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== Works == === ''Memorial de Remedios para las Indias'' === The text, written 1516, starts by describing its purpose: to present "The remedies that seem necessary in order that the evil and harm that exists in the Indies cease, and that God and our Lord the Prince may draw greater benefits than hitherto, and that the republic may be better preserved and consoled."<ref name="Las Casas in Baptiste 1990 p14" /> Las Casas's first proposed remedy was a complete moratorium on the use of Indian labor in the Indies until such time as better regulations of it were set in place. This was meant simply to halt the decimation of the Indian population and to give the surviving Indians time to reconstitute themselves. Las Casas feared that at the rate the exploitation was proceeding it would be too late to hinder their annihilation unless action were taken rapidly. The second was a change in the labor policy so that instead of a colonist owning the labor of specific Indians, he would have a right to man-hours, to be carried out by no specific persons. This required the establishment of self-governing Indian communities on the land of colonists – who would themselves organize to provide the labor for their patron. The colonist would only have rights to a certain portion of the total labor, so that a part of the Indians were always resting and taking care of the sick. He proposed 12 other remedies, all having the specific aim of improving the situation for the Indians and limiting the powers that colonists were able to exercise over them.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Baptiste|1990}}</ref> The second part of the ''Memorial'' described suggestions for the social and political organization of Indian communities relative to colonial ones. Las Casas advocated the dismantlement of the city of Asunción and the subsequent gathering of Indians into communities of about 1,000 Indians to be situated as satellites of Spanish towns or mining areas. Here, Las Casas argued, Indians could be better governed, better taught and indoctrinated in the Christian faith, and would be easier to protect from abuse than if they were in scattered settlements. Each town would have a royal hospital built with four wings in the shape of a cross, where up to 200 sick Indians could be cared for at a time. He described in detail social arrangements, distribution of work, how provisions would be divided and even how table manners were to be introduced. Regarding expenses, he argued that "this should not seem expensive or difficult, because after all, everything comes from them [the Indians] and they work for it and it is theirs."<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Baptiste|1990|p=45}}</ref> He even drew up a budget of each pueblo's expenses to cover wages for administrators, clerics, Bachelors of Latin, doctors, surgeons, pharmacists, advocates, ranchers, miners, muleteers, hospitalers, pig herders, fishermen, etc. === ''A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies'' === {{main|A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies}} [[File:Bartolomé de las Casas (1552) Brevisima relación de la destrucción de las Indias.png|thumb|Cover of the ''Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias'' (1552), Bartolomé de las Casas]] ''A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies''{{efn|Also translated and published in English as ''A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies'', among several other variants.}} ({{langx|es|Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias}}) is an account written in 1542 (published in [[Seville]] in 1552) about the mistreatment of the [[indigenous peoples of the Americas]] in colonial times and sent to then-Prince [[Philip II of Spain]]. One of the stated purposes for writing the account was Las Casas's fear of Spain coming under [[divine punishment]] and his concern for the souls of the native peoples. The account was one of the first attempts by a Spanish writer of the colonial era to depict the unfair treatment that the indigenous people endured during the early stages of the Spanish conquest of the [[Greater Antilles]], particularly the island of [[Hispaniola]]. Las Casas's point of view can be described as being heavily against some of the Spanish methods of colonization, which, as he described them, inflicted great losses on the indigenous occupants of the islands. In addition, his critique towards the colonizers served to bring awareness to his audience on the true meaning of Christianity, to dismantle any misconceptions on evangelization.<ref>{{cite book|last1=de las Casas|first1=Bartolomé|title=A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies|url=https://archive.org/details/abriefaccountoft20321gut|year=2007|publisher=Project Gutenberg|page=23}}</ref> His account was largely responsible for the adoption of the [[New Laws of 1542]], which abolished native slavery for the first time in European colonial history and led to the [[Valladolid debate]].