Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566)
Born 1484 CE, died 1566 CE.
Bartolomé de las Casas, OP (US: lahss KAH-səss; Spanish pronunciation: [baɾtoloˈme ðe las ˈkasas]); 11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a Spanish lawyer, clergyman, writer, and activist best known for his work as a historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman, then became a Dominican friar. He was appointed as the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians". His extensive writings, the most famous being A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Historia de Las Indias, chronicle the first decades of colonization of the Caribbean islands. He described and railed against the atrocities committed by the conquistadores against the Indigenous peoples. Arriving as one of the first Spanish settlers in the Americas, Las Casas initially participated in the colonial economy built on forced Indigenous labor, but eventually felt compelled to oppose the abuses committed by European colonists against the Indigenous population. In 1515 he gave up his Indigenous Caribbean laborers and encomienda. He then advocated, before Charles V, on behalf of rights for the Natives.
Text from the Wikipedia article Bartolomé_de_las_Casas, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.