First published in 1552, Bartolomé de las Casas’ A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies catalogues the brutality and ruthlessness that occurred during the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. Despite being written in 1542, the book was not actually published until ten years later. Las Casas’ A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies covers themes of torture, massacre and slavery. Mid-sixteenth century Spain was under the rule of Charles I (1519 – 1556) and Philip II (1556 – 1598), with the Spanish Empire being one of the richest and most powerful in Europe at that time . With Spain a Catholic nation, the expansion of Catholicism in the New World was one of the main reasons for the colossal amount of bloodshed that Las Casas chronicles. Comprised of 130 pages, Las Casas divides the book into twenty chapters, along with a synopsis, prologue, preface and conclusion. Each chapter talks about a different area in the New World, ranging from Hispaniola and Cartagena to “the region in the mainland known as Florida” . The book also includes a map of …show more content…
The Short Account, as implied from its name, is not a comprehensive history of the colonial period, but rather a limited catalogue of events ranging from the early to late sixteenth century. Emphasis is heavily placed on religious aspects of the period. As Las Casas believed that a divine punishment was waiting for Spain, he often highlights the hypocrisy and religious immorality of the actions of the Spanish people in the New World. A Spanish Dominican friar, Las Casas was keen to spread Catholicism to the indigenous people of the Americas, as he believed himself to be saving their souls from eternal damnation. However he was unwilling to do so in a way that would dehumanise the natives and go against what he viewed as acceptable in the eyes of