Lesson 8 logo is Father Las Casas

Bartolomé de las Casas (1474-1566) came to America in 1502 as a young man in search of his fortune. He was assigned an "encomienda" (grant of land and the Indigenous living on it) in Hispaniola, and he proceeded to exploit the Indigenous in much the same manner as his fellow Spaniards. After a few years, however, he became associated with a group of Dominican priests, entered the priesthood himself, and developed a social conscience on the issue of the exploitation of the Indigenous. He gave up both his lands and his Indians and became a life-long crusader against these wrongs.