I decided to read Bartolomo de Las Casas’ response to the treatment and destruction of the Indians instead of The Council of Trent and The Jesuits. I chose to write my blog on this subject because I thought it was more interesting due to the fact we not only begin to see the Catholic conquest of the New World but we also see the ways in which the Catholics tried to convert the Indians. Bartolomo de Las Casas’ thinking was unusual for this time as well as for his stature as a Dominican friar. He believed the way in which the Spaniards went about forcing conversion on the Indians was cruel, appalling and definitely not necessary. He actually believed that they were too brutal and needed to be stopped. He tried to appeal to the King of Spain to stop the violence but the King did nothing to further prevent these attacks.
What is fascinating is that the Counter Reformation bought about many acts of violence, which lead to continuous bloodshed on those who were not Catholic. Although many of the attacks were against the Protestants, we begin to see with the exploration of the New World came even more violent acts against pagans, especially towards the Indians.
I believe that the treatment and conversion of the Indians was far worse than the Protestants for several reasons: one, they were considered uneducated savages, so the Spaniards treated them as such; two, the Spaniards believed that they had to save their souls by any means, even torture, and three, and most importantly, the rate at which the Spaniards slaughtered the Indians was unfathomable.
De Las Casas’ response was remarkable because instead of condemning the Indians for not converting, he condemned the souls of the Spaniards for using such tactics to convert the Indians. He became a sympathizer to the plights of the Indians and then became a crusader for Indians’ rights. One thing that really caught my attention while reading his account is that one Indian who the Spanish tried to convert said that he’d rather go to hell than be converted so that he wouldn’t be in heaven where the Spaniards were. That is how terrible the Spaniards were to the Indians. For someone to wish this really says something about the ways in which the Spaniards treated the Indians.
Jenn,
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you didn't just stick to the assigned readings. I didn't even think of that. I never knew that there were people during that time that fought for Indian rights. I figured that most people followed along with the justification that the native souls needed to be saved and any means justified the ends. I thought it was interesting that one Indian said he would rather go to hell than go to the Spanish heaven. It really does say something about how they were treated by the Spaniards.