De Las Casas Based on Book Report

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3. Who are the various groups of indigenous people? What are some of their customs? How did they receive the Spaniards? What marks of 'civilization' does de las Casas note?

The author refers to the indigenous peoples as Indians, and also as Cacics. De las Casas respects the great diversity among the indigenous people he encounters, even if his impressions seem ethnocentric. For example, the author claims that the indigenous people of Hispaniola are innocent and childlike, and trust the Spanish overlords. He also notes they do not like to work very hard. At times, de las Casas describes the religious idols and practices of the peoples, and also games like juggling.

4. List various specific things that de las Casas uses as examples of Spanish barbarity.

The entire tome is devoted to examples of Spanish barbarity. De las Casas does not hold back when he refers to the brutality and tyranny of the Spaniards. For example, he describes incidents in which he watched the Spaniards set dogs after the indigenous peoples and the dogs chase a mother and a child, who dies (p. 21). He describes mass slaughter at several points.

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5. What activities did the Spanish engage in related to enslavement and slavery?

Slavery is a key point of de las Casas. Most of the indigenous people were enslaved in some way by the Spaniards. The author describes the ways in which the Spaniards tricked the people into trusting them, too, before turning them into slaves. Spanish slavery methods are described as being so cruel as to lead frequently to death (p. 17).

6. According to de las Casas, what kinds of efforts were made for converting the indigenous people? By the Church or monastic orders? By the conquerors?

Conversion is a controversial topic for de las Casas, who is a religious man. He believes in Christ but he also sees how conversion was used as an excuse to torment and torture innocent people. The author relates interesting anecdote about conversion related to the Cacic, who were resistant to conversion. One Cacic man reportedly claimed he would rather go to Hell, if the Spanish were in Heaven (p. 9)......

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