Third Voyage of Columbus Narrative of the Third Voyage of Columbus as Contained in Las Casas’s History, is an online document source located on a digital library database called American Journeys. This article was created by Bartolome de las Casas (born 1474-1566) in the event date of May 30 to August 31, 1498. It was written during the Columbus Expedition (1498-1500) in the region of the West Indies, Gulf, and Caribbean. It’s one of the many original narratives of early American history. This narrative is taken from the Historia de las Indias of Las Casas. The narrative I have chosen is about the third voyage of Columbus in which he discovered the mainland of South America and is transparent through the eyes of Bartolome de las Casas. …show more content…
Las Casas had a prestigious status in society back then that placed him at the top of the ladder. Referring back to the course lectures and presentations, Bartolome de las Casas lived in the Colonial Period in Latin America from 1500-1800. This era was where European powers gained political, economic, and social control over regions in Latin American. During this period, the Spanish people made use of indigenous people. Specifically speaking, they were worked to death when it came to the encomienda system in which the indigenous elite, ecomenderos, crown and church benefited by grants of land and/or labor. The only ones who didn’t benefit was the indigenous people. There were several problems that the encomienda system faced. Aside from indigenous people being worked to death, there existed a major decline in the indigenous population and an increase in Spanish migration. Of course, a solution was brought up in which everybody pays tribute to their higher ups, called the repartimiento system. But, even with this came problems. With problems comes opposition, and that’s where Las Casas appears in the big picture. Interestingly enough, Las Casas received an encomienda because of his participation in many expeditions. After that, he soon began to