"Brief Account of the Destruction of Africa" by Bartolomé de Las Casas

Bartolomé de Las Casas, in his work "Brief Account of the Destruction of Africa," set a historical precedent by denouncing the enslavement of the inhabitants of the Canary Islands and Africa, arguing against the contemporary religious and territorial justifications.

The "Brief Account of the Destruction of Africa" by **Bartolomé de Las Casas** was not initially conceived as an independent book. It emerged from eleven chapters of his monumental "History of the Indies," intended as a digression to contextualize European intervention in America. It was in **1989** that the Dominican and researcher **Isacio Pérez Fernández** rescued these chapters and published them as an autonomous work, revealing a fundamental text for understanding the roots of Atlantic expansion.

## A Precedent for Conquest

The account by Las Casas reconstructs European expansion into the Atlantic preceding the conquest of America. It begins with the conquest of the **Canary Islands**, detailing the capture of their inhabitants, and continues with Portuguese expeditions along the western coast of Africa. His description focuses on wars against populations that had not initiated hostility, the plunder of their territories, and the transformation of captives into mere commodities. For Las Casas, the experience in the Canary Islands and Africa serves as a direct antecedent to what subsequently occurred on the American continent.

## The Condemnation of Slavery

The work has a dual purpose: on one hand, to denounce the atrocities and enslavement of the inhabitants of the Canary Islands and Africa; on the other, to demonstrate that the practices used by the Portuguese and Castilians before the conquest of America are part of a single narrative of expansion, violence, and exploitation. However, perhaps most significant is not merely the cruelty Las Casas attributes to the Portuguese, but his reasoning for denying any legitimacy to slavery. It is, in fact, the first book in history that explicitly condemns slavery.

## Arguments Against Legitimacy

Las Casas directly confronts several of the justifications used to defend conquest and slavery. One was the religious condition of the victims: "They are infidels." For Las Casas, this circumstance was not sufficient to strip someone of their humanity or natural rights. The inhabitants of Africa and the Canary Islands possessed reason, freedom, and dominion over their persons and property. Another recurring argument was territorial: "Their lands can be conquered to extend Christianity." He also rejects this point. Religious conversion, in his view, could not justify war against people who had committed no aggression. Christianity must spread through preaching and persuasion, never through violence. Finally, he confronts the idea: "We can conquer them first and convert them afterward." Las Casas's response is equally negative, as the violence used to impose religion contradicted precisely the Christian message intended to be conveyed. This argumentation elevates the work beyond a simple chronicle of abuses; it is an assault on the legal and religious logic used to legitimize European expansion, finding particular scandal in the Portuguese attacking peaceful populations while presenting themselves as evangelizers.