With what right, and with what justice do you keep these poor Indians in such cruel and horrible servitude? By what authority have you made such detestable wars against these people who lived peacefully and gently on their own lands? Wars in which you have destroyed such an infinite number of them by homicides and slaughters never heard of before? Why do you keep them so oppressed and exhausted, without giving them enough to eat or curing them of the sicknesses they incur from the excessive labour you give them, and they die, or rather you kill them, in order to extract and acquire gold every day? Are these not men? Have they not rational souls? Are you not bound to love them as you love yourselves?
― Antonio de Montesinos
Antonio de Montesinos (c. 1475 - 27 June 1540) was a Spanish friar of the Dominican order who worked as a missionary on the isle of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Alongside Pedro de Córdoba, Montesinos was one of the first Europeans to denounce the enslavement and mistreatment of Native Americans by colonial authorities. His criticism inspired Bartolomé de las Casas to head the movement for the humane treatment of natives.
Biography[]
Montesinos was one of the first Dominican missionaries to go to Hispaniola in 1510 under the leadership of Pedro de Córdoba. In Hispaniola, he witnessed the Spanish colonial authorities abusing the Taíno people under the encomienda system, a labour system which amounted to slavery.
On 21 December 1511, de Montesinos preached an impassioned sermon decrying the actions of the Spanish authorities. In this sermon, he proclaimed that all the Spanish on the island were living in mortal sin because of their cruelty to the native tribes. He declared that neither he nor his fellow missionaries would engage in or condone the encomienda system, or allow those who did to partake in confession or communion. A young Bartolomé de las Casas was in attendance and was inspired to join Montesinos's cause.
The sermon outraged prominent members of the community, who demanded that Montesinos and his followers be punished. King Ferdinand II ordered them shipped back to Spain; however, when they arrived they were able to convince him that their cause was right. As a result, the king passed the Laws of Burgos, the first laws passed to protect indigenous peoples in Spanish colonies.
In July 1526, Montesinos and several other Dominicans established a settlement in the present-day United States. They were forced to leave after only four months by disease and starvation. Before they left, it is presumed that Montesinos's group became the first people to celebrate Mass in the United States.
In 1528, Montesinos was appointed Protector of the Indians in the Province of Venezuela. He died in unknown circumstances in 1540; it's assumed he was murdered either by the Spanish for his protection of the natives or by hostile natives for his Christianity, as his tombstone refers to him as a martyr.