Las Casas, Bartolomé de:

$20,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

ESTE ES UN TRATADO QUE...BARTHOLOME DE LAS CASAS...COMPUSO POR COMISSION DEL CONSEJO REAL DELAS INDIAS...SOBRE LA MATERIA DE LOS YNDIOS QUE SE HAN HECO EN ELLAS ... From the collection of R. David Parsons. The first edition of Bartolomé de las Casas' sixth tract advocating the better treatment of indigenous Americans by the Spanish. The present work "contains judicial authorities and reasons why the natives should be restored to freedom" (Church).Las Casas arrived in Cuba in 1502 and spent most of the ensuing years in the Caribbean and Mexico until his return to Spain in 1547. An early critic of Spanish colonial policy, he nonetheless rose to be Bishop of Chiapas. He witnessed firsthand the appalling destruction of the Native American population at the hands of the Spanish, and dedicated his life to ending the encomienda system (which enslaved indigenous Americans to their conquerors) and its concomitant abuses. After his return to Spain and throughout his old age, he launched a series of attacks on Spanish policy towards the native populations in the New World, published in the form of nine tracts printed in Seville in 1552 and 1553. Supplementing his previous tracts which provided religious, moral, and political arguments against slavery in the Spanish colonies, this sixth tract focuses on "auctoridades juridicas" in favor of abolition. In particular, he argues that even under a system where slaves are considered a legal prize for victory in a just war, the argument is flaw

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