The Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies , The Very Brief for friends, published in 1552 by fray Bartolomé de las Casas , was, is and will be the Bible of all those who believe in the Black Legend. I am not going to judge the author, about whom, for better or for worse, everything has already been said, just a few brushstrokes that neither one nor the other will be able to refute because it is his own life:it is true that, at the beginning of his stay in America, he received indigenous people as slaves and an encomienda; it is true that he even suggested that Africans be imported to alleviate the miseries of the Indians; it is true that, for reasons of faith, he defended the imposition of colonialism in American territory and, furthermore, he was allowed to put into practice peaceful colonization -without soldiers-; it is certain that, even after publishing his Brevissima, he was made a bishop; it is true that he was allowed to publish as much as he wanted and even interfere in the publication of other writings… all this is completely true. And I simply include it to make it clear that, despite his message and shooting left and right, he had, what we could call, freedom of expression, something not very common in an absolutist monarchy of the time. For many, a cause as noble as the defense of the weak against the bully (which he is) is above any critical and objective analysis of his work. Well, I'm sorry to disagree, because if the writings of Bartolomé de las Casas have been the stone on which the black legends they built their "Church" and gave rise to the spread of the cruelty and greed of the Spanish, I think it deserves an analysis.
I will not say that the content of his work does not have a background of truth, in fact, when I published the article Why are the Spanish accused of having committed genocide in the American continent?, I already pointed out that “the problem was not the laws, but the immense ocean that diluted them, that some rulers ignored them and that Spanish colonists distorted them for their own benefit ”. History has shown that the abuse of the powerful over the weak or breaking the laws, dodging them or twisting them, are innate characteristics of the human species yesterday, today and always (and in abusing even the entire animal world). Whoever believes otherwise, pinch himself. De las Casas knew that for his message to reach and be taken into account, he had to strike a chord and get the reader to empathize with the indigenous people. And for this, he resorted to a literary figure that has always given good results, hyperbole. It was not necessary for his chronicle to be truthful, it was enough to relate plausible facts. In fact, today we have examples every other day on social networks and, unfortunately, in the media, where indignant speeches and resentful tweets become a trend/news when people are willing to believe them. feet together. And in the second half of the 16th century there were many willing to buy those exaggerations that, repeated like a litany, ended up giving rise to myths and stereotypes about the Spanish that have survived to this day. Whoever wrote that the lie has short legs, did not realize that some charlatans have very long.
I am clear that the friar's intention in denouncing the injustices of certain subjects was noble and at no time did he think of undermining the reputation of his country or his monarch, but the truth is that he got out of hand, and the hyenas, who remained on the prowl , smelled the blood and turned the Brief in a bestseller. Wherever the Austrians put their nose, the work of the friar was translated so that the locals knew what was coming their way and the miseries of the Hispanic race. Well, and after the Austrians, because in 1898, in what was called the Disaster of '98 (we lost Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the Yankees), the work was reissued in New York under the striking and illuminating title of “Historical and true narrative of the cruel massacre and slaughter of the twenty million people in the West Indies ” -the paperback version could not be published because the title did not fit on the cover-. Of course, in the Netherlands they wanted to give it a personal touch and, because a picture is worth a thousand words, the goldsmith and engraver Thierry de Bry was in charge of editing the work and accompanying it with several engravings in which the indigenous people are impaled, split open and grilled, butchered and sold by weight for consumption by the Spaniards (it meant crossing the pond and becoming a cannibal) and the children thrown to the dogs. And although anyone with half a brain would have quarantined all these barbarities, the fact is that this particular edition was a great success and there were several editions between 1590 and 1634, and even some colored ones. Initially published in Latin and German, the great demand forced it to be translated into several languages. Come on, it sold very well among all those willing to believe that lie to make it true.
How right Göbbels was! (if he was the one who said that "a lie repeated a thousand times becomes a truth").
Gift!!!
Among all those who comment or share this article we will raffle a copy of the graphic novel «Carrión, a sinful scoundrel » with gift sheets. This is the first part of a trilogy that narrates the incredible maritime expeditions to the East in the 16th century and the life of Juan Pablo de Carrión, an enigmatic sailor who traveled to the end of the world, was accused by the Inquisition and ended his days crossing his steel against the katanas of a horde of Japanese pirates.