The Latin American Eco-Cultural Reader is a comprehensive anthology of literary and cultural texts about the natural world. The selections, drawn from throughout the Spanish-speaking countries and Brazil, span from the early colonial period to the present. Editors Jennifer French and Gisela Heffes present work by canonical figures, including JosE MartI, BartolomE de las Casas, RubEn DarIo, and Alfonsina Storni, in the context of our current state of environmental crisis, prompting new interpretations of their celebrated writings. They also present contemporary work that illuminates the marginalized environmental cultures of women, indigenous, and Afro-Latin American populations. Each selection is introduced with a short essay on the author and the salience of their work; the selections are arranged into eight parts, each of which begins with an introductory essay that speaks to the political, economic and environmental history of the time and provides interpretative cues for the selections that follow.The editors also include a general introduction with a concise overview of the field of ecocriticism as it has developed since the 1990s. They argue that various strands of environmental thought - recognizable today as extractivism, eco-feminism, Amerindian ontologies, and so forth - can be traced back through the centuries to the earliest colonial period, when Europeans first described the Americas as an edenic 'New World' and appropriated the bodies of enslaved Indians and Africans to exploit its natural bounty.

Fifty years after the arrival of Columbus, at the height of Spain's conquest of the West Indies, Spanish bishop and colonist Bartolome de las Casas dedicated his Brevisima Relacion de la Destruicion de las Indias to Philip II of Spain. An impassioned plea on behalf of the native peoples of the West Indies, the Brevisima Relacion catalogues in horrific detail atrocities it attributes to the king's colonists in the New World. The result is a withering indictment of the conquerors that has cast a 500-year shadow over the subsequent history of that world and the European colonization of it. Andrew Hurley's daring new translation dramatically foreshortens that 500 years by reversing the usual priority of a translation; rather than bring the Brevisima Relacion to the reader, it brings the reader to the Brevisima Relacion -- not as it is, but as it might have been, had it been originally written in English. The translator thus allows himself no words or devices unavailable in English by 1560, and in so doing reveals the prophetic voice, urgency and clarity of the work, qualities often obscured in modern translations. An Introduction by Franklin Knight, notes, a map, and a judicious set of

Bartolom 's eye-opening account of Spanish colonialism in the early to mid-16th century has for centuries been a pivotal source on the topic. Following the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1497, a great interest in the new and virgin lands was sparked in Europe. Spain, eager to capitalise on the great resources and wealth present, sent successive fleets of vessels to the Caribbean to set up colonial outposts as footholds in the new continent. Despite being small in number, the Spanish colonists had superior arms and were able to forcibly subdue the native populations. Murder, rape and other atrocities were commonplace in the process, with many natives afterwards becoming enslaved. While wealth was amassed, the moral depravity involved would appal the socially conscious at home. For his part, Las Casas would assume place as a dogged defender of West Indian peoples, putting pressure on the Spanish court to enact laws protecting native welfare.

Bartolom 's eye-opening account of Spanish colonialism in the early to mid-16th century has for centuries been a pivotal source on the topic. Following the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1497, a great interest in the new and virgin lands was sparked in Europe. Spain, eager to capitalise on the great resources and wealth present, sent successive fleets of vessels to the Caribbean to set up colonial outposts as footholds in the new continent. Despite being small in number, the Spanish colonists had superior arms and were able to forcibly subdue the native populations. Murder, rape and other atrocities were commonplace in the process, with many natives afterwards becoming enslaved. While wealth was amassed, the moral depravity involved would appal the socially conscious at home. For his part, Las Casas would assume place as a dogged defender of West Indian peoples, putting pressure on the Spanish court to enact laws protecting native welfare.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

