Introduction
Las Casas became among the most prominent philosophers of his generation. In various tracts, notably the immensely famous “Concise Account of the Ruination of the Indies,” written during his lifespan, he focused on his perspectives on enslavement and the liberties of indigenous persons. Las Casas was a pivotal factor in the emergence of what is currently termed human rights principles, as shown by his deeds and ideas. The Spanish legislature enacted a slew of regulations governing how locals and colonists should interact, but the colonists and colonizers often disregarded them. Most colonizers were delighted to enslave the locals, but several religious groups were against it. The Dominican Legislation/Order was among the most vocal supporters of indigenous liberties. Las Casas’ championing of indigenous rights was influenced by his European ancestry, as this article will illustrate.
Defender of Faith
When Las Cass launched his effort for the indigenous, the Reformation era was only getting started in Europe. On the other hand, Spain stayed a Catholic country and a staunch defender of the faith. While conflict between Christian sects wreaked havoc on Mainland Europe, Spain contended with its distinct religious plurality. For decades, Catholics and Muslims coexisted in Spanish territories. Spain was unifying under Catholicism during the era of the revolution of the Known World. Catholic troops eventually drove away Muslim control and forced the assimilation of Spain’s remaining Jews and Muslims. The Spanish regime gained authority from its role as a Christian protector. Las Casas landed in Hispaniola (currently Haiti and indeed the Dominican Republic) around 1502, according to Hanke (1951). Soon after, he became a farmland and enslaver, and joined military campaigns against indigenous persons and then became a clergyman in 1510 (Hanke, 1951). Following his involvement in the bloody and devastating Spanish conquest of the Cuban republic in 1513, Las Casas started to see European meddling in local affairs as illegitimate and unethical.
Role as Clergyman
Las Casas was a staunch supporter of the Roman Church in his role as a clergyman. The Christian community was still a political organization at this period. As a committed man preaching God’s message and the Religion’s doctrines, Las Casas was also disseminating the authority of the Catholic Church. He did not seem to be thinking about it. Enslavement was a generally accepted institution in sixteenth-century Spain, but it became more controversial. All captured soldiers were classified as prospective enslaved people under Spanish rule at the time, although there were notable exceptions (Hanke, 1951). The strategy recommended by Las Casas for converting the locals, which confined native interaction to exclusively European clerics, would have expanded the Church’s dominance as the main political force across the age of exploration.
Servitude
By presenting this point, Las Casas might have accidentally assisted the Spanish rulers with support for the new conception of servitude based on ethnicity instead of the traditional understanding of captivity as a product of imperial conquest. Las Casas eventually argued for abolishing all servitude when so much greed and fame were at risk, but the rising European regimes paid little heed to this ethical sense (Hanke, 1951). Las Casas’ concepts spread across the Spanish judicial framework, and indigenous persons were eventually given the authority to judge inter-indigenous disputes. In matters involving the Spanish administration, they might utilize the court strategy to increase their objectives and issue judgments derived from ancient indigenous practices, provided such beliefs were not declared “anachronistic” or contrary to the Catholic religion.
Conclusion
Las Casas’ involvement stems from his regard for historical circumstances that permitted civil liberties to emerge. A Short Description of the Ruination of the Indies is a potential source of the extermination of indigenous persons in the Americas throughout Spanish colonialism. Many of the events described in the book took place in modern-day South America, most often on the coastlines of the renowned Greater Antilles. The story is outspoken in its condemnation of Spanish injustices. It contends that new law is needed to safeguard the indigenous peoples of the future universe from brutality and slavery and the end, provide royal permits to groupings of colonizers to perpetrate similar crimes. The brief account is mostly an excellent reason with no unified plot. It does, nonetheless, progress temporally and spatially through the periods of the Spanish invasion, with each episode focusing on one area. Despite its clear rhetorical goals, the piece remains an essential and significant principal reference to the genocide phase and a passionate description of ethical protest to horror. The narrative also emerged as an essential early reference in postmodernism by portraying the citizens of America as cognitively, ethically, socially, and infrastructurally evolved people rather than heathens.
References
Hanke, L. (1951). Bartolome de las Casas: Political theorist and historian. Bartolomé De Las Casas, 36–60. Web.