3 h 30 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 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
For readers who love history, ethics and human rights, and anyone curious about the first years of the Spanish empire.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A planter who became a protector
- The islands are emptied first
- The same pattern crosses the mainland
- Greed is the engine of cruelty
- A plea placed before the king
- How the book has been read since
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Très brève relation de la destruction des Indes
by Bartolomé de las Casas · 1552
Las Casas asks the Spanish crown to confront the violence of conquest and defend native peoples' rights.
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In short
In 1542 a Spanish Dominican friar named Bartolomé de las Casas finished a short text for the court of Charles V. It was a harsh summary of what Spaniards had done to the native peoples of the Caribbean and the Americas in the fifty years since Columbus.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A planter who became a protector
Bartolomé de las Casas was born in Seville in 1484. He crossed to the Indies as a young man and took part in the colonial world he would later condemn. He received land and native laborers under the system called the encomienda, which handed Spanish settlers the work of local people in exchange for a promise to teach them the Christian faith.
In 1514 he changed course. Preparing a sermon, he came to believe that the system was unjust and that he could not hold such grants in good conscience. He gave up his own, and later entered the Dominican order. From then on he worked as a priest, a lobbyist and a writer on behalf of the native peoples.
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What is A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies about?
It is a short report by Bartolomé de las Casas describing Spanish violence against native peoples in the Caribbean and the Americas after 1492. He goes region by region and asks the Spanish crown to end the conquest's abuses.
When was A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies written?
Las Casas wrote it around 1542, when the Spanish crown was debating new laws for the Indies. It was printed in Seville in 1552. It is a real account by a witness, though written to persuade.
Is Las Casas accurate about the number of dead?
Many historians think his totals are exaggerated and that he gave too little weight to disease. Most still accept that forced labor, war and massacres caused a huge loss of native life.
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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