<ref>{{cite journal|author-last=Hernandez |author-first= Bonar Ludwig |title= The Las Casas-Sepúlveda Controversy: 1550-1551|journal= Ex Post Facto|volume= 10|pages= 95–104|publisher= [[San Francisco State University]]|url= https://sfsu.app.box.com/s/e961v1d3547vrxjf0i9q5o50hubdr5fj/file/915878862153}}</ref> The book became an important element in the creation and propagation of the so-called [[Black legend (Spain)|Black Legend]] – the tradition of describing the Spanish empire as exceptionally morally corrupt and violent. It was republished several times by groups that were critical of the Spanish realm for political or religious reasons. The first edition in translation was published in Dutch in 1578, during the religious persecution of Dutch Protestants by the Spanish crown, followed by editions in French (1578), English (1583), and German (1599) – all countries where religious wars were raging. The first edition published in Spain after Las Casas's death appeared in [[Barcelona]] during the [[Reapers' War|Catalan Revolt]] of 1646. The book was banned by the [[Spanish Inquisition|Aragonese inquisition]] in 1659.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Keen|1969|p=712}}</ref> The images described by Las Casas were later depicted by [[Theodore de Bry]] in copper plate engravings that served as a medium of the [[Black Legend against Spain]].<ref>{{cite book | first = Bartolomé de | last = Las Casas | title = Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies | location = London | publisher = Penguin | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0-14-044562-6 | others = Nigel Griffin }}</ref> === ''Apologetic History of the Indies'' === [[File:Bartolomé de las Casas (1552) Disputa o controversia con Ginés de Sepúlveda.png|thumb|Cover of the ''Disputa o controversia con Ginés de Sepúlveda'' (1552), Bartolomé de las Casas]] The ''Apologetic Summary History of the People of These Indies'' ({{Langx|es|Apologética historia summaria de las gentes destas Indias}}) was first written as the 68th chapter of the ''General History of the Indies'', but Las Casas changed it into a volume of its own, recognizing that the material was not historical. The material contained in the ''Apologetic History'' is primarily [[ethnography|ethnographic]] accounts of the indigenous cultures of the Indies – the [[Taíno]], the [[Ciboney]], and the [[Guanahatabey]], but it also contains descriptions of many of the other indigenous cultures that Las Casas learned about through his travels and readings. The history is [[apologia|apologetic]] because it is written as a defense of the cultural level of the Indians, arguing throughout that indigenous peoples of the Americas were just as civilized as the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]], [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] civilizations{{snd}}and more civilized than some European civilizations. It was in essence a comparative ethnography comparing practices and customs of European and American cultures and evaluating them according to whether they were good or bad, seen from a Christian viewpoint. He wrote: "I have declared and demonstrated openly and concluded, from chapter 22 to the end of this whole book, that all people of these our Indies are human, so far as is possible by the natural and human way and without the light of faith – had their republics, places, towns, and cities most abundant and well provided for, and did not lack anything to live politically and socially, and attain and enjoy civil happiness.... And they equaled many nations of this world that are renowned and considered civilized, and they surpassed many others, and to none were they inferior. Among those they equaled were the Greeks and the Romans, and they surpassed them by many good and better customs. They surpassed also the English and the French and some of the people of our own Spain; and they were incomparably superior to countless others, in having good customs and lacking many evil ones."<ref name="Historia Apologetica, Wagner & Parish 1967" /> This work in which Las Casas combined his own ethnographic observations with those of other writers, and compared customs and cultures between different peoples, has been characterized as an early beginning of the discipline of [[anthropology]].<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Hanke|1951|pp=88–89}}</ref> === ''History of the Indies'' === The ''History of the Indies'' is a three-volume work begun in 1527 while Las Casas was in the Convent of Puerto de Plata. It found its final form in 1561, when he was working in the Colegio de San Gregorio. Originally planned as a six-volume work, each volume describes a decade of the history of the Indies from the arrival of [[Christopher Columbus]] in 1492 to 1520, and most of it is an eye-witness account.<ref name="Historia de las Indias, 5 volumes" /><ref name="Historia de Las Indias, vol 1" /> It was in the ''History of the Indies'' that Las Casas finally regretted his advocacy for African slavery, and included a sincere apology, writing: "I soon repented and judged myself guilty of ignorance. I came to realize that black slavery was as unjust as Indian slavery... and I was not sure that my ignorance and good faith would secure me in the eyes of God." (Vol II, p. 257)<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Pierce|1992}}</ref> ''History of the Indies'' has never been fully translated into English. The only translations into English are the 1971 partial translation by Andrée M. Collard, and partial translations by Cynthia L. Chamberlin, Nigel Griffin, Michael Hammer and Blair Sullivan in UCLA's ''Repertorium Columbianum'' (Volumes VI, VII and XI). === ''Archiving Christopher Columbus' Journal'' === De Las Casas copied Columbus' diary from his 1492 voyage to modern-day Bahamas. His copy is notable because Columbus' diary itself was lost.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lepore |first1=Jill |title=[[These Truths|These Truths: A History of the United States]] }}</ref> === ''De thesauris in Peru'' === {{main|De thesauris in Peru}}
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