Bartolomé de las Casas
Spanish Dominican friar, historian, and social reformer (1474-1566) · Spain · Writers · Lived 1484 to 1566 · aged 81
Bartolomé de las Casas is read about 1,160 times a day, in 56 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026
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Something wrong?A conquistador-turned-friar who spent half a century documenting and fighting the Spanish destruction of Indigenous peoples in the Americas - his firsthand accounts of colonial atrocities became some of the most damning records of European conquest ever written.
A life in dates
Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
In their own words 10
, More than thirty other islands in the vicinity of San Juan are for the most part and for the same reason depopulated, and the land laid waste.
After the wars and the killings had ended, when usually there survived only some boys, some women, and children, these survivors were distributed among the Christians to be slaves.
These people are the most devoid of rancors, hatreds, or desire for vengeance of any people in the world.
About this person
Born in 1484, Bartolomé de las Casas arrived in Hispaniola as one of the first Spanish settlers and initially profited from the encomienda system that enslaved Indigenous labor. In 1515 he renounced his own laborers and began a lifelong campaign against colonial abuse, entering the Dominican Order in 1522 after a failed attempt at peaceful colonization in Venezuela. He spent decades shuttling between the Americas and the Spanish court, lobbying Charles V and writing extensive chronicles - including A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies - that catalogued the brutality of the conquistadores. Appointed Bishop of Chiapas and the first "Protector of the Indians," he helped pass the New Laws of 1542, though resistance from settlers forced his return to Spain. At the 1550 Valladolid debate, he argued against those who claimed Indigenous peoples were less than human and required Spanish masters. He died in 1566, venerated enough that the Church opened his cause for beatification.
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