Summary Of Spanish Conquest

A man named Bartolomé de Las Casas wrote about what he witnessed during the destruction of the Indies around 1474-1566. This man talks about all of the cruel and horrible things that he witnessed while the Spanish were taking over the native’s land of Hispaniola and talking all of their good and gold. He says that he witnessed first hand all of these terrible acts. These acts considered of not only killing the men but killing both women and children who were completely defenseless. They also made these wooden gallows that they would tie the natives to and then set them on fire until they were all dead. Bartolomé de Las Casas also said that all of these acts were viewed as ok because the Spanish thought it was all in the name of god. While all of this was going on a friar named Anton Montecino was trying to let people know that all of these evil acts were not in the name of god. He said that it is gods command to love them as you love yourselves and that by destroying these innocent people the soldiers and nobles in charge would all go to hell. Soon after Montecino told people this he then went to go tell the king. The king however decided that the conquest was justified and then wrote the Requerimiento to read to all of the natives before they entered combat with them. This Requerimiento basically said that all of these acts were approved of by the Pope and therefore god also would approve of it. Then it goes on to say that if the natives did decided to become Christians then they would be able to remain on their land but if they did not then the Spanish could do whatever they wanted to them.

In my opinion I believe that everything that went on in the new world was wrong. Whether it is against gods will or simply against every moral standard there is there is no excuse for the Spaniard’s actions. I believe that the only real reason the Spanish were there was for money and land. They may have wanted to turn people into Christians also but they would only care about that after they received the land and gold. Even when Montecino told the king this he refused to stop the meaningless murders. This just shows that even the highest Spanish ruler was corrupted and evil. Even when he wrote the Requerimiento it showed this. First by not translating it into the natives language there was no chance for the natives to ever even consider it. Also even if it was translated I don't believe the natives would ever be willing to change there ways so fast by being used to there own beliefs.