How Does Bartolome De Las Casas Defense Of The Natives

The first aspect that De Las Casas addresses about the inhabitants comes within his amazement to the diversity of the people residing in the Indies. Along with that statement, De Las Casas also alludes to his religious perspectives of the inhabitants, saying such things as "People inhabits these Countries, that it seems as if the Omnipotent God has Assembled and Convocated [sic] the major part of Mankind in this part of the World." As Las Casas continues his description of the natives, the concept of humanity is brought into light with his defense of the Indians. As comparative to the Europeans, the natives are supposedly much more malleable as people due to their previously restricted access to other nations in the world. Here, Las Casas

He compares the natives as "innocent sheep" to highlight his argument that they had done no crime against the Spanish or any other foreign lands to have sentenced their deaths. Going further , Las Casas then discusses the brutal and ironically inhumane way that the Spanish were killing and harassing the inhabitants in order to claim land and fortune as their own. His words allows freeway for his defense of the Indians to take a stronger hold into the mindset of both the societies back in Europe and also other countries whose attention would have been on the Indies at this time. The method in which he switches back and forth between the previous utopias of lands such as Hispaniola, Cuba and the Lucayan Islands and the resulting dead lands that came about due to the actions of the Spanish is effective in its purpose to embellish the horror of the Indies' exploitation and

However, the criticism in his words are obvious as Las Casas utilizes satire to attack the decisions of the Spanish to first inforce Spanish rule or "Tyranny" onto the natives only to massacre a critical percentage of the 'Ten Kingdoms'. Las Casas goes further to describe what he believed to have been the two types of people who caused the downfall of the people of the Indies. The first division, Las Casas determines as killers, exterminating for the sake of their own consumption and benefit. Meanwhile, the other half Las Casas explains are those who oppressed the inhabitants to the point that they thirst for their freedom, which the Spanish would have said is in the form of embracing "Catholicism." However, Las Casas finally reveals the ultimate lure that incited the Spanish to turn the Indies into desolate lands as 'Gold'. For a society to believe that the inhabitants of the Indies were less than people due to their differences in cultures and lifestyles, yet destroy the said lives of over ten million for a glittering mineral, they then become the truly inhumane