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Compare And Contrast Diego De Landa And Hernan Cortes

2108 Words9 Pages

In today’s society access to literature, news and information for the most part is taken for granted. Thanks to technology, humans now have instantaneous access to more literature and information than they had ever had before. However, hundreds of years ago literature and records were valuable. Often times only single copies of books existed, meaning if works were lost or destroyed, reproduction was very difficult or impossible. During the Spanish conquests of the 1500’s, many of these valuable and irreplaceable works were destroyed. Although unable to read and understand them, the Spanish demonized these writings as works of the devil and destroyed them. Native American’s across Mesoamerica suffered greatly at the hands of Spanish colonization. …show more content…

He, unlike many of the time, was opposed to the many atrocities that the Spanish were committing against the Native Americans. This came about after witnessing these cruelties first hand and seeing the effect it had on the native people. Las Casas advocated for the rights of the Native Americans and for the abolishment of the encomienda, the system that allowed for the exploitation of the native peoples (Clayton 27). A high point in his life was reached when the New Laws of 1542 were passed. The New Laws sought to control the exploitations and atrocities of the conquests in the Americas. Its key points were making Indians subjects of the Crown; abolition of Indian slavery and the gradual extinction of the encomienda, which was the primary form of exploiting Indian labor (Clayton …show more content…

In 1535 he wrote a letter about Nicaragua saying, “Nicaragua is the Lord’s paradise. It is the delight and joy for humans. I have seen Espanola and other islands and parts of Tierra Firme, but none compare with Nicaragua for its fertility, so much abundance, so pleasant and fresh, so healthy, so many trees, ordered like the orchards of Castile, and finally, everything for man to enjoy life” (Clayton 102-103). Las Casas view of the America’s being paradise can be seen in his fight for the native people’s rights and against the Spanish atrocities committed against them. The new world was a beautiful place to Las Casas and because of this it would only be natural for him to want to protect the land and its people. Las Casas was one of the few who saw the natives as human beings, unlike many of the Spanish that exploited and hurt them; treating them as

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