A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies

The arrival of another Spanish villain in Peru in 1531 began a chain of acts of wickedness “on such a scale that nobody will ever really learn the full extent of it until all is revealed on the Day of Judgement” (107).

Acts here included sacking towns and stealing their gold. On the island of Puna, the Spanish stayed with natives for six months, eating all their food and then killing and enslaving the people. Atrocities in the province of Tumbes caused the people to flee. At their capture, they were declared enemies of the Spanish Crown for fleeing and had to buy back their protection through massive gifts of gold and silver. The territory’s king, Atahualpa, was abducted and ransomed for a vast sum of gold and then burned at the stake anyway.

Las Casas quotes a letter from the Friar Marcos de Niza, a witness to these atrocities, to the Franciscan bishop of Mexico. This letter details the kindness and graciousness of the Peruvian people and their atrocious treatment by the Spanish. It also details the burning of Atahualpa, his captain-general Chalcuchima, and the lord of the Quito province, Chamba. It furthermore describes the torture of Quito leaders for gold and the live burning of villagers locked inside buildings and set on fire.