Annotated Bibliography: "Of the Island of Hispanola" by de Las Casa

De Las Casa, Bartolome. "Of the Island of Hispanola." Very Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. Trans. Nigel Griffen, 1542. Print.


In this particular section of work from the Very Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies, De Las Casa talks about how the Spaniards took over the island of Hispanola. He writes about the cruel actions the invading Spaniards used against the Natives, along with the slaughter that occurred. The document is written with De Las Casa's perspective in mind, it makes the Spaniards seem like heartless murderers who enjoy slaughtering Native populations. There isn't much information we can gain about the Spanish perspective on this particular event, the only information we can gain is from De Las Casa's perspective which doesn't allow that much argument. The document could help us learn one perspective on this event, but we need all perspectives to fully understand and analyze why this had happened. Having only one perspective limits our knowledge about the fall of Hispanola and it's Native peoples.