"The Spaniards with their horses, their spears and lances, began to commit murders and strange cruelties; they entered into towns and villages, sparing neither children nor old men, nor women with child... They took the Indians by force, sending them to the mines to dig gold, which is an intolerable labor, and to gather spices in the mountains, where they broke their backs under the burden... They made them work day and night in the mines, without rest, without pay, until they died."

— Bartolomé de las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1542

Question: Las Casas wrote this account PRIMARILY to...