Bartolomé de las Casas

Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566) was a Dominican friar who defended the indigenous peoples of Spanish America. He reached Hispaniola in 1502 and held an encomienda, but after the conquest of Cuba renounced it in 1514.

As Protector of the Indians from 1516 he lobbied the Crown, helped win the New Laws of 1542, and served as Bishop of Chiapas. His Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies denounced atrocities, and at the Valladolid debate of 1550 he refuted Sepúlveda's claim that Indians were natural slaves. He died in 1566.