1. The Catholic Church in the Age of Discovery
Bartolomé de las Casas
The Catholic Church in the Age of Discovery

2. Words Worth Knowing
Encomienda System: The “protection racket” scheme imposed on native people by the Spanish where the Spanish “protect” an area of native people in exchange for gold and labor.
Genocide: the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

3. Must Do In a few sentences, respond to the following question:
How do you think the Spanish colonists justified their treatment of the Native Americans, especially considering their religion was against it?

4. Missionaries
Priests and monks from the church were present all along conquest
Major justification for conquest of Latin America
Missions often doubles as schools and hospitals
Later became main protestors of treatment of native people
Yet, conversions were often forced, and native religion/culture suppressed

5. The Encomienda System Started in Spain in the Roman Empire
In exchange for conquering land, conquistador gets to rule a province
Conquerors: “Protection System”- military protection for labor and GOLD
Also: Spanish Language Lessons, Conversion to Christianity, and Infrastructure
Conquered: “Protection Racket”- Labor and GOLD or else!

6. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484-1566
With his father, Las Casas came to island of Hispaniola in 1502
participated in slave raids and military expeditions against the native Taíno population, gets ordained as priest in 1510
In 1513, goes to Cuba, helps conquer it with Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar- is horrified by what he sees
In 1515, he gave up his Indian slaves and encomienda-
In Tries to launch nicer version of colony- fails
In Tries to convert Indians in central Mexico peacefully
In between times, goes back and forth to Spain, trying again and again to get religious and political leaders to change policy- many public debates
In 1542, writes “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies”

7. Primary Document Activity
Examine the primary documents in front of you.
Working in groups, have each person examine and prepare to summarize each doc to the others in the group.
Share what you learn.
As a group, answer this: “What would you say was the overall position of the Catholic church was on the native people of the New World?”
Support your answer with SPECIFIC evidence from the provided documents.