Few people read the full account of De Las Casas. Frequently this piece is referenced in excerpts in anthologies. However, should the reader want an authentic and direct account of the real events of the Spaniards' treatment of native peoples of the Carribbean and elsewhere, this is the narrative. This can be read in one sitting, and is clearly the work of an informed and intelligent writer. Some extremity of language is apparent, and the author's bias can be seen on nearly every page. For history junkies, this is a wonderful read. Bartolome de Las Casas, born in 1474, came to Cuba with Diego Velazquez's expedition in 1511 as a soldier. In Cuba, he became an "encomendero," receiving Indian labor parceled out to the conquistadors. The horrors of the conquest of the Caribbean sparked a religious conversion in him and he became a Dominican friar in 1515. Soon, he made his way to the Central American mainland, where he started missionary work among the Maya in Guatemala. Dubbed later "The Apostle to the Indians" for his work on their behalf, he was eventually appointed Bishop of Chiapas. An intimate friend of the Indians, fluent in their languages, Las Casas witnessed Spanish cruelties perpetrated against them between the very year of his arrival and some years before his death in Spain in 1566. In 1552, Las Casas published his empassioned "Short Account" (actually written 13 years earlier), in which he laid bare Spanish cruelties in America. Though generally condemned as slander in Spain, the book rapidly became popular in the rest of Europe, where it served to fuel anti-Spanish hate. Spain's enemies used it to depict Spaniards as evil tyrants and to rationalize carving out their own empires in the Americas. New editions appeared repeatedly, even as late as 1898, during the Spanish-American War. Few credible historians take the "Account" for gospel truth. Much of what Las Casas says is certainly true. And while the rest is exaggerated, it is not "propaganda." Whatever truth the narrative has, though, many people miss its importance in understanding the Spanish Black Legend. The Black Legend is the perception of Spain as a uniquely cruel and bigoted nation in excess of reality. Spanish culture is boiled down to the Inquisition and the bullfight. Spain's authors are ignored. The Spanish did nothing in the Americas but kill millions of Indians. This is the legacy of the 16th century. The substance of many European attitudes toward Spain up to about 1950 can be traced right to Las Casas' "Account." Appearing at the time when England and the Netherlands were emerging as major powers, grappling with Spain, the imagery from the book was woven right into their national mythologies. Because of historical circumstance, other nations that committed atrocities far worse than Spain's -- France, Britain, the United States -- never had to undergo the same humiliating scrutiny, the same alienation. Las Casas's book, certainly against its author's will, helped shape this. The account's real value is the key it offers to understanding Western perceptions of Spain. Like so many anti-Spanish documents of its time, the book, in the end, can tell us as much about the fascinating figure of its author and the character of Spain's enemies as about the horrors of the conquest and the nation it vilifies.

Title: Popery truly display'd in its bloody colours, or, A faithful narrative of the horrid and unexampled massacres, butcheries, and all manner of cruelties, that hell and malice could invent, committed by the popish Spanish party on the inhabitants of West-India: together with the devastations of several kingdoms in America by fire and sword for the space of forty and two years, from the time of its first discovery by them.Author: Casas, Bartolome de lasPublisher: Gale, Sabin Americana Description: Based on Joseph Sabin's famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, Sabin Americana, 1500--1926 contains a collection of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about the Americas, from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s. Sabin Americana is rich in original accounts of discovery and exploration, pioneering and westward expansion, the U.S. Civil War and other military actions, Native Americans, slavery and abolition, religious history and more.Sabin Americana offers an up-close perspective on life in the western hemisphere, encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North America in the late 15th century to the first decades of the 20th century. Covering a span of over 400 years in North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, this collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions and momentous events of the time. It provides access to documents from an assortment of genres, sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature and more.Now for the first time, these high-quality digital scans of original works are available via print-on-demand, making them readily accessible to libraries, students, independent scholars, and readers of all ages.++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++SourceLibrary: Huntington LibraryDocumentID: SABCP04091000CollectionID: CTRG02-B825PublicationDate: 16890101SourceBibCitation: Selected Americana from Sabin's Dictionary of books relating to AmericaNotes: English translation of the author's Spanish original: Brevisima relacion de la destruccion de las Indias.Collation: 6], 80 p

Title: An account of the first voyages and discoveries made by the Spaniards in America: containing the most exact relation hitherto publish'd, of their unparallel'd cruelties on the Indians, in the destruction of above forty millions of people: with the propositions offer'd to the King of Spain to prevent the further ruin of the West-Indies.Author: Casas, Bartolome de lasPublisher: Gale, Sabin Americana Description: Based on Joseph Sabin's famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, Sabin Americana, 1500--1926 contains a collection of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about the Americas, from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s. Sabin Americana is rich in original accounts of discovery and exploration, pioneering and westward expansion, the U.S. Civil War and other military actions, Native Americans, slavery and abolition, religious history and more.Sabin Americana offers an up-close perspective on life in the western hemisphere, encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North America in the late 15th century to the first decades of the 20th century. Covering a span of over 400 years in North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, this collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions and momentous events of the time. It provides access to documents from an assortment of genres, sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature and more.Now for the first time, these high-quality digital scans of original works are available via print-on-demand, making them readily accessible to libraries, students, independent scholars, and readers of all ages.++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++SourceLibrary: Huntington LibraryDocumentID: SABCP04091200CollectionID: CTRG02-B826PublicationDate: 16990101SourceBibCitation: Selected Americana from Sabin's Dictionary of books relating to AmericaNotes: Abridged translations, from the French edition, of six of the nine pamphlets published in 1552 and of L'art de voyager utilement.Collation: 8], 248, 40 p., 2] fold. leaves of plates: ill.; 20 cm

A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies is an account written by the Spanish Dominican friar Bartolome de las Casas in 1542 (published in 1552) about the mistreatment of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in colonial times and sent to then Prince Philip II of Spain. Bartolome de las Casas (circa 1484 - 18 July 1566) was a 16th-century 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.