Liberation theology didn't begin with in the 1960s. As far back as the l5th and l6th centuries, a remarkable man devoted the greater part of his 92 years on earth to improving the lot of non-White people who lived in the vast Spanish empire. Often referred to as "protector of Indians," Bartolomé de Las Casase also became an advocate of black Africans who had been brought over by the Spaniards as slaves.Today is the day (July 18) the Christian church remembers de las Casas as one of her saints.
Bartolomé de las Casas was a 16th-century Spanish Dominican priest, writer, and the first resident Bishop of Chiapas (1484–1566A.D.). As a settler in the New World he witnessed, and was driven to oppose, the exploitation and poor treatment of the Native Americans by the Spanish colonists and advocated before King Charles V on behalf of rights for the natives. Originally he proposed to replace the slave labor of the natives with slaves importated from Africa, but eventually he recanted this stance as well and became an advocate for the Africans in the colonies.
Bartolomé was born in the city of Seville in the year 1484. In 1493, he witnessed the return to Seville of Christopher Columbus after his first voyage, bringing along with him seven native Taínos from the newly discovered "Indies". Later the same year, his father and several of his uncles embarked for the New World as members of Columbus' second voyage. Returning in 1498, his father gave him a native Taíno youth as a servant.
In 1502, father and son emigrated to the island of Hispaniola on the expedition of Nicolás de Ovando, during which he witnessed the brutalities committed against the Taínos. He was critical of Columbus for capturing and sending natives back to Spain as slaves in order to repay the funding for his expeditions. He was deeply moved by the mistreatment of the natives, which included brutal torture, enslavement, and massacres. In 1513, while serving as a chaplain during the conquest of Cuba, he witnessed the wholesale slaughter of the native people by Spanish soldiers. Without provocation thousands of Taínos were slaughtered by soldiers including men, women and children. Natives were taken by force to mine for gold. As compensation for his services, Las Casas was awarded property and slaves and divided his time between being a colonist himself, and his duties as an ordained priest.
In December 1511, a Dominican friar preached a fiery sermon that implicated the colonists in the genocide of the native peoples. The preaching of that friar as well as his own scripture studies convinced Las Casas that all the actions of the Spanish in the New World had been illegal and a great injustice. He gave up his slaves and estate and preached that other colonists should do the same. When his preaching met with resistance, he went to Spain to fight against the enslavement and abuse of the native peoples.
From 1516-1522 Las Casas would embark on a period of reform. He envisioned a utopian society where natives could peacefully co-exist with Spanish colonists. He petitioned to be allowed to establish a settlement in northern Venezuela. He proposed reforms such as the natives would be paid fair wages, Indian pueblos would have hospitals and churches, and he would recruit Spanish farmers to teach them agricultural techniques. The entire episode, though, ended in bitter failure, with Spanish settlers going on slave raids in Las Casas’ absence, the native Caribs attacking the settlement, burning it to the ground and killing four of Las Casas’ men.
After this incident, Las Casas joined the Dominican monastery in Santo Domingo in 1523. There he continued his theological studies and began working on his History of the Indies in order to report many of the first hand experiences that he had witnessed in the conquest and colonization of New Spain.
In 1537 he arranged to convert a group of natives in Guatemala. Using songs and merchant Indian Christians, he was successful in converting several native chiefs and building several churches in the territory named Verapaz, or True Peace. He returned to Spain to push for rights of the natives and end of slavery. He was successful in the passage of the New Laws (1542) curtailing the worst of the excesses of the colonial system. In response, riots broke out, threats were made against Las Casas’ life, and he returned to Spain .
The writings of Las Casas and the new legislation he helped implement were the beginning of international law and are very similar to the United Nations declaration of Human Rights. In 1552, Las Casas was finally able to bring international attention to his cause when he published A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. This book, was one of the accounts by a colonial Spaniard to depict the genocide committed against Native Americans.
Bartolomé de Las Casas died on July 18, 1566 in Madrid.
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