A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Opening)

Descubriéronse las Indias en el año de mil y quatrocientos y noventa y dos. Fuéronse á poblar el año siguiente de Cristianos Españoles, por manera que ha 49 años que fueron á ellas cantidad de Españoles, y la primera tierra donde entraron para hecho de poblar, fue la grande y felicísima isla Española que tiene seiscientas leguas en torno.

The Indies were discovered in the year one thousand four hundred and ninety-two. They were gone [over] to be settled the following year by Spanish Christians, so that it is 49 years since a quantity of Spaniards went to them; and the first land where they entered for the purpose of settling was the large and most happy island Española, which has six hundred leagues around.

The Indies were discovered in the year 1492. Spanish Christians went to settle them the next year, so it is now forty-nine years since a number of Spaniards went there.1 The first land they entered to settle was the large and most fortunate island of Española, which is six hundred leagues around.2

1. Las Casas finished the first version in 1542, forty-nine years after the second voyage of Columbus brought settlers in 1493. The printed text of 1552 keeps the count unchanged.
2. Española is Hispaniola, today Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A Spanish league was roughly 3 to 4 miles (5 to 6 km).

Hay otras muy grandes, é infinitas islas al rededor por todas las partes della, que todas estaban, y las vimos, las mas pobladas y llenas de naturales gentes Indios dellas, que puede ser tierra poblada en el mundo.

There are other very large and countless islands round about on all sides of it, which all were, and we saw them, the most peopled and full of native peoples, Indians of them, that any peopled land in the world can be.

All around it on every side are other islands, very large and too many to count. All of them were, as we saw, as full of people, native peoples, Indians, as any land in the world could be.

Todas estas universas é infinitas gentes, á todo género crió Dios los mas simples, sin maldades ni dobleces, obedientisimas, fidelísimas á sus Señores naturales y á los Cristianos á quien sirven, mas humildes, mas pacientes, mas pacíficas y quietas, sin rencillas ni bollicios, no rixosos, no querulosos, sin rancores, sin odios, sin desear venganzas que hay en el mundo.

All these whole and countless peoples, of every kind, God created the most simple, without malice or doubleness, most obedient, most faithful to their natural lords and to the Christians whom they serve; the most humble, most patient, most peaceful and quiet, without quarrels or tumults, not brawling, not complaining, without rancors, without hatreds, without desiring revenges, that there are in the world.

God created all these countless peoples, of every kind, the most simple in the world. They are without malice or deceit, most obedient and most faithful to their own lords and to the Christians they serve. They are the most humble, most patient, most peaceful and quiet people in the world. They have no quarrels or brawls, no fighting, no complaining, no grudges, no hatreds, and no wish for revenge.

Son asimismo las gentes mas delicadas, flacas y tiernas en complexión, y que menos pueden sufrir trabajos, y que mas fácilmente mueren de qualquiera enfermedad; que ni hijos de Príncipes, y Señores entre nosotros, criados en regalos y delicada vida, no son mas delicados que ellos, aunque sean de los que entre ellos son de linage de labradores. Son también gentes paupérrimas y que menos poseen, ni quieren poseer de bienes temporales; y por esto no sobervias, no ambiciosas, no codiciosas.

They are likewise the most delicate peoples, thin and tender in constitution, and who can least endure labors, and who most easily die of any sickness whatever; so that not [even] sons of princes and lords among us, raised in comforts and delicate life, are more delicate than they, even those among them who are of the lineage of laborers. They are also most poor peoples, and who least possess, nor want to possess, temporal goods; and for this [they are] not proud, not ambitious, not greedy.

They are also the most delicate peoples, slender and tender in body. They can least endure hard work, and they die most easily of any sickness. Even the sons of princes and lords among us, raised in comfort and soft living, are no more delicate than they are, even those of them who come from families of laborers. They are also very poor peoples, who own little and do not want to own worldly goods. For that reason they are not proud, not ambitious, and not greedy.

Su comida es tal, que la de los Santos Padres en el desierto no parece haber sido mas estrecha, ni menos deleytosa, ni pobre. Sus vestidos comunmente son en cueros, cubiertas sus vergüenzas, y quando mucho cúbrense con una manta de algodón que será como vara y media ó dos varas de lienzo en quadro. Sus camas son encima de una estera, y quando mucho, duermen en unas como redes colgadas, que en lengua de la isla Española llamaban hamacas.

