author
Bartolomé de las Casas
1484–1566
A fierce witness to the violence of Spain’s conquest of the Americas, this Dominican friar used his pen and his position to argue for the humanity and rights of Indigenous peoples. His writings remain some of the most powerful firsthand moral challenges to colonial abuse.
7 Audiobooks
The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci, and Other Documents Illustrative of His Career
by Amerigo Vespucci, Bartolomé de las Casas, Christopher Columbus
Historia de las Indias (vol. 4 de 5)
by Bartolomé de las Casas
Historia de las Indias (vol. 2 de 5)
by Bartolomé de las Casas
Historia de las Indias (vol. 1 de 5)
by Bartolomé de las Casas
Historia de las Indias (vol. 3 de 5)
by Bartolomé de las Casas
Historia de las Indias (vol. 5 de 5)
by Bartolomé de las Casas
About the author
Born in Seville in 1484, Bartolomé de las Casas went to the Spanish Caribbean as a young man and at first took part in the colonial world he would later condemn. Over time, after witnessing the treatment of Indigenous communities, he underwent a profound change and entered the Dominican order.
He became known as a priest, historian, and reformer who spent decades arguing against the brutal exploitation of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. He served as bishop of Chiapas and wrote influential works including A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and History of the Indies, which helped shape how later generations understood the Spanish conquest.
De las Casas died in 1566, but his legacy is still debated and deeply important. He is widely remembered as one of the earliest and most outspoken European defenders of Indigenous rights, and as a writer whose moral outrage still feels immediate centuries later.