A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies

by Las Casas, Bartolome de (Author); Griffin, Nigel (Translator); Pagden, Anthony (Introduction by)

• ISBN13: 9780140445626
• ISBN10: 0140445625
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-11-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

Bartolome de Las Casas was the first and fiercest critic of Spanish colonialism in the New World. An early traveller to the Americas who sailed on one of Columbus's voyages, Las Casas was so horrified by the wholesale massacre he witnessed that he dedicated his life to protecting the native community. He wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies in 1542, a shocking catalogue of mass slaughter, torture and slavery, which showed that the evangelising vision of Columbus had descended under later conquistadors into genocide. Dedicated to Philip II to alert the Castilian Crown to these atrocities and demand that the Indians be entitled to the basic rights of humankind, this passionate work of documentary vividness outraged Europe and contributed to the idea of the Spanish 'Black Legend' that would last for centuries. Nigel Griffin's translation conveys the compelling immediacy of Las Casa's writing. This edition also contains an introduction discussing his life, work and political legacy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix	(1)
Map of America (1540)	x-xi	(1)
Introduction	xiii	(29)
A Note on Editions and on this Translation	xlii
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIES	3	(128)
Synopsis	3	(2)
Prologue	5	(4)
[Preface]	9	(5)
Hispaniola	14	(4)
The Kingdoms of Hispaniola	18	(8)
The Islands of Puerto Rico and Jamaica	26	(1)
Cuba	27	(4)
The Mainland	31	(6)
The Province of Nicaragua	37	(5)
New Spain	42	(3)
New Spain [continued]	45	(12)
The Province and Kingdom of Guatemala	57	(8)
New Spain, Pánuco and Jalisco	65	(6)
The Kingdom of Yucatán	71	(9)
The Province of Santa Marta	80	(5)
The Province of Cartagena	85	(1)
The Pearl Coast, Paria and Trinidad	86	(9)
The River Yuyaparí	95	(1)
The Kingdom of Venezuela	96	(6)
The Mainland in the Region Known as Florida	102	(3)
The River Plate	105	(2)
The Great Kingdoms and Provinces of Peru	107	(9)
The Kingdom of New Granada	116	(11)
[Conclusion]	127	(4)
Index	131