Bartolome de Las Casas 1484 – 1566

Bartolome de Las Casas was a Spanish Dominican friar, bishop of Chiapas in New Spain, and the most outspoken sixteenth-century defender of the rights of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. After participating as an encomendero in the early conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba, he underwent a profound conversion in 1514 and devoted the rest of his long life to documenting and opposing Spanish abuses, advocating for indigenous rights at the Spanish court, and developing a sustained theological argument for the full humanity and freedom of the peoples of the New World. His Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies and famous Valladolid debate with Sepulveda in 1550 to 1551 remain landmarks in the history of human rights thought.