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Las Casas Indians Greed

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Q1: A. According to Las Casas, the Spaniards had one influence that encouraged such acts of cruelty and that was greed. The Spaniards wanted gold. As much gold as they could get their hands on. Las Casas stated that by becoming rich so fast, the Spaniards hoped that this would lead to a “rise to a high estate disproportionate to their merits” (3). In order for the Spaniards to attain the riches they desired, they used Indians to do their bidding. The Indians that weren’t killed were forced into enslavement- mining for gold or working the land to provide sustenance for the Spaniards. Though the Spaniards did use some of the Indians for work purposes, Las Casas believed that the kind of treatment the natives endured was unnecessary and evil. Slaughtering thousands of Indians didn’t aid Spaniard's quest to attain gold. Las Casas viewed the Spaniards as living in sin with their greed and lust for spilling innocent blood. B. Las Casas felt nothing but disdain for the invaders. He did not believe that the Spaniards were trying to introduce …show more content…

Las Casas felt in no way that the Indians were threatening. He saw them as good-natured and peaceful people who because of their meekness, were taken advantage of by evil men. When Las Casas describes the Spaniards, he uses words like beat, killed, and tortured. All these actions possess characteristics of what would define someone threatening. Las Casas never used words like those to describe the Indians, but instead always described them in a positive light. Las Casas viewed the natives as “docile and open to doctrine” (1) who presented themselves in a godly manner. Stating that he believes the Indians to be docile along with the fact that he saw they behaved in a godly fashion negates the notion that Las Casas felt threatened by the Indians. He believes the survivors endured the most difficult hardships in history. Las Casas carried a great respect for the natives and hurt for them and the injustice they had been

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