de las Casas & Galeano Reflection

Both de las Casas and Galeano discuss the exploitation and abuse of the native peoples in Latin America by Europeans during the colonial era. Particularly, in the context of European history, Christianity was used as a noble cover for the destruction of Latin America for its resources. Galeano discusses how in 1492 while Spanish Explorers were conquering the Americas, in Spain the empire was also reconquering land they had lost to Arabs. So, while Christianity was being fought for at home it makes sense that it would be the lens for conquering abroad. I found this particular aspect of the reading fascinating because it opened my eyes to the global impact events had even before an era of constant communication across continents. Further, both Galeano and de las Casas discuss the importance of Christianity in the conquering of Latin America. De las Casas consistently describes the perpetrators of the destruction of the natives in Latin America as Christians. He associates Christianity directly with the people who committed violence and great harm to the peoples of Latin America. This connection is interesting as the actions of these men speak in direct contrast with the aspect of Christian theology that instructs one to “love thy neighbor.” Galeano further indicates that Christianity was simply a vehicle for the greed that truly motivated the explorers and conquerors in Latin America. Galeano emphasizes that the “Church needed no prompting to provide a halo for the conquest of unknown lands across the ocean”(12). Essentially, due to the Catholic Crusade already happening in Europe, it was easy to transfer this cause to the Americas and to use it as a veil to disguise the hunt for gold, silver, and other resources. I find this use of faith as simply a disguise and excuse to commit atrocities a horrible misrepresentation and abuse of the concept of religion and faith. Faith is something that should be felt at the core of a human being and the moral compass that this faith provides should guide one’s life. This use of Catholicism to abuse a people is in direct contrast to what Christianity stands for. How could people destroy a people out of greed and apathy towards their humanity all in the name of a God who is supposed to spread love?

 Also, de las Casas and Galeano discuss the plundering of Latin America’s resources and that as a result of the European conquest, Latin America was left devoid of its resources. Europeans came and took what was not theirs and used it to benefit a continent that the natives were hardly aware existed. This gets to the idea of the forgotten people. The people who history leaves behind. We discuss the ideas of the beginning of capitalism in Europe, but often where Europe got its first capital is not discussed. We leave out that Europe’s capital development was a result of the resources garnered from Latin America and that people suffered for it. As Galeano said in his earlier writing, the people of Latin America had to lose for European capitalism to flourish. This idea of who we forget drew me to a particular quote from de las Casas. He writes, “Then they behaved with such temerity and shamelessness that the most powerful ruler of the islands had to see his own wife raped by a Christian officer.” De las Casas describes the rape of a village woman only in the context of her husband. He only writes of the horror that her husband had to watch her be assaulted. De las Casas never mentions the woman, her pain, and the trauma she experienced. Only the feelings of her husband were powerful enough to exhibit de las Casas argument about the destruction of the people in Latin America. This speaks to an entire population of people that were forgotten: the women. Their feelings were not deemed important or of value. If we are missing an entire population’s narrative, how much of the historical narrative as a whole are we missing? How does this force us to adjust our understanding of the historical narrative we do have?