This is a short history of the age of exploration and the conquest of the Americas told through the experience of Bartolomé de las Casas, a Dominican friar who fervently defended the American Indians, and the single most important figure of the period after Columbus.
- Explores the period known as the Encounter, which was characterized by intensive conflict between Europeans and the people of the Americas following Columbus’s voyages
- Argues that Las Casas, ‘protector of Indians, ‘ was primarily motivated by Scripture in his crusade for justice and equality for American Indians
- Draws on the 14 volume Complete Works of Las Casas as a window into his mind and actions
- Encourages students to understand history through the viewpoint of individuals living it
Table of Content
List of Illustrations
Series Editor’s Preface
Acknowledgments
Timeline
Introduction
1. The Era of Columbus and the “Discoverers”
Modern interpretations
Conquest of La Española
2. Justice for All
Discovering his calling
Father Montesinos’ sermon
Las Casas goes to Cuba
To Spain
Meeting Ferdinand
3. Social Experiments: The Hieronymite Mission and the Universal Protector of All the Indians
4. The Era of the Conquests of Mexico and Peru, 1520s–1540s
Seville, autumn, 1520
The conquest of Mexico
5. The New Laws of 1542 and Bishop of Chiapa
Laying the groundwork
Bishop of Chiapa
6. “All Mankind is One”: On the Nature of Humans, Servitude, and Slavery
Bartolomé de las Casas and the African slave trade
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index
About the author
Lawrence A. Clayton is Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of History at the University of Alabama. His books include A History of Modern Latin America, second edition (2004), Peru and the United States: The Condor and the Eagle (1999), and The De Soto Chronicles (editor, 1993). He is currently writing the first major biography of Las Casas in more than a generation.
More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
232,974 Ebooks in this category
