Person1484 – 1566

Bartolomé de las Casas

Also called: Las Casas

Spanish Dominican friar and bishop who denounced the abuse of the native peoples of the Americas and defended their rights

He went to Hispaniola in 1502 as a settler, took part in the conquest and received an encomienda. In 1514, awakened to the suffering of the native people, he gave it up and travelled back and forth to the Spanish court pleading for their protection, earning the title “Protector of the Indians”. He entered the Dominican order around 1522 and served as bishop of Chiapas in Mexico. He later bitterly regretted having once proposed using African slaves in place of native labour, and he wrote a History of the Indies.

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1 related event

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1542Spanish Colonial Rule and Las Casasauthor
Spain ruled the Americas through viceroyalties and the encomienda, which let conquerors exploit native labour. Las Casas denounced the abuse of the native peoples, and the New Laws of 1542 restricted the encomienda.

Themes this person appears in

Islamic Empires and the Atlantic World1500 – 1800
Three centuries in which the Ottomans of Suleiman I, the Mughals of Akbar and the Safavids of Abbas I flourished and then faltered, while across the Atlantic the slave trade and colonies transformed the Americas, leading to American independence