Background in Seville.

Bartolome de las Casas was born in 1484 to a fairly well-to-do merchant family in the bustling Spanish port city of Seville. His family took part in Spain's New World enterprise from its earliest stages. Bartolome's father, Pedro de las Casas, and three uncles, for instance, sailed with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage. As a reward for his services on this expedition, Pedro received from Columbus a young Indian slave whom he in turn gave to his son Bartolome as a companion. The young Las Casas reportedly rejected this "gift," returning the Indian boy to Spanish authorities in order that he might be sent back to his home in the Indies. This incident constituted the first expression of Las Casas's lifelong crusade against Spain's exploitation of the natives of the New World. Early Years in the

New World.