Saving Mexico from the Devil
The Conquest of Mexico was justified by the Spanish as an evil necessary to save a people who practised human sacrifice and worshipped false gods.
In 1542, the ‘Protector of the Indians’, Bartolomé de las Casas, sent his Brevíssima relación de la destrucción de las Indias to Philip II of Spain. Las Casas’ intention was to force the king to take notice and do something about the atrocities being committed in his name (which, to some extent, worked). But the Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies was also ready-made propaganda for Spain’s enemies. It challenged the heroic narrative of the conquistadors and, following its publication in 1552, was translated and published in numerous editions throughout Europe for centuries after.
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