LAS CASAS, BARTOLOMÉ de. – Dominican, apostle and defender of the Indians of America, b. in Seville in 1474, d. in Madrid on 31 July 1566.
From the time when he was pursuing legal studies at the University of Salamanca, he began to take an interest in the new lands that the discovery of America had opened to Europeans. It should be noted that his father had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage (1493). Thus, at the age of 28 (1502), he himself sailed for Hispaniola, to take possession of his wealthy paternal «fazenda» and make his fortune. At first, therefore, he was an exploiter of the Indians, like all the other conquerors; he himself would later recall this with regret in the Historia de las Indias. But over the course of about ten years, thanks to contact with certain Dominicans, he not only abandoned the «fazenda», but became a tenacious protector of the oppressed indigenous peoples, devoting the remaining 50 years of his great activity to their cause and, for this purpose, crossing the Ocean a full dozen times.
He fought first of all against the «encomienda», that is, against the inhuman exploitation of the Indians under the specious pretext of evangelizing them; he naturally encountered strong opposition from the conquistadors, who saw their colonizing system turned upside down. His fundamental vision, in truth somewhat one-sided, as will be explained even more clearly in his writings, may be briefly summarized. Providence had reserved the discovery of the new lands for Spain so that those peoples might be evangelized—peoples of angelic simplicity and goodness, lacking only the light of the Gospel. Instead, the Spaniards, contrary to every human and divine law, postponing evangelization, had first devoted themselves to plunder and oppression, heedless of the shedding of indigenous blood. In 1516 L. C. was appointed general protector of all the Indians and obtained the reform of the laws concerning them. But, upon returning to America, he was unable to implement these measures, and so he himself devised a new system of colonization, consisting in entrusting the exploitation of part of the territory to peaceful Spanish colonists (1520). The experiment met with disastrous results, and he therefore decided henceforth to devote himself wholly and exclusively to evangelization through preaching. For this purpose he relied on the Dominican Order, which had directed him along that path and always supported him, and he became a friar (1523); since 1510 he had been a secular priest.
In 1539 he wrote the Bresisima relación de la destrucción de las Indias, which was published only in 1552 in Seville and was subsequently translated into various languages. His warm and passionate defense of the Indians met with renewed success in 1542, when he obtained from Charles V new laws in favor of his protégés; moreover, so that L. C. might enjoy greater prestige, the Emperor proposed him for the episcopal see of Chiapa(s), today in Mexico. The Pope consented (19 Dec. 1543), and the consecration took place in Seville on 30 March 1544. But not even these new provisions were sufficient to overcome the hostility of his opponents, who instead accused him of treason and heresy, forcing him to return to his homeland to clear himself of the charges (1547). It was then that he found himself confronted by the great adversary J. Ginés de Sepúlveda, who upheld the natural slavery of the conquered peoples, and defeated him in a famous juridical-theological disputation held on the subject. In 1551 L. C. lost the opportunity to return among his Indians and—now almost eighty years old—decided to remain in his homeland, continuing their defense with his pen.
In addition to the aforementioned Brevisima relación, L. C. left numerous writings, some of them still unpublished. Particular mention should be made of the incomplete Historia de las Indias (ed. in the Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de España, vols. 62-66, Madrid 1875), which, despite its defects, remains a rich and valuable source on the beginnings of Spanish colonization, as well as on the life of Christopher Columbus, whom L. C. knew personally. To complete this history, one may cite the Apologética historia sumaria... (ed. in Nueva biblioteca de Autores españoles, XIII, Madrid 1909), concerning the geography, customs, and characteristics of the population. L. C.’s zeal for an unquestionably good cause, his irascibility, and his oratorical fervor in the face of the obstinacy and methods employed by the colonizers led him to exaggerate; as a historian he is open to question, but as an apostle he is a figure of the first rank.