In today’s video, we will look at the life of Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Dominican Priest who, during the 1500’s at the time of Spanish conquest in the Americas, has been called the “world’s first Social Justice Warrior”. But his isn’t a cosy story of messianic devotion to a cause held firmly in his breast from the outset. He was, in the beginning, one of the bad guys, up to his elbows in it. But then something happened that would transform him into a relentless champion of human rights at a time when the phrase didn’t even exist; taking part in the legendary Valladolid debate; pushing the Pope to issue a Human Rights Bull on behalf of indigenous people; hustling an audience with Charles V, Habsburg King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor; and then going on to publish what is considered the first anthropology textbook on the Americas. His tireless campaigning would lead to changes in attitudes and law, that provided a foundation for the European enlightenment centuries later. And yet, today in the West, he and compatriots such as Fray Antonio Montesinos largely remains one of the unknown heroes of history, being overshadowed by conquistadors such as Pizarro, Cortez and Columbus. #lascasas, #socialjusticewarrior, #humanrights, #spanishhero All footage used in this montage remains the property of its respected creators, and is gratefully acknowledged in the end credits. ERRATA / CORRIGENDA: 1. At 9:30 Columbus third trip is narrated as 1489, rather than 1498 - a dyslexic slip of the tongue - apologies! For a narration-only audio version of this and all our other videos, please visit the Heroes and Legends Documentary Channel Podcast, via Spotify, Itunes or other leading broadcasters, by simply searching for this channel. If you enjoy my content, leave your suggestions and comments below, and please consider making a donation via PayPal or sign up as a Patreon supporter to help me continue making these unfunded educational videos: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=4D958V58PAVDU https://www.patreon.com/heroesandlegends https://buymeacoffee.com/infoQh For resources, links to my other videos, merchandise, the latest social media posts and podcast links, please visit my Heroes and Legends Website: www.heroesandlegends.com.au ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWIDu_4eJNA

La guerra de la independencia: Arriving in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata; San Martin and his companions were faced with a colonial government in disarray. Not quite revolutionary, and not quite loyalist; attempting to form a new United Provinces; factional infighting so preoccupied them that they proved ineffective not only in subjugating outlying provinces, but barely securing their external borders. To be sure, there was much pride in the repulsion of two British invasions a couple of years earlier; which, it could be said was the primary trigger for self-determination; but beyond that, the local government struggled to define its purpose or its capacity to lead the rest of the colony. Outlying provinces were suspicious of the motives of Buenos Aires, and pursued a federalist agenda, which carried its own risks, as border security was flimsy, and led by heroic leaders who for the most part, were nevertheless not professional soldiers. San Martin was ideally suited to reorganise the military, but suspicions as to his motives ran deep, so early on he was assigned to mobilise a small cavalry regiment and police the river towns along the Parana River. Several successful engagements quickly proved his loyalty and skill and he was catapulted into senior leadership roles and quickly began re-organising the army. His primary goal was to secure external borders, particularly against the northern Viceroyalty of Peru, which posed a huge threat of attack from the Highlands. Seeing no way to win in the mountainous terrain, he instead formed a new army, and crossed the Andean Alps into Chile, in a Herculean feat not seen since Hannibal's crossing of the Italian Alps into Rome, taking the enemy by surprise and liberating Santiago, and eventually sweeping up the coast and taking Peru, in battles that had so few casualties, that commentators were shocked at his ability to achieve victory. From here he met up with the swashbuckling Bolivar, who, not willing to share the glory of Liberating the rest of the continent, insisted on going it alone rather than join forces with his southern ally. Low on funds, and lacking the support of Buenos Aires, who was embroiled in a civil war, San Martin left the war to the politicians and retired. Still unsatisfied, the ruling elites feared his political clout, so he voluntarily exiled himself to Europe, watching from afar, as his homeland continued to be plagued by both civil war as well as Portuguese incursion, entirely of their own making. At the time, he was seen as a controversial figure by the ruling elite, refusing to raise a sword against his own countrymen in a civil war that to him, seemed like an unnecessary distraction from the wider scope of liberation from Colonial oppression. It took many decades for successive governments to begrudgingly recognise what the ordinary folk knew all along- that he was the enabler not only of liberation of the entire southern half of the continent, but also of the further ability of Simon Bolivar to finish what San Martin himself had started. It is highly probable that without San Martin's actions, Bolivar would have failed to take Peru, or indeed proceed any further south than Guayaquil in modern Ecuador, as he desperately needed San Martin's reinforcements even in that outlying campaign. Forgotten for decades, San Martin now lies in the cathedral of Buenos Aires, rightly venerated by ordinary Argentines, Chileans and Peruvians alike, as "el libertador", the Liberator. #josedesanmartin, #sanmartin, #libertador, #argentina For an audio-narration only version of this video, Please visit the Heroes and Legends Documentary Channel Podcast, through Spotify and other leading broadcasters. If you enjoy my content, leave your suggestions and comments below, and please consider making a donation via PayPal or sign up as a Patreon supporter to help me continue making these unfunded educational videos: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=4D958V58PAVDU https://www.patreon.com/heroesandlegends https://buymeacoffee.com/infoQh For resources, links to my other videos, merchandise, the latest social media posts and podcast links, please visit my Heroes and Legends Website: www.heroesandlegends.com.au ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiex-ELpv1E