Editing Bartolomé de las Casas (section)

=== Las Casas and Emperor Charles V: The peasant colonization scheme ===
[[File:Bernard van Orley (1487-1541) Karel V - Koninklijk klooster van Brou 25-10-2016 10-06-36.jpg|upright|thumb|Contemporary portrait of the young Emperor Charles V]]
When he arrived in Spain, his former protector, regent, and [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cardinal Ximenez Cisneros]], was ill and had become tired of Las Casas's tenacity. Las Casas resolved to meet instead with the young king Charles I. Ximenez died on 8 November, and the young King arrived in [[Valladolid]] on 25 November 1517. Las Casas managed to secure the support of the king's Flemish courtiers, including the powerful Chancellor Jean de la Sauvage. Las Casas's influence turned the favor of the court against Secretary Conchillos and Bishop Fonseca. Sauvage spoke highly of Las Casas to the king, who appointed Las Casas and Sauvage to write a new plan for reforming the governmental system of the Indies.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Wagner|Parish|1967|pp=35–38}}</ref>

Las Casas suggested a plan where the encomienda would be abolished and Indians would be congregated into self-governing townships to become tribute-paying vassals of the king. He still suggested that the loss of Indian labor for the colonists could be replaced by allowing [[Slavery in the Spanish New World colonies#Spanish enslavement of Africans|importation of African slaves]]. Another important part of the plan was to introduce a new kind of sustainable colonization, and Las Casas advocated supporting the migration of Spanish peasants to the Indies where they would introduce small-scale farming and agriculture, a kind of colonization that did not rely on resource depletion and Indian labor. Las Casas worked to recruit a large number of peasants who would want to travel to the islands, where they would be given lands to farm, cash advances, and the tools and resources they needed to establish themselves there. The recruitment drive was difficult, and during the process the power relation shifted at court when Chancellor Sauvage, Las Casas's main supporter, unexpectedly died. In the end a much smaller number of peasant families were sent than originally planned, and they were supplied with insufficient provisions and no support secured for their arrival. Those who survived the journey were ill-received, and had to work hard even to survive in the hostile colonies. Las Casas was devastated by the tragic result of his peasant migration scheme, which he felt had been thwarted by his enemies. He decided instead to undertake a personal venture which would not rely on the support of others, and fought to win a land grant on the American mainland which was in its earliest stage of colonization.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Wagner|Parish|1967|pp=38–45}}</ref>