Bartolome de Las Casas

Fundamental questions facing Europeans in the New World concerned the nature of its inhabitants. Were they humans, capable of rational thought? Could they fully receive the benefits of Christianity? How should they be treated?

Like many, historian, theologian, and "Defender of the Indians" Bartolome de Las Casas initially believed that the natives should be exploited as the invaders saw fit. He first arrived on Hispaniola (the Caribbean island site of presentday Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in 1502 as a young man to oversee land granted to his father, who had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage. Later Las Casas managed his own encomienda:a grant of land upon which a settler could put natives to work—essentially as slaves—in exchange for taking charge of their religious instruction. This system led to terrible exploitation, as...