De las Casas respects the great diversity among the indigenous people he encounters, even if his impressions seem ethnocentric. For example, the author claims that the indigenous people of Hispaniola are innocent and childlike, and trust the Spanish overlords. He also notes they do not like to work very hard. At times, de las Casas describes the religious idols and practices of the peoples, and also games like juggling.
4. List various specific things that de las Casas uses as examples of Spanish barbarity.
The entire tome is devoted to examples of Spanish barbarity. De las Casas does not hold back when he refers to the brutality and tyranny of the Spaniards. For example, he describes incidents in which he watched the Spaniards set dogs after the indigenous peoples and the dogs chase a mother and a child, who dies (p. 21). He describes mass slaughter at several points.
5. What activities did the Spanish engage in related to enslavement and slavery?
Slavery is a key point of de las Casas. Most of the indigenous...
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