International Relation 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Relation 2 - Essay Example One of these books is An Account, Much Abbreviated, of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolome de las Casas (2003). In this text, he focuses on the genocide and greed of the Spaniards. He argues that Christians have killed so many native souls, because of their materialistic passion for gold and goal of making themselves rich in a very short time. de las Casas makes sense of the Spanish war in the Americas as a brutal strategy for pursuing purely materialistic purposes. The particular view of history he uses is that of a polemicist, where he criticizes the barbaric approach of the Spaniards against the Indians. Furthermore, he is guilty of representing the Americas as utopia, and his descriptions and history present problems of self-biases and inaccuracies, since he is also advancing his own interests of promoting colonization for evangelical purposes. de las Casas makes sense of the Spanish war in the Americas as an atrocious strategy for pursuing purely materialistic purposes. F or many Spaniards, the new world promises wealth, fame, and distinction, even for priests, but upon arrival there, de las Casas realizes that the Spaniards are not after noble purposes. First, de las Casas takes account of the millions of natives killed, because Spaniards launched widespread genocide. de las Casas does not use the term genocide, but he describes islands with vanished populations, which remarks of the genocidal practices of the Spaniards. He says: â€Å"As to the firm land, we are certainly satisfied, and assur’d, that the Spaniards by their barbarous and execrable Actions have absolutely depopulated Ten Kingdoms, of greater extent than all Spain† and even â€Å"together with the Kingdoms of Arragon and Portugal, that is to say, about One Thousand Miles, which now lye wast [sic] and desolate†¦above Fifty Millions in all paid their debts† (7). The colonization originally aims to spread civilization, Christianity, and expand the Spanish Kingdo m, but de las Casas witnesses something less purer. He stresses that Christian Spaniards are motivated to kill by the millions, with such viciousness, because of aspirations of wealth and power: â€Å"Now the ultimate end and scope that incited the Spaniards to endeavor the Extirptation [sic] and Desolation of this People, was Gold only; that thereby growing opulent in a short time† they could be attain â€Å"Degrees and Dignitaries† that were â€Å"no ways consistent with their Persons† (8). These accounts show that materialism had driven the motive for so many senseless deaths that de las Casas capitalized on. The particular view of history that de las Casas uses is that of a polemicist, where he disparages the barbaric approach of the Spaniards against the Indians (Boyer 365). Boyer says: â€Å"[An Account, Much Abbreviated, of the Destruction of the Indies]†¦ represents Las Casas the polemicist and pamphleteer, belonging to that portion of his oeuvre t hat can be characterized as politicized and politicizing rhetoric, in contrast to the longer pieces like the Historia de las Indias† (365). This view demonstrates that de las Casas writes about the history of the Incas from the biased point of polemics, where he argues for better treatment of the natives, thereby acting as an intermediary between the Indians and the monarchy. He comes across to his audience by using more of pathos or emotions to depict