This clergyman wrote to the his head of state about mass suicides, people refusing to reproduce through abstinence and abortion, and people committing infanticide so that their children would avoid a life of brutal servitude.
Who was this clergyman, what was his title, to whom did he write his letter?
submitted by: techfun
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ANSWER: Friar Pedro de Córdoba - Vice-Provincial of the Dominican Islands in 1517 in a letter to Ferdinand, the King of Spain.
Excerpt of the letter:
"As a result of the sufferings and hard labor they endured, the Indians choose and have chosen suicide. Occasionally a hundred have committed mass suicide. The women, exhausted by labor, have shunned conception and childbirth . . . Many, when pregnant, have taken something to abort and have aborted. Others after delivery have killed their children with their own hands, so as not to leave them in such oppressive slavery."
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15 November, 2007
(118) Early Whistleblower
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14 answers:
Bartolomeo de las Casas
Bishop of Chiapas
King Phillip II of Spain
(but then, I could be making all this up.....)
Good question, techfun. Even if I didn't get the right answer, I learned a lot about the brutality of Columbus....
I correct myself. It was Charles I of Spain to whom the letter was directed.
He (las Casas) was also known as 'Defender and Apostle to the Indians'
Keep digging Leendaluu. You don't have it yet.
arrrrghhhh
Don Fray Juan de Zumaragge, Bishop Elect of Mexico wrote to Charles, Emperor of the Hapsburg Empire, 1529.
Still not it, when you are making a guess maybe you can include a link to the letter or info so I can make sure I didn't pick something with multiple answers. Do those guesses have the exact items I included: mass suicides, refusing to reproduce, and infanticide?
This document has much of the information I listed and it does give your exact phrase (referring to Carribean Indians) but it does not say who said it...it references "Indians of the Americas" by J. Collier.
http://oda-c.com/Resources/5636_Reality_Check.pdf
Don Fray's quotation is found on page 43.
Leendaluu - Good guess,and that PDF does have the letter I asked about but it does not have an attribution. So if you can figure out who wrote it you are home free since that will let you pinpoint who the letter was addressed to based on the date. Page 43, las Casa's stuff is not it though, although he also documents atrocities.
Looking through the notes at the end of the PDF, it looks like the writer is quoting a secondary source instead of the primary so that won't be much help there, I am afraid.
Latest thought:
Fransisco de Vitoria writing Charles I of Spain.
After that I'm at a loss until the campus library comes through with the pages I ordered from Collier's book. I ought to the the point for effort.
Latest thought:
Fransisco de Vitoria writing Charles I of Spain.
After that I'm at a loss until the campus library comes through with the pages I ordered from Collier's book. I ought to the the point for effort.
You'd put in an amazing amount of work. I wish I could say you got it right. I went from hoping nobody would get it since so far, every question I have submitted has been answered to rooting for you to get this one based on the work you've done.
You are obviously in the right ballpark, but off on the the writer and the king.
From what you have said, I know you have read the excerpt in that PDF that is the basis of the question, so this muct be very frustrating.
Good luck!
I'm going to figure it out yet. I so so so so love a challenge..though I may have earned my PhD in sociology by the time I've found the answer.
Linda, i'd give 10 points here for the effort :) you were SO close!
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