Bartolome de Las Casas

American Literature Massacre in the Indies

Thesis

The brutal awakening portrayed by de Las Casas in his account allows us to see what really happened in the Indies and prove why Columbus and other explorers aren’t the heroes their cut out to be. Intro: The discovery of the “New World” is portrayed as a wonderful time by almost all Americans on Columbus Day each and every year. If people knew the true story about what really happened as accounted by Bartolome de Las Casas then there would be less celebrating and realization that we, as people, are idolizing a false hero.

The brutal awakening portrayed by de Las Casas in his account allows us to see what really happened in the Indies and prove why Columbus and other explorers aren’t the heroes their cut out to be.

Body

1. When the “Christians” arrived to the Indies the Indians viewed them as people from Heaven and soon found out that they were anything but that.

A. The amount of food the Christians consumed was unbelievable. For each Christian ate as much food in one day as thirty Indians in one month.

B. After the Christians made there way through the villages to the nobles they acted in a way to be considered horrific. They made the rulers watch as they raped their wives with no thoughts of regret in the Christian officer’s minds.

2. It was not long when the Indians decided something needed to be done. They revolted against the Christians but there was no way they could match up to them because while they were using bow and arrows and tomahawks the Christians were using horses, swords and pikes.

Brutal raids were implemented on all Indian villages and the Christians used cruel and unusual punishments against them.

A. Everyone from pregnant women to children was targeted by these so called Christians.

B. Bets were placed by the Christians to see who could cut an Indian’s head off with one swing of the pike as if it were a game.

C. Children were taken from their mothers and thrown by their arms and legs into rivers and off the sides of mountains.

D. Indians were burned alive in groups of thirteen in remembrance of “Our Redeemer and His twelve Apostles.

E. The hands of some Indians were cut off and tied around their necks as the Christians told them to “Go now, carry the message,” into the mountains to other Indians who have fled.

F. Nobles and Chiefs were treated differently by the Christians, for they were lashed onto a grid of rods and placed on forked sticks then slowly burned in a smoldering fire. One account recalled by de Casas showed four or five nobles latched onto these grids slowly being burned.

Their screams were so loud that they were disturbing the captain’s sleep so he ordered them to be strangled but the constable decided to disobey his orders and instead put a stick over their tongues so that they could not scream.

3. While many Indians lives were ended with appalling deaths others were captured and turned into slaves by the Spaniards. More than two million Indians were taken captive and were brought to the island of Puerto Rico to do hard labor.