Destruction of the Indies

    Despite the revolting nature of Las Casas’ Destruction of the Indies, I found it very easy to read. It was well organized, and not too lengthy. It is an extreme turnoff when an author goes on about one subject for so long that it becomes overkill and I lose interest. The book was broken up into sections, mostly divided by on which island, or which part of the island, was being discussed. The use of language and rhetoric had a huge impact on the interpretation of the events. Las Casas is not a completely reliable narrator because he often exaggerates numbers or simply creates numbers when he had no real way of knowing. He uses specific adjectives to describe the Indians, such as “delicate” and “obedient,” to make the Spaniards look that much more devious for victimizing such gentle creatures. In reality, the Indians were of a violent nature, often warring between tribes, well before the Spaniards knew what an Indian was. Although, the Indians’ bloody background is in no way an excuse for what the Spaniards did. Las Casas and I can agree on that.

    Sepulveda, however, does not agree with us. In his writing A Treatise for Just Causes for War against the Indians, Sepulveda calls the Indians “sinners,” “subhuman,” and “barbarian.” He also believes that by the Spaniards wiping of the Indians, they are righting the wrong of their entire existence; ‘the wrong’ being that the Indians were not Christians. Las Casas prefers to describe the Spaniards as “tyrannical” and “cruel,” because this supports his claim that the Indians were victimized. Sepulveda and Las Casas use language to convince the reader to also favor the same group as themselves. Sepulveda’s use of the word ‘barbarian’ especially stood out to me because of its connection to Waiting for the Barbarians by John Maxwell Coetzee. In this novel, a large empire ruled an outpost, which was set far away from the capital city. All around the outpost was land that was not owned by anyone; instead it was inhabited by the nomadic barbarians. The Magistrate was the ruler of this outpost, and had no problem with the barbarians because they had always minded their own business; the opposite of the opinion of officials from the capital, who feared the barbarians and deemed them as evil. Waiting for the Barbarians and the Destruction of the Indies reflect each other in many ways. The Barbarians symbolize the Indians, and the Magistrate symbolizes Las Casas. Las Casas did not want to harm the Indians, and the Magistrate did not want to harm the Barbarians. Sepulveda can be related to the officials from the capital city, only seeing the evil in the unknown. The Indians/Barbarians are the unknown to Sepulveda/Capital because there was no witnessing or involvement between the two parties. Las Casas gains credibility by being in the Indies during the destruction, whereas Sepulveda was only a writer who based his works off the accounts of other people.