Bartolom de Las Casas, "Of the Island of Hispaniola" (1542)

God has created all these numberless people to be quite the simplest, without malice or duplicity, most obedient, most faithful to their natural Lords, and to the Christians, whom they serve; the most humble, most patient, most peaceful and calm, without strife nor tumults; not wrangling, nor querulous, as free from uproar, hate and desire of revenge as any in the world. . . . Among these gentle sheep, gifted by their Ma er with the above qualities, the !paniards entered as soon as soon as they new them, li e wolves, tiger and lions which had been starving for many days, and since forty years they have done nothing else; nor do they afflict, torment, and destroy them with strange and new, and divers inds of cruelty, never before seen, nor heard of, nor read of. . . . . "he Christians, with their horses and swords and lances, began to slaughter and practice strange cruelty among them. "hey penetrated into the country and spared neither children nor the aged, nor pregnant women, nor those in child labour, all of whom they ran through the body and lacerated, as though they were assaulting so many lambs herded in their sheepfold . "hey made bets as to who would slit a man in two, or cut off his head at one blow# or they opened up his bowels. "hey tore the babes from their mothers$ breast by the feet, and dashed their heads against the roc s. %thers they sei&ed by the shoulders and threw into the rivers, laughing and 'o ing, and when they fell into the water they e(claimed# )boil body of so and so*) "hey spitted the bodies of other babes, together with their mothers and all who were before them, on their swords . "hey made a gallows 'ust high enough for the feet to nearly touch the ground, and by thirteens, in honour and reverence of our +edeemer and the twelve Apostles, they put wood underneath and, with fire, they burned the ,ndians alive . "hey wrapped the bodies of others entirely in dry straw, binding them in it and setting fire to it; and so they burned them. "hey cut off the hands of all they wished to ta e alive, made them carry them fastened on to them, and said# )Go and carry letters)# that is; ta e the news to those who have fled to the mountains. "hey generally illed the lords and nobles in the following way. "hey made wooden gridirons of sta es, bound them upon them, and made a slow fire beneath; thus the victims gave up the spirit by degrees, emitting cries of despair in their torture. . . .

-rom .artolom/ de Las Casas, Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, in Bartolom de Las Casas, trans. -. A. Mc0utt 1Cleveland# Arthur 2. Clar , 34546, 7378734.

Vas o da !ama" #o$nd %fri a to India, 14&'(14&) C*

Vasco da Gama was born about 1 !" at #ines, $ortu%al. Both $rince &ohn and $rince 'anuel continued the efforts of $rince (enry to find a sea route to India, and in 1 )* 'anuel +laced Vasco da Gama, who already had some re+utation as a warrior and na,i%ator, in char%e of four ,essels built es+ecially for the e-+edition. .hey set sail &uly /, 1 )*, rounded the Ca+e of Good (o+e four months later, and reached Calicut 'ay 0", 1 )/. .he 'oors in Calicut insti%ated the 1amorin of Calicut a%ainst him, and he was com+elled to return with the bare disco,ery and the few s+ices he had bou%ht there at inflated +rices 2but still he made a 3"""4 +rofit56. A force left by a second e-+edition under Cabral 7who disco,ered Bra8il by sailin% too far west9, left behind some men in a :factory: or tradin% station, but these were ;illed by the 'oors in re,en%e for Cabral<s attac;s on Arab shi++in% in the Indian =cean. Vasco da Gama was sent on a mission of ,en%eance in 1>"0, he bombarded Calicut 7,irtually destroyin% the +ort9, and returned with %reat s+oil. (is e-+edition turned the commerce of ?uro+e from the 'editerranean cities to the Atlantic Coast, and o+ened u+ the east to ?uro+ean enter+rise. 394: "he .ay of !t. 2elena ;on the west coast of the present country of !outh Africa<. %n "uesday 10ovember :6 we returned to the land, which we found to be low, with a broad bay opening into it. "he captain8ma'or ;i.e., da Gama spea ing in the third person< sent =ero d$Alenquer in a boat to ta e soundings and to search for good anchoring ground. "he bay was found to be very clean, and to afford shelter against all winds e(cept those from the 0.>. ,t e(tended east and west, and we named it !anta 2elena. %n >ednesday 10ovember ?6 we cast anchor in this bay, and we remained there eight days, cleaning the ships, mending the sails, and ta ing in wood. "he river !amtiagua 1!. "hiago6 enters the bay four leagues to the !.@. of the anchorage. ,t comes from the interior 1sertao6, is about a stone$s throw across at the mouth, and from two to three fathoms in depth at all states of the tide. "he inhabitants of this country are tawny8colored. "heir food is confined to the flesh of seals, whales and ga&elles, and the roots of herbs. "hey are dressed in s ins, and wear sheaths over their virile members. "hey are armed with poles of olive wood to which a horn, browned in the fire, is attached. "heir numerous dogs resemble those of =ortugal, and bar li e them. "he birds of the country, li ewise, are the same as in =ortugal, and include cormorants, gulls, turtle doves, crested lar s, and many others. "he climate is healthy and temperate, and produces good herbage. %n the day after we had cast anchor, that is to say on "hursday 10ovember 46, we landed with the captain8 ma'or, and made captive one of the natives, who was small of stature li e !ancho Me(ia. "his man had been gathering honey in the sandy waste, for in this country the bees deposit their honey at the foot of the mounds around the bushes. 2e was ta en on board the captain8ma'or$s ship, and being placed at table he ate of all we ate. %n the following day the captain8ma'or had him well dressed and sent ashore. %n the following day 10ovember 356 fourteen or fifteen natives came to where our ship lay. "he captain8ma'or landed and showed them a variety of merchandise, with the view of finding out whether such things were to be found in their country. "his merchandise included cinnamon, cloves, seed8pearls, gold, and many other things, but it was evident that they had no nowledge whatever of such articles, and they were consequently given round bells and tin rings. "his happened on -riday, and the li e too place on !aturday.