Liverpool University Press Destruction of the Indigenous Peoples of Hispano America: A Genocidal Encounter

It was not the original intention of the Spanish to harm the Hispanic-American natives. The Spanish Crown, Councils and Church considered the natives free and intelligent vassals entitled to be embraced by Christianity and by the Hispanic civil culture. However, it was the same (Spanish) monarchys decision to exploit the natives as taxpayers and as a reservoir of forced labor that made its rule in America exceptionally destructive. The recruitment of the natives to serve the interests of the Spanish Empire under what can only be considered near to slave conditions, compounded by systematic annihilation of their cultures and by cyclical epidemics, led to the near total eradication of the Indians. A Genocidal Encounter narrates the story of the Spanish conquest and the widespread violations against the Hispanic-American natives. The author ponders on the question why the Spanish Crown and the Church failed to apply the necessary measures to effectively protect the natives, particularly during the first years of the conquest and its aftermath as exploitation practices were gradually formed and implemented, despite a constant flow of reports emphasizing the clear and present danger to the very existence of the natives. Based upon primary sources and current research on the relationship between colonialism and genocide, this book examines whether the Spanish actions were genocidal. What lies at the heart of the issue is whether the wide range of exploitative acts imply Crown and Council ministerial responsibility, or whether the destruction of a peoples resulted from unplanned but acute circumstances, making it impossible to place the blame on specific persons or institutions.