
Language: Spanish
Genre: Polemical history
Form: A short report arranged by region
Recommended: Grades 11–12 (Content note: graphic descriptions of massacre and torture.)

Purpose. A friar who had lived in the Caribbean for decades wrote a brief report for the Spanish court, hoping to end the abuse of the native population. He wanted the new royal laws restricting forced labour to be obeyed in the colonies.

Peoples. The inhabitants of the New World are shown as peaceful, patient and eager for the Gospel, created by God for salvation. He stresses that they had harmed no one and were loyal to their own lords.

Pattern of conquest. Region after region, from the islands to Peru, the narrative records the same sequence: arrival, terror, massacre, enslavement and labour in mines until villages were emptied.

Causes. The author blames the lust for gold and the grants of native labour to settlers, and calls the conquest a violation of divine and royal law. True mission, he insists, must win people by preaching and gentleness, never by the sword.

Reliability. Its figures are often inflated, yet much of what it reports is supported by other records. Its author had witnessed events in Cuba and Hispaniola and gathered testimony from other friars.

Afterlife. Translated widely and used by Spain's enemies, it also fed Spanish debates over just war and the rights of conquered peoples. Content note: graphic violence. He himself had once suggested importing African slaves and later condemned that idea as equally wrong.

Key figures

Bartolomé de las Casas: Dominican friar and defender of the Indians
Prince Philip: Future Philip II of Spain, to whom it was addressed
Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda: Las Casas's opponent at Valladolid

Summary

A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias) is a passionate report by the Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas on the cruelty of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. He wrote it in 1542 for the future King Philip II and the royal court, and he printed it at Seville in 1552. The English translation used here was published in London in 1689; like several Protestant editions of the time, it was given a hostile anti-Catholic title, which this library omits. Las Casas describes the peoples of the Indies as gentle, simple and ready to receive the Christian faith, and the conquerors as wolves among sheep. He moves region by region: Hispaniola, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica, the mainland coasts, Nicaragua, New Spain (Mexico), Guatemala, Venezuela, Florida, the Río de la Plata, Peru and New Granada. In each he reports massacres, enslavement, forced labour in the mines and pearl fisheries, torture of chiefs to extract gold, and the destruction of whole populations. He blames above all the greed for gold and the system of encomienda, which gave Spanish settlers the labour of native villages. The book is not a neutral history. Las Casas wrote to persuade the king to enforce the New Laws of 1542, which limited the encomienda and forbade the enslavement of Indians, and he probably exaggerated some numbers. Yet many of the abuses he records are confirmed by other sources, and he writes as an eyewitness of events in the Caribbean. He judges the conquest by the law of God and by the Christian duty to win souls through peace and preaching, not war. The Short Account was translated into Dutch, French, English, German and Latin, often with engravings, and Spain's rivals used it to attack Spanish rule. In Spain it fed a long debate over the justice of the conquest, including the disputation of 1550–1551 at Valladolid between Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda. Las Casas himself had once proposed bringing African slaves to relieve the Indians, an idea he later repented as equally unjust. His book remains a powerful early witness to human rights grounded in the belief that all people are made by God. Content note: many passages describe killing, torture and cruelty to women and children in graphic terms.

Plot or Argument

Preface and argument
Las Casas explains that he writes to inform the king and stop the destruction of the Indians.
The Indies and their peoples
The native peoples are described as gentle, patient and open to the faith; the Spaniards as wolves among sheep.
The islands
Hispaniola, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica are depopulated by massacre, enslavement and forced labour.
The mainland
Accounts of conquest in Central America, Mexico, Guatemala and Venezuela.
Peru and New Granada
The conquest of the Inca and of the northern Andes, with the torture of rulers for gold.
Conclusion
Las Casas affirms the truth of his account and appeals for justice under the law of God and the king.

