When the Spanish got to South America they were looking for riches. They found gold but they were very cruel. It is fair to say that their small numbers meant that they had to be brutal to be effective in dominating the land and that the Indians of various tribes were very weak and ineffectual. Brutality has been an instrument of policy until very recently at the very least. There were specific atrocities on Peruvian plantations which Sir Roger Casement reported in 1912.
The Decimation of the Amazon Indians
This is more general and about a long term series of attacks on various tribes in South America which led to major reductions in population. It was not mere decimation which would only have taken 10% of them. It was worse. European diseases were very effective too. Sir Roger Casement gets a mention for his work in exposing cruelty.Sir Roger's report gets mentioned en passant on line but there is nothing solid. A copy of the report would have value but nobody seems to have much interest in this one. It is like the title of W.H. Hudson's book - Far Away and Long Ago. Far Away and Long Ago
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Updated on Wednesday, 18 July 2012 18:38:42