Their food is such that that of the Holy Fathers in the desert does not seem to have been more meager, nor less pleasant, nor poorer. Their clothes commonly are in skins [= naked?], their shameful parts covered, and at most they cover themselves with a cotton blanket, which will be about a vara and a half or two varas of cloth square. Their beds are on top of a mat, and at most they sleep in some [things] like hanging nets, which in the language of the island Española they called hamacas.

Their food is such that the food of the holy fathers in the desert3 does not seem to have been more meager, less pleasing, or poorer. As for clothes, they usually go naked, with only their private parts covered. At most they cover themselves with a cotton blanket about a yard and a half or two yards square. Their beds are a mat, or at most they sleep in a kind of hanging net, which in the language of the island of Española they called hamacas.4

3. The early Christian hermits of the Egyptian and Syrian deserts, famous for living on almost nothing.
4. Hamaca is a Taíno word. English “hammock” comes from it, through Spanish.

En estas ovejas mansas y de las calidades susodichas por su hacedor y criador así dotadas, entraron los Españoles desde luego que las conocieron, como lobos, y tigres y leones crudelísimos, de muchos dias hambrientos. Y otra cosa no han hecho de 40 años á esta parte hasta hoy, y hoy en este dia lo hacen, sino despedazallas, matallas, angustiallas, afligillas, atormentallas y destruillas, por las estrañas, y nuevas, y varias, y nunca otras tales vistas, ni leídas, ni oídas maneras de crueldad; de las quales algunas pocas abajo se dirán: en tanto grado, que habiendo en la isla Española sobre tres cuentos de ánimas que vimos, no hay hoy de los naturales della dos cientas personas.

Into these meek sheep, and so endowed by their maker and creator with the said qualities, the Spaniards entered, from the moment they knew them, like wolves and tigers and most cruel lions, hungry for many days. And they have done nothing else from 40 years to this part until today, and today on this day they do it, but tear them to pieces, kill them, distress them, afflict them, torment them, and destroy them, by strange and new and various and never-else-such seen, nor read, nor heard ways of cruelty, of which a few will be told below; to such a degree that, there being on the island Española over three millions of souls that we saw, there are not today of its natives two hundred persons.

Their Maker and Creator gave these gentle sheep all these qualities. Among them the Spaniards entered, from the moment they knew them, like wolves and tigers and the cruelest lions starved for many days. For forty years until today, and still today, they have done nothing else but tear them to pieces, kill them, torment them, afflict them, torture them, and destroy them. They have used strange, new, and many kinds of cruelty, never seen, read, or heard of before, and a few of them will be told below. It has gone so far that on the island of Española, where we saw more than three million souls, not two hundred of its native people are left today.5

5. Las Casas’s figures are not counts. Modern estimates of the Taíno population across the islands at contact run from about one million to more than three million; by 1520 only a few thousand were left.

Daremos por cuenta muy cierta y verdadera, que son muertas en los dichos quarenta años, por las dichas tiranías é infernales obras de los Cristianos, injusta, y tiránicamente, mas de doce cuentos de ánimas, hombres y mugeres y niños: y en verdad que creo, sin pensar engañarme, que son mas de quince cuentos.

We will give as a very certain and true account that there are dead in the said forty years, by the said tyrannies and infernal works of the Christians, unjustly and tyrannically, more than twelve millions of souls, men and women and children; and in truth I believe, without thinking I deceive myself, that they are more than fifteen millions.

We will give a very sure and true account. In those forty years, more than twelve million souls, men, women, and children, have died unjustly. They died by the tyranny and the hellish deeds of the Christians. And truly I believe, without fear of being wrong, that it is more than fifteen million.6

6. Las Casas’s own estimate for all the Indies. No one counted these deaths, and the figure cannot be checked.

Dos maneras generales y principales han tenido los que allá han pasado, que se llaman Cristianos, en estirpar y raer de la haz de la tierra aquellas miserandas naciones. La una por injustas, crueles, sangrientas y tiránicas guerras. La otra después que han muerto todos los que podrian anhelar ó sospirar, ó pensar en libertad ó en salir de los tormentos que padecen, como son todos los Señores naturales y los hombres varones; porque comunmente no dejan en las guerras á vida sino los mozos y mugeres; oprimiéndolos con la mas dura, horrible y áspera servidumbre, en que jamas hombres ni bestias pudieron ser puestas. A estas dos maneras de tiranía infernal se reducen y se resuelven, ó subalternan como á géneros todas las otras diversas y varias de asolar aquellas gentes, que son infinitas.

