Bartolomé de las Casas's Appeal to the King of Spain: End the Encomienda

Bartolomé de las Casas (1484-1566), the "Protector of the Indians," made a direct, persistent appeal to the Spanish Crown that reshaped colonial policy and moral discourse.

The Core Demand

Abolish the encomienda system — the grant of Indigenous labor to Spanish colonists in exchange for "protection" and Christianization. In practice: forced labor, displacement, demographic collapse.

Grant freedom to enslaved Indigenous peoples. Recognize their full humanity, rationality, and souls — against arguments (e.g., Sepúlveda) that they were "natural slaves."

Key Interventions

• 1515-16: First return to Spain. Presented to Ferdinand II (died 1516), then Charles V. Argued encomienda violated divine/natural law.
• 1520: Experimental "free Indian" colony at Cumaná (Venezuela) — failed due to slaver raids.
• 1542: New Laws (Leyes Nuevas) — Charles V, influenced by Las Casas, issued: encomienda non-hereditary, Indians not enslaveable, gradual phase-out. Colonial uproar (Peru civil war).
• 1550-51: Valladolid Debate vs. Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda. Las Casas: "All the world is human." Sepúlveda: Aristotelian natural hierarchy. No formal verdict; Las Casas's view prevailed in law.
• 1552: Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies) — published, translated across Europe, fueling "Black Legend."

Outcome and Limits

Legal victory: Encomienda legally dismantled (replaced by repartimiento — still forced labor).
Practical failure: Enforcement collapsed under colonial resistance. African slavery expanded to replace Indigenous labor.
Moral legacy: First systematic human rights advocacy in colonial context. Foundation for Indigenous rights theology and international law.

Las Casas asked the King for justice. He got laws. The empire got loopholes. The Indigenous got survival — barely.