Bartolomé de Las Casas claimed that the Spanish conquistadors were hypocrites who used their power and technology to murder innocent natives in his work, An Account, Much Abbreviated of the Destruction of the Indies. In reality, however, Las Casas was the deceitful one because he exaggerated the perils in the Indies to increase his own fame. Despite the accusations made by Las Casas in his account, Your Majesty should continue to send conquistadors to the Indies because we will be able to convert the indigenous people to Christianity and make them loyal subjects to the King. Caught up in the romanticism of being a conquistador for the fame and wealth, Las Casas was disappointed with his results and turned to inventing outrageous stories to …show more content…
It is certain that Las Casas was cognizant of the conquistadors’ goals, but he did not agree with them. He wrote that the conquistadors “came to make the Indians the subjects of the king of Spain, and to make them to obey him …. And those who did not come smartly to obey such unreasonable and foolish messages … the Spaniards would call them rebels who rose up against the service of Your Majesty” (35). This is exactly why the conquistadors go to the Indies, but it is evident from Las Casas’ word choice that he does not believe that we should teach the natives to honor our king. Las Casas is quick to call the Spaniards tyrants throughout his account, but when he refers to their message that supports the king as “unreasonable and foolish”, Las Casas begins to look more like a tyrant than any of the conquistadors in the Indies do. Because of this, does it seem that Las Casas really is looking out for the well-being of the natives, or is he just looking for ways to fabricate barely believable stories to bring down the conquistadors that achieved more success than he