Lessons

Speaking for the oppressed
Las Casas used his voice and position to defend people who could not appeal to the king themselves. Christians are called to speak for the voiceless.
- Whom was Las Casas writing for, and what did he want?
- Why does it take courage to accuse one's own nation?
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Every person made by God
Las Casas insists that the native peoples are fully human, made by God and capable of faith. This belief underlies the idea of universal human rights.
- How does Las Casas describe the native peoples?
- How does belief in the image of God shape his argument?
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Repentance
Las Casas had once been a slaveholder and later regretted proposing African slavery. His life shows a conscience that kept growing.
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- What can we learn from people who change their minds about injustice?
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Reading a passionate source
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Context

Within fifty years of Columbus's arrival in 1492, the native population of the Caribbean had collapsed through war, forced labour and epidemic disease. Spanish law and theology debated whether the conquest was just.

Composition

Las Casas wrote the account in 1542 and presented it at court, where it helped bring about the New Laws of that year. He revised it and had it printed at Seville in 1552 with other treatises.

Reception

Translations spread across Protestant Europe, often illustrated and used as propaganda against Spain. Spanish authorities later restricted it. It remains a central text in debates about conquest and human rights.

Colonialism Empire War Violence Justice Law Faith / Religion Race Slavery

Comparisons

On the American Indians (De Indis)
Vitoria's lectures argue in scholastic form for the rights of the Indians that Las Casas defends with eyewitness accounts.
Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople
Another account of a Christian army's violence against those it conquered.
The Bible
Las Casas measures the conquerors by Christ's command to make disciples by preaching and love.

Quotes

“Now this infinite multitude of Men are by the Creation of God innocently simple, altogether void of and averse to all manner of Craft, Subtlety and Malice”

— Bartolomé de las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Opening description of the Indies, trans. Anonymous (1689).Quote card

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“they took this course, that immediately at their first arrival they committed some notorious butcheries, which made those Innocent Sheep tremble for fear.”

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For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

How Las Casas describes the native peoples.
The repeated pattern of conquest in each region.
The role of greed for gold.
Las Casas's appeal to God's law and the king.

Key terms and names

Encomienda: A Spanish grant of the labour and tribute of native people to a colonist.
New Laws: Spanish laws of 1542 limiting the encomienda and forbidding the enslavement of Indians.
Conquistador: A Spanish conqueror in the Americas.
Dominican: A member of the Order of Preachers founded by St. Dominic.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension To whom did Las Casas first present his account, and why?
Comprehension What does Las Casas say drove the conquerors?
Interpretation Why does Las Casas use the image of wolves and sheep?
Interpretation How does Las Casas use Christian faith to judge the conquest?
Interpretation Can a passionate, one-sided account still be true? How should we read it?
Interpretation Why do you think other European nations were eager to translate this book?
Big Question What does a nation owe to peoples it has wronged?

Faith Connections

Genesis 1:27 (Scripture)
All people are made in the image of God, the foundation of Las Casas's defence of the Indians.
Matthew 10:16 (Scripture)
Christ sends his disciples "as sheep in the midst of wolves", an image Las Casas reverses against the conquerors.
Proverbs 31:8–9 (Scripture)
"Open thy mouth for the dumb... plead the cause of the poor and needy."

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: The conquest of the Indies, driven by greed, destroyed innocent peoples made by God and violated divine and royal law; the king must stop it.

Rhetorical device: antithesis. The gentle native peoples are set against the conquerors as sheep against wolves.

Debate: Resolved: that a Christian has a duty to speak publicly against injustice done by his own nation.

Memory Work

Now this infinite multitude of Men are by the Creation of God innocently simple, altogether void of and averse to all manner of Craft, Subtlety and Malice
Opening description of the Indies, trans. Anonymous (1689). Las Casas's statement that all these peoples are created by God.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain how Las Casas uses eyewitness testimony and Christian teaching to argue against the conquest.

Comparison with On the American Indians (De Indis): Compare Las Casas's and Vitoria's arguments for the rights of the Indians.

Creative Prompts

Essay
Using Las Casas and Vitoria, explain the sixteenth-century Christian case for the rights of native peoples.
Classroom
Map the regions Las Casas describes and the dates of their conquest.
Dialogue
Write the debate at Valladolid between Las Casas and Sepúlveda, using arguments each actually made.