Two general and principal ways have those who have gone over there, who call themselves Christians, had in extirpating and wiping from the face of the earth those wretched nations. The one by unjust, cruel, bloody and tyrannical wars. The other, after they have killed all those who might long for or sigh for or think of liberty, or of getting out of the torments they suffer, as are all the natural lords and the grown men (because commonly they leave alive in the wars only the young and the women), by oppressing them with the hardest, most horrible and harshest servitude in which men or beasts could ever be put. To these two ways of infernal tyranny are reduced and resolved, or subordinated as to [their] kinds, all the other diverse and various [ways] of laying waste those peoples, which are infinite.

Those who have gone over there and call themselves Christians have had two main ways of rooting out these unhappy nations and wiping them from the face of the earth. One is unjust, cruel, bloody, and tyrannical war. The other comes after they have killed everyone who might long for freedom, or sigh for it, or even think of escaping the torments they suffer. These are all the native lords and the grown men, since in their wars they usually spare only the young people and the women. Then they crush the survivors under the hardest, most horrible, and harshest slavery that men or beasts were ever put to.7 All the other countless ways of destroying those peoples come down to these two kinds of hellish tyranny.

7. Las Casas means above all the encomienda, under which Spaniards were granted Indigenous people as forced laborers and tribute payers.

La causa porque han muerto y destruido tantas y tales y tan infinito número de ánimas los Cristianos, ha sido solamente por tener por su fin último el oro, y henchirse de riquezas en muy breves dias, y subir á estados muy altos y sin proporción de sus personas, conviene á saber, por la insaciable codicia y ambición que han tenido, que ha sido mayor que en el mundo ser pudo, por ser aquellas tierras tan felices y tan ricas, y las gentes tan humildes, tan pacientes y tan fáciles á sujetarlas; á las quales no han tenido mas respeto, ni dellas han hecho mas cuenta ni estima (hablo con verdad por lo que sé y he visto todo el dicho tiempo) no digo que de bestias, porque pluguiera á Dios que como á bestias las hubieran tratado y estimado; pero cómo y menos que estiércol de las plazas.

The cause why the Christians have killed and destroyed so many and such and so infinite a number of souls has been solely to have gold as their final end, and to fill themselves with riches in very few days, and to rise to very high stations out of proportion to their persons; that is to say, through the insatiable greed and ambition they have had, which has been the greatest that could be in the world, because those lands are so happy and so rich, and the peoples so humble, so patient and so easy to subject; for whom they have had no more respect, nor made more account or esteem of them (I speak in truth, from what I know and have seen all the said time), I do not say than of beasts (for would to God they had treated and esteemed them as beasts), but as, and less than, the dung of the squares.

The Christians have killed and destroyed so many souls, so infinite a number, for one reason alone. Their final goal has been gold. They wanted to fill themselves with riches in a very few days and to rise to very high positions far beyond their station. This came from their endless greed and ambition, greater than any the world has seen. Those lands are so fortunate and so rich, and the people so humble, so patient, and so easy to conquer. The Spaniards have had no more respect for them, and valued them no more, than the dung in the streets. I do not say than beasts, for I wish to God they had treated them as well as beasts. I speak the truth, from what I know and have seen all this time.

Así han curado de sus vidas y de sus ánimas; y por esto todos los números y cuentos dichos han muerto sin fé y sin sacramentos. Y esta es una muy notoria y averiguada verdad, que todos aunque sean los tiranos y matadores la saben y la confiesan, que nunca los Indios de todas las Indias hicieron mal alguno á Cristianos; antes los tuvieron por venidos del cielo, hasta que primero muchas veces hubieron recebido ellos ó sus vecinos muchos males, robos, muertes, violencias y vexaciones de ellos mesmos.

Thus have they cared for their lives and their souls; and for this all the said numbers and millions have died without faith and without sacraments. And this is a very well-known and proven truth, which all, even the tyrants and killers, know and confess: that the Indians of all the Indies never did any harm to Christians; rather, they held them as come from heaven, until first, many times, they or their neighbors had received many evils, robberies, deaths, violences and vexations from those same [Christians].

That is how much they have cared for their lives and their souls. And so all these millions have died without the faith and without the sacraments.8 It is a well-known and proven truth, which everyone, even the tyrants and killers themselves, knows and admits, that the Indians in all the Indies never did any harm to Christians. Instead they thought the Christians had come from heaven, until first they or their neighbors had suffered many wrongs from them, many times: robbery, killing, violence, and abuse.

8. As a priest, Las Casas believed that those who died unbaptized were lost to salvation, so he counts their souls as lost as well as their lives.