A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies

In this single-paragraph chapter Las Casas recounts that the Spanish landed on the islands of Puerto Rico and Jamaica in 1509. A footnote tells us that these were expeditions of Ponce de Leon to Puerto Rico and Juan de Esquivel to Jamaica. Here the Spanish committed similar atrocities to those in Hispaniola, reducing the population of 600,000 to fewer than 200.

The Spanish set foot on Cuba in 1511, committing similar atrocities to those previously detailed. A story of a native cacique (27), an Arawak term meaning tribal leader, is recounted. The cacique showed his people a basket of gold and told them that this was the God of the Europeans. This cacique was burned at the stake and refused upon his death to convert to Christianity, as he would have to share heaven with his persecutors. Las Casas observes, “This is just one example of the reputation and honor that our Lord and our Christian faith have earned as a result of the actions of those ‘Christians’ who have sailed to the Americas” (29).

Las Casas’s efforts to save natives were betrayed, and their persecution led many natives to kill themselves and their own children out of mercy.