Bartolomé de las Casas

Bartolomé de las Casas (1484 – 1566) was a Spanish historian, Dominican friar, and early advocate for universal human rights. Arriving in the Caribbean in 1502 as a settler and encomendero, Las Casas participated in slave-raids on Hispaniola and Cuba before experiencing a profound moral conversion upon reading the biblical book of Ecclesiasticus in 1514.

Las Casas released his enslaved laborers and spent the next fifty years campaigning relentlessly against the brutality of Spanish conquistadors. In 1542, his advocacy convinced King Charles V to pass the 'New Laws' prohibiting the enslavement of indigenous Americans. In 1550, at the famous Valladolid Debate, Las Casas defended the complete human rationality and natural rights of indigenous peoples against Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda. His 1552 book, Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias, documented mass atrocities, cementing his legacy as one of the first thinkers to argue that all human beings share equal natural rights regardless of religion or culture.