Casas on Columbus


Book Description

Bartolome de Las Casas is certainly the most controversial figure in the long and troubled history of Spain's overseas empire. The fierce 'defender and apostle to the Indians', as he become known, Las Casas dedicated most of his adult life to describing the atrocities which the Spaniards had perpetrated against the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas. He was also, however, the man who perhaps did most to chronicle the life of the 'discoverer' of America, Christopher Columbus. For Las Casas, Columbus was the key figure in Las Casas's own prolonged conception of the Spanish presence in America and his interpretation of what had taken place there since 1492. This volume of the Repertorium Columbianum presents Las Casas's accounts, drawn mainly from the Historia de las Indias, of the events which preceded Columbus's first voyage and which occurred during his second and fourth voyages. Thus, it complements volume 6, A Synoptic Edition of the Log of Columbus's First Voyage, which contains Las Casas's description of the first voyage. Nigel Griffin's entirely new transcription of the original material is accompanied by this graceful and accurate English translation of the text, which for the most part has not been previously translated. The well-known Lascasian scholar Anthony Pagden introduces the volume, carefully placing Las Casas's account of the deeds of Christopher Columbus within the context of his entire life's work.




Las Casas on Columbus


Book Description

This edition and translation of Las Casas's narrative, transmitted in his Historia de las Indias, of Columbus's third voyage in 1498-1500 to Trinidad and the Gulf of Paria, then on to Hispaniola, completes the coverage of the Columbian voyages contained in volumes 6 and 7 of the Repertorium Columbianum. The narrative opens on a high note with the first European sighting of the mainland of South America, Columbus's lyrical response to the beauty of its abundant flora and fauna, friendly encounters with the Indians of Paria, and intimations that the expedition might have stumbled onto the threshold of the earthly paradise. It closes, however, in a somber vein with what Las Casas aptly termed the fall of the admiral, who had been ousted from his governorship for mismanagement of the young colony and shipped home ignominiously to face an uncertain reception at the court of Fernando and Isabel. Las Casas's commentary is largely centered on moral and political issues, particularly on the contradictory implications of Columbus's actions: on the one hand as the explorer who opened up a new world for Christian evangelization, and on the other as the viceroy whose brutal and ineffective administration of this new world proved so disastrous for its indigenous inhabitants. The former he judges positively and the latter negatively, never mincing his words. Indeed, this fascinating text can be read as a dialogue between Las Casas and Columbus in which Las Casas constantly quotes the admiral's letters and then glosses them with his own observations, guided by moral and eschatological themes.




History of the Indies


Book Description




A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies


Book Description

A Spanish friar documents the brutal treatment of Caribbean natives at the hands of colonial authorities in the sixteenth century. After traveling to the New World, Dominican friar Bartolomé de Las Casas witnessed conquistadors wreak unimaginable horrors upon the Indigenous people of the Caribbean. He later dedicated his life to fighting for their protection. Following numerous failed attempts to reason with authorities in Spain, he chose to document everything he had seen over a span of fifty years and to give it to Spain’s Prince Philip II. In A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Las Casas catalogues the atrocities he observed the Spanish colonial authorities inflict upon the native people. He discusses the brutal torture, mass genocide, and enslavement. He passionately pleas for an end to this treatment and for the native peoples to be given basic human rights.







Rethinking Columbus


Book Description

Provides resources for teaching elementary and secondary school students about Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America.




The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492-1493


Book Description

This definitive edition of Columbus's account of the voyage presents the most accurate printed version of his journal available to date. Unfortunately both Columbus's original manuscript, presented to Ferdinand and Isabella along with other evidence of his discoveries, and a single complete copy have been lost for centuries. The primary surviving record of the voyage-part quotation, part summary of the complete copy-is a transcription made by Bartolome de las Casas in the 1530s. This new edition of the Las Casas manuscript presents its entire contents-including notes, insertions, and canceled text-more accurately, completely, and graphically than any other Spanish text published so far. In addition, the new translation, which strives for readability and accuracy, appears on pages facing the Spanish, encouraging on-the- spot comparisons of the translation with the original. Study of the work is further facilitated by extensive notes, documenting differences between the editors' transcription and translation and those of other transcribers and translators and summarizing current research and debates on unanswered current research and debates on unanswered questions concerning the voyage. In addition to being the only edition in which Spanish and English are presented side by side, this edition includes the only concordance ever prepared for the Diario. Awaited by scholars, this new edition will help reduce the guesswork that has long plagued the study of Columbus's voyage. It may shed light on a number of issues related to Columbus's navigational methods and the identity of his landing places, issues whose resolution depend, at least in part, on an accurate transcription of the Diario. Containing day-by-day accounts of the voyage and the first sighting of land, of the first encounters with the native populations and the first appraisals of his islands explored, and of a suspenseful return voyage to Spain, the Diario provides a fascinating and useful account to historians, geographers, anthropologists, sailors, students, and anyone else interested in the discovery-or in a very good sea story. Oliver Dunn received the PH.D. degree from Cornell University. He is Professor Emeritus in Purdue University and a longtime student of Spanish and early history of Spanish America. James E. Kelley, Jr., received the M.A. degree from American University. A mathematician and computer and management consultant by vocation, for the past twenty years he has studied the history of European cartography and navigation in late-medieval times. Both are members of the Society for the History of Discoveries and have written extensively on the history of navigation and on Columbus's first voyage, Although they remain unconvinced of its conclusions, both were consultants to the National geographic Society's 1986 effort to establish Samana Cay as the site of Columbus's first landing.




A People's History of the United States


Book Description

Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.




A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies


Book Description

Witness the chilling chronicle of colonial atrocities and the mistreatment of indigenous peoples in 'A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies'. Written by the compassionate Spanish Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas in 1542, this harrowing account exposes the heinous crimes committed by the Spanish in the Americas. Addressed to Prince Philip II of Spain, Las Casas' heartfelt plea for justice sheds light on the fear of divine punishment and the salvation of Native souls. From the burning of innocent people to the relentless exploitation of labor, the author unveils a brutal reality that spans across Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba.




Voices of a People's History of the United States


Book Description

Here in their own words are Frederick Douglass, George Jackson, Chief Joseph, Martin Luther King Jr., Plough Jogger, Sacco and Vanzetti, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Twain, and Malcolm X, to name just a few of the hundreds of voices that appear in Voices of a People's History of the United States, edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. Paralleling the twenty-four chapters of Zinn's A People's History of the United States, Voices of a People’s History is the long-awaited companion volume to the national bestseller. For Voices, Zinn and Arnove have selected testimonies to living history—speeches, letters, poems, songs—left by the people who make history happen but who usually are left out of history books—women, workers, nonwhites. Zinn has written short introductions to the texts, which range in length from letters or poems of less than a page to entire speeches and essays that run several pages. Voices of a People’s History is a symphony of our nation’s original voices, rich in ideas and actions, the embodiment of the power of civil disobedience and dissent wherein lies our nation’s true spirit of defiance and resilience.