Persecuted Guatemalan Indians, 16th Century

Conquistadors hurl Guatemalan rebels into pits filled with sharp-pointed sticks. The pits were originally dug and camouflaged by the Indians themselves to ambush Spaniards on horseback, but when the Spanish perceived the traps they turned the ruse against its perpetrators. Bartolome de las Casas (1484 - July 18, 1566) was a Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed Protector of the Indians'. His extensive writings, the most famous being A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Historia de Las Indias, chronicle the first decades of colonization of the West Indies and focus particularly on the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous peoples. Illustration from a 16th Century French edition

Restrictions Only for Ireland and United Kingdom

Amerindians Atrocities Atrocity Barbaric Bartolome Casas Cruel Cruelty Guatemalan Infamous Inhumane Inhumanity Notorious Persecute Persecuted Persecuting Persecution Punish Punishing Sharp Sixteenth Suffering

Features In These Collections

> Contributors > PHR