 A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies |
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Bartolomé de las Casas' assessment of genocide during the Spanish colonization of the Caribbean is an early reframing of the myth of empire, as well as a foundational reckoning with concepts related to human rights.
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| Christopher Columbus to Raphael Sanchez |
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Christopher Columbus' letter to the treasurer to the Spanish king and queen describes his interactions with Taino and Arawak people. Early exploitation is evident from Columbus' focus on resource extraction.
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| Defining Race & Lifelong Servitude in the Colonial Americas |
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This module links Spanish colonial documents from the turn of the sixteenth century to British colonial innovations in the seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries, demonstrating how European colonists developed a racialized hierarchy that justified the widespread enslavement of Africans and their descendants.
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| El Requerimiento |
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Citing papal and royal legal authority, the Spanish Requirement of 1513 informed Indigenous Americans of Spain's rights of conquest, stating that if Indigenous Americans defied Spanish authority and Catholic conversion, they could be justly put to death and/or enslaved.
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| Proclamation of King Ferdinand of Spain |
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This proclamation to the Taino and Arawak peoples of the New World informs them of new rule by Spain and the Catholic Church.
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| The Bull Inter Caetera |
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The Bull Inter Caetera legitimized European land claims in the Western Hemisphere by decree of the Catholic Church. Establishing the Doctrine of Discovery, this papal decree became the legal basis for land claims in the region.
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| The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci, the First Voyage |
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The account of Amerigo Vespucci's first voyage to the Americas features depictions of Indigenous people that created negative stereotypes.
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| Treaty of Tordesillas |
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The Treaty of Tordesillas determined the colonization of the Americas for Spain and Portugal. It renegotiated boundaries of empire in the Western Hemisphere between Spain and Portugal.
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