Defense Of The Indians Summary

In Defense of the Indians was written by Bartolomé de las Casaś. Around the time he wrote this excerpt, Spaniards like King Charles of Spain wanted to increase their wealth by going to the New World which was said to have abundances of good and unknown resources. Now those of Catholic faith saw fault in these prospects which would include the disturbance and corruption of the ideals natives held. People of Spain saw the Indians a savage, barbaric, incapable to learn and evolve among the knowledge and governed laws. However in the excerpt by las Casaś, he argues that Indians really were civilized but not by the terms of which the Spaniards knew. His purpose for addressing this topic was to explain his reasoning is for his beliefs that so many near his stature disagreed with.

Las Casaś wrote this excerpt about how the Spaniards saw the Indians versus his view on the matter. He emphasized that the only thing uncivilized about the matter was that the Spanish people were so oblivious to the civilize culture that they had stumbled upon. Las Casaś stated "...they widely administered the affairs of both peace and war justly and equitably, truly governed by laws that at very many points surpass ours..." (1). He stated that even though the Indians may be daft in the ways of the English language, they knew their place in their …show more content…
These humans, once thought to be daft and empty of logic, brought people sugar, spices and trade, all of which were highly desired by the Spaniards. In the lecture, the topic of disease traveling from unexposed hosts, just like how most of the Indians’ died due to the Spaniards bringing foreign disease to the New World. Without even noticing it, the Spanish became the barbarians by spreading a disease to the harmless Natives of the world they stumbled