The second part of this chronicle is just as interesting and at times difficult to read as the first. De Las Casas continues the tone of the first half by descriptively explaining the violence and torture endured by the indigenous peoples. Also his writing style similarly continues throughout the second half of the book with extensive repetition. One of the many points which he repeated was, “Desta dejó perdida y asolada y despoblada una provincial riquísima de gente y oro que tiene un valle de cuarenta leguas, y en ella quemó pueblo que tenía mil casas” (64). He continuously commented on how wonderful the people and land were. In my opinion this would only further encourage the king of Spain to continue the conquest of the ‘New World’. Nonetheless, this chronicle is very unusual for this time period. I greatly enjoyed reading work from a different perspective and even though it was written from a European’s point of view it went against the typical mindset of its time. De Las Casas described this time as a cruel, unjust and intolerable conquest rather than a much needed and celebrated European discovery.
Posted by: | 28th Sep, 2008