3 h 30 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 30 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a man who once owned native laborers turns his anger against the conquest itself?
In A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Bartolomé de las Casas brings a fierce accusation before the Spanish court. A Dominican friar who has lived in the Indies, he describes killings, enslavement and forced labor across the Caribbean and the Americas. His concern is the destruction of native peoples and the responsibility of those in power.
Beginning with Hispaniola and the Taino people, Las Casas follows the violence from the islands to the mainland. New Spain, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the coast of Venezuela enter his account. He names greed as the engine of cruelty. This is a short, angry plea for action, not a many-sided history, and historians treat his numbers with care.
What you’ll discover
- A witness turns accuser Meet a former owner of native laborers who comes to condemn the colonial world.
- From islands to mainland Follow his regional account of conquest, where the same patterns of violence recur.
- Greed and its consequences Explore his argument that greed drives cruelty and the ruin of whole societies.
- A challenge to power Encounter a report addressed to the crown, pressing those with power to act.
- A difficult historical voice Read claims that demand care and still shape how the conquest is remembered.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love history told by someone who was there, who care about law and conscience, and who want the voice behind a great debate of the Spanish empire.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A friar who saw it himself writes to the king
- The peoples of the Indies are gentle and teachable
- Whole islands are emptied within a few decades
- War and forced labor are the two roads to ruin
- Hispaniola shows the pattern in its kings and queens
- Hatuey on Cuba names the Spanish god as gold
- The mainland repeats the pattern on a vast scale
- Witnesses, laws and the argument that follows
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Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias
by Bartolomé de las Casas · 1552
A Dominican friar tells the king what he saw in the Indies, and names the kingdoms the Spaniards emptied.
Challenging2–5 hours to readEspañol
Excellent
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In short
What would you say to a king if you had watched his subjects empty whole islands? In 1542 a Spanish friar sits down to answer that question.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A friar who saw it himself writes to the king
Bartolomé de las Casas is not a distant scholar. He crosses to the Indies, lives among the colonists and sees the early conquest with his own eyes. Later he joins the Dominican order and becomes one of the empire's loudest critics of how the native peoples are treated. By 1542 he has watched the Spanish world in America for about forty years.
Again and again he writes that he saw a thing, that he was present, or that he knows the man by name. He treats these claims as his proof. He adds that he could not tell even one part in a thousand of what happened.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1552
- Language
- Español
- Reading time
- 2 h 15 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Casas, Bartolomé de las. A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-brief-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies.
Casas, B. de las. (2026). A brief account of the destruction of the Indies. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-brief-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies (Original work published 1552)
Casas, Bartolomé de las. A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-brief-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies.
@book{casas2026brief,
author = {Casas, Bartolomé de las},
title = {A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-brief-account-of-the-destruction-of-the-indies},
note = {First published 1552}
}
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What is A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies about?
It is a report by a Spanish friar on how the Spanish conquest treated the native peoples of the Caribbean and the Americas. It moves region by region and describes war, forced labor and slavery driven by the search for gold.
Who was Bartolomé de las Casas?
He was a Dominican friar who lived in the Indies, saw the early conquest, and became the best-known defender of the native peoples at the Spanish court. He wrote this account in 1542 for Emperor Charles the Fifth.
Is A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies a true story?
It is a work of eyewitness history and advocacy, finished in 1542. Historians accept that the population collapse and many abuses were real, but they question his large totals and note that he leaves out disease as a cause.
The author
Bartolomé de las Casas
1484–1566 · Spanish friar, historian and reformer
Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566) was a Spanish Dominican friar and historian. Born in Seville, he lived in the Caribbean and Central America before returning to Spain. He served as bishop of Chiapas. He wrote A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, published in 1552. He died in Madrid.
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