Study Questions for Bartolome de las Casas

Note: I only expect one essay per week. To write this essay, you can use the study questions as an inspiration, or you can choose a theme from the assigned reading that inspired you in any particular way. The goal is to experiment and explore. Please do not only retell what you read, instead, write a reflective and analytical essay. Use the content questions in the study guide as a potential kick-off to get at larger issues.

 

pp. 3-41, for 1/13/02

  • What is a "savage"?
  • Who is Bartolome de las Casas?
  • To whom does de las Casas write, and why?
  • What kind of picture does he draw about the Indians? How does he describe the Spaniards?
  • Do you think Bartolome de las Casas' account is true or is it exaggerated? What evidence do you have for your opinion?
  • How do you explain the acts of violence the Spaniards committed?
  • What is Hispaniola today?
  • How did the conquistadores justify their slaughter of native peoples?

pp. 42-70, for 1/15/02

      • What was the image that Native Americans had of the Spaniards and of their God?
      • How did some of the Native Americans try to outsmart the Spaniards? (see also on pages 3-41)
      • What is the significance of the Spaniards' reference to the Moors during their attacks? See for example p. 50, note 67.
      • The footnotes indicate where Bartolome de las Casas' account contradicts other accounts or seems to be internally inconsistent. Discuss to what extent that diminishes the moral impact of his account.
      • What argument does Bartolome de las Casas make about the "illegality" of the Spanish practice of calling the Natives "outlaws" if they do not subject themselves to the Spaniards voluntarily? (See p. 53)
      • How does de las Casas' notion of "empty land", "scorched earth" and "barren land" after the Spaniards' slaughter square with the notions of the British (such as John Locke) in seeing North America as a vast open land?
      • To what extent was the terror the Spaniards inflicted on the people a strategy that worked in the Spaniards' best interest?
      • How does de las Casas use the biblical metaphor of the "sheep" in his account?

 

Background Information

 

ˇ         For another Spaniard's account of the New World see Cabeza de Baca