Las Cases (c. 1474 or 1484 to 1566) was a Dominican friar who advocated aggressively against Spanish mistreatment of native peoples in the Americas and the econmienda system. He first traveled to the Americas in 1502 where he aided his father in recruiting conquistadors to help with the Spanish invasion of the Caribbean. After being ordained a few years later, Las Casas traveled to Cuba with conquistadors as a priest during which time he came to believe that Spanish methods of colonization were cruel and immoral. Las Casas spent the rest of his live devoted to ending the Spanish exploitation and abuse of Native Americans. In 1552 he wrote a book called The Devastation of the Indies, which focused on the dramatic decline in the native population
