Bartolome de Las Casas is certainly the most controversial figure in the long and troubled history of Spain's overseas empire. The fierce 'defender and apostle to the Indians', as he become known, Las Casas dedicated most of his adult life to describing the atrocities which the Spaniards had perpetrated against the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas. He was also, however, the man who perhaps did most to chronicle the life of the 'discoverer' of America, Christopher Columbus. For Las Casas, Columbus was the key figure in Las Casas's own prolonged conception of the Spanish presence in America and his interpretation of what had taken place there since 1492. This volume of the Repertorium Columbianum presents Las Casas's accounts, drawn mainly from the Historia de las Indias, of the events which preceded Columbus's first voyage and which occurred during his second and fourth voyages. Thus, it complements volume 6, A Synoptic Edition of the Log of Columbus's First Voyage, which contains Las Casas's description of the first voyage. Nigel Griffin's entirely new transcription of the original material is accompanied by this graceful and accurate English translation of the text, which for the most part has not been previously translated. The well-known Lascasian scholar Anthony Pagden introduces the volume, carefully placing Las Casas's account of the deeds of Christopher Columbus within the context of his entire life's work.

This study provides a comprehensive critical inquiry of the exploration, conquest, and evangelization of the Americas by Spain from Columbus's first voyage to the death of Las Casas. The author examines the conflicting interpretations of Columbus and presents the narrative of conquest along with that of native resistance, genocide, and the introduction of African slavery. Traboulay also describes and analyzes the struggles, arguments, achievements, and failures of Las Casas and others. By focusing on both Columbus and Las Casas, the author seeks to present a broader perspective of the conquest without diminishing the tragedy that occurred. Contents: Preface; Columbus: The Legend; Columbus: The Enterprise of the Indies; Resistance, Death: Slavery; The Voyages: European Hegemony and World History; The Mission to Christianize; Sixteenth Century Scholasticism: The Influence of Vitoria; Alonso de la Vera Cruz, Colonial Universities, and the Rights of Native Americans; Alonso de Zorita and the Rationality of the Native Americans; Bartolome de Las Casas and the Issues of the Great Debate of 1550-51; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

This edition and translation of Las Casas's narrative, transmitted in his Historia de las Indias, of Columbus's third voyage in 1498-1500 to Trinidad and the Gulf of Paria, then on to Hispaniola, completes the coverage of the Columbian voyages contained in volumes 6 and 7 of the Repertorium Columbianum. The narrative opens on a high note with the first European sighting of the mainland of South America, Columbus's lyrical response to the beauty of its abundant flora and fauna, friendly encounters with the Indians of Paria, and intimations that the expedition might have stumbled onto the threshold of the earthly paradise. It closes, however, in a somber vein with what Las Casas aptly termed the fall of the admiral, who had been ousted from his governorship for mismanagement of the young colony and shipped home ignominiously to face an uncertain reception at the court of Fernando and Isabel. Las Casas's commentary is largely centered on moral and political issues, particularly on the contradictory implications of Columbus's actions: on the one hand as the explorer who opened up a new world for Christian evangelization, and on the other as the viceroy whose brutal and ineffective administration of this new world proved so disastrous for its indigenous inhabitants. The former he judges positively and the latter negatively, never mincing his words. Indeed, this fascinating text can be read as a dialogue between Las Casas and Columbus in which Las Casas constantly quotes the admiral's letters and then glosses them with his own observations, guided by moral and eschatological themes.

Provides resources for teaching elementary and secondary school students about Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America.

A Spanish friar documents the brutal treatment of Caribbean natives at the hands of colonial authorities in the sixteenth century. After traveling to the New World, Dominican friar Bartolomé de Las Casas witnessed conquistadors wreak unimaginable horrors upon the Indigenous people of the Caribbean. He later dedicated his life to fighting for their protection. Following numerous failed attempts to reason with authorities in Spain, he chose to document everything he had seen over a span of fifty years and to give it to Spain’s Prince Philip II. In A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Las Casas catalogues the atrocities he observed the Spanish colonial authorities inflict upon the native people. He discusses the brutal torture, mass genocide, and enslavement. He passionately pleas for an end to this treatment and for the native peoples to be given basic human rights.

Here in their own words are Frederick Douglass, George Jackson, Chief Joseph, Martin Luther King Jr., Plough Jogger, Sacco and Vanzetti, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Twain, and Malcolm X, to name just a few of the hundreds of voices that appear in Voices of a People's History of the United States, edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. Paralleling the twenty-four chapters of Zinn's A People's History of the United States, Voices of a People’s History is the long-awaited companion volume to the national bestseller. For Voices, Zinn and Arnove have selected testimonies to living history—speeches, letters, poems, songs—left by the people who make history happen but who usually are left out of history books—women, workers, nonwhites. Zinn has written short introductions to the texts, which range in length from letters or poems of less than a page to entire speeches and essays that run several pages. Voices of a People’s History is a symphony of our nation’s original voices, rich in ideas and actions, the embodiment of the power of civil disobedience and dissent wherein lies our nation’s true spirit of defiance and resilience.

Witness the chilling chronicle of colonial atrocities and the mistreatment of indigenous peoples in 'A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies'. Written by the compassionate Spanish Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas in 1542, this harrowing account exposes the heinous crimes committed by the Spanish in the Americas. Addressed to Prince Philip II of Spain, Las Casas' heartfelt plea for justice sheds light on the fear of divine punishment and the salvation of Native souls. From the burning of innocent people to the relentless exploitation of labor, the author unveils a brutal reality that spans across Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba.

An accessible reader of both popular and largely unavailable writings of Bartolomé de las Casas With the exception of Christopher Columbus, Bartolomé de las Casas is arguably the most notable figure of the Encounter Age. He is remembered principally as the creator of the Black Legend, as well as the protector of American Indians. He was one of the pioneers of the human rights movement, and a Christian activist who invoked law and Biblical scripture to challenge European colonialism in the great age of the Encounter. He was also one of the first and most thorough chroniclers of the conquest, and a biographer who saved the diary of Columbus’s first voyage for posterity by transcribing it in his History of the Indies before the diary was lost. Bartolomé de las Casas and the Defense of Amerindian Rights: A Brief History with Documents provides the most wide-ranging and concise anthology of Las Casas’s writings, in translation, ever made available. It contains not only excerpts from his most well-known texts, but also his largely unavailable writings on political philosophy and law, and addresses the underappreciated aspects of his thought. Fifteen of the twenty-six documents are entirely new translations of Las Casas’s writings, a number of them appearing in English for the first time. This volume focuses on his historical, political, and legal writings that address the deeply conflicted and violent sixteenth-century encounter between Europeans and indigenous peoples of the Americas. It also presents Las Casas as a more comprehensive and systematic philosophical and legal thinker than he is typically given credit for. The introduction by Lawrence A. Clayton and David M. Lantigua places these writings into a synthetic whole, tracing his advocacy for indigenous peoples throughout his career. By considering Las Casas’s ideas, actions, and even regrets in tandem, readers will understand the historical dynamics of Spanish imperialism more acutely within the social-political context of the times.