Early Letters to Crown and the Council for the Reformation of the Indies, 1516-1531

Bartolomé de las Casas began his transatlantic career in 1502. Experiences of conquest and penitential discipline led him to renounce his Indian slaves and holdings. He dedicated his life to reforming Spain’s colonial project, eventually joining the Dominicans, and later serving as bishop. His works are foundational for our understanding of early colonialism. This volume’s seven letters—all but one in English for the first time—span the initial stage of his long career as "Protector of the Indians." Las Casas harangues corrupt officials, denounces perverse incentives, and lays out detailed plans for Spain’s presence in the Americas. He calls for direct crown control with moral oversight by mendicant bishops, proposes alternatives to Indian labor, and demands restitution for stolen property. These letters led to legal changes in the Indies, influencing later Jesuit reducciones in the Río de la Plata and Franciscan missions in California. They also reveal an entrepreneurial Las Casas with moral reflection on early global trade and commerce. The watershed "Carta al Consejo"—a critical source for Latin American theology— concentrates all the force of his later writings into a figuratively rich, biblically saturated, theologically and philosophically sophisticated call to repentance and reform. His web of biblical allusions and dialogue with the Iberian Thomist renaissance are abundantly annotated. A lively introduction and copious notes carefully situate Las Casas within broader trends, including Europe’s nascent religious reformations. These letters also bridge his dramatic entry into the Dominican Order, documenting his transformation from temporal reformer to eschatological prophet. Students of law, theology, Christian mission, human rights, cultural and colonial history, and commerce, will find here rhetorical and theological treasures. While Las Casas is known chiefly for his polemical Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, these earliest letters suggest a far broader intellectual biography.