Colonization and Christianity: A popular history of the treatment of the natives by the

In Short

This historical survey chronicles the catastrophic impact of European colonization upon native peoples from the late fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Spanning the conquests of Spain, Portugal, Holland, France, and Great Britain across the Americas, India, Africa, and Australasia, the work frames western expansion as a continuous engine of greed and violence. It argues that a corrupted form of Christianity—stripped of its moral interiority and reduced to mere ritual and political leverage—was weaponized to justify territorial theft and human destruction. Preserved by its furious moral clarity, meticulous compilation of official records, and uncompromising exposure of systemic hypocrisy, the volume stands as an early, formidable indictment of global imperial rule.

The Story

The narrative follows a tragic, geographically expanding trajectory that traces how European powers established a global system of conquest under the guise of civilization and faith. It opens with an investigation into the moral decay of medieval Christianity, detailing how true gospel values were supplanted by ceremonial display and papal decrees that granted heathen lands to worldly monarchs. Armed with this theological sanction, Spain establishes a template of carnage in the West Indies. In Hispaniola, Cuba, and Jamaica, the native populations are rapidly worked to death or put to the sword, epitomized by the execution of the defiant chief Hatuey, who refuses conversion to avoid sharing an afterlife with Spaniards.

The path of destruction moves to the American mainland, where Hernán Cortés orchestrates the massacre of six thousand helpless citizens in the sacred city of Cholula, and Francisco Pizarro ambushes the Peruvian Inca Atahualpa while Father Vincent Valverde uses a breviary and crucifix to demand total submission. Portuguese forces extend similar brutal methods to Brazil and India, operating with an avarice that eventually triggers widespread anti-colonial confederacies and invites their own displacement by the Dutch. Yet Dutch supremacy brings no relief, merely exchanging Portuguese excess for calculated commercial tyranny.

The focus then shifts heavily to the British Empire, cutting through national self-congratulation to reveal a vast machinery of conquest. In India, despite the high-minded declarations of the East India Company's directors, leaders like Warren Hastings and Lord Clive extort millions from local rulers, hire out troops to destroy flourishing states like the Rohillas, and reduce whole populations to wretchedness. In North America, the native tribes are relentlessly driven west through false treaties and slaughter, leaving figures like Chief Logan to mourn the cold-blooded annihilation of their families. The lone exception to this bloodstained pattern is William Penn and the Quakers, who establish peaceful relations in Pennsylvania by trading fairly and refusing arms.

Finally, the narrative descends into the author's present day, examining British operations in South Africa and Australasia. In Caffreland, military expeditions slaughter thousands, seize vast herds of cattle, and lay waste to cultivated fields, while in New Zealand, punitive naval raids use extreme force over minor disputes. The book closes on a note of urgent warning: unless the public confronts this history, the rhetoric of missionary zeal will remain a cover for ongoing global crime.

How It Unfolds

The corrupt foundation The narrative begins by analyzing how medieval Europe substituted outward penance and dogmatic show for genuine Christian morality. Papal bulls divide the non-Christian world between Spain and Portugal, laying a legal and religious foundation for centuries of plunder.

The Caribbean destruction Spanish expeditions sweep through Hispaniola, Cuba, and Jamaica, reducing thriving native societies to forced labor and ashes. Resistance is met with immediate execution, while clergy use promises of heaven to enforce political submission.

The continental conquests Conquerors advance into Mexico and Peru through treachery, using horrific public massacres and mock trials to break the spirit of Aztec and Inca rulers. Superior weaponry and local alliances leave ancient empires in ruins.

The East Indian monopolies Portuguese, Dutch, and British corporate powers battle for control of Asian trade routes, imposing brutal taxation and military rule. Governors and generals amass private fortunes through bribes and extortion while native industries wither.

The American displacement English settlers and the subsequent American republic systematically push native tribes off their ancestral lands toward the Mississippi. Broken treaties, forced migrations, and warfare clear the continent, despite the peaceful counter-example set by Quaker Pennsylvania.

The modern frontiers British colonial authorities carry these destructive practices into South Africa and the Pacific islands. Commando raids devastate the fine herds and lands of the Caffres, while naval bombardments in New Zealand demonstrate that imperial violence remains fully active.

The People

• Hernán Cortés — A ruthless Spanish conqueror who views diplomacy merely as a tool to set up decisive strikes. Driven by an insatiable appetite for wealth and dominion, he orchestrates the Cholula massacre to strike terror into the heart of Mexico, leaving thousands dead without losing a single soldier.
• Francisco Pizarro — The illiterate Spanish commander who leads the invasion of Peru. He uses the cover of a peaceful meeting to capture the Inca Atahualpa, exploiting religious rhetoric to justify a surprise assault on an unarmed retinue.
• Father Vincent Valverde — A Spanish chaplain who approaches the Peruvian sovereign with a crucifix and breviary. He demands immediate conversion and submission to the Castilian crown, using religious dogma to provide moral cover for imperial conquest.
• Warren Hastings — The first Governor-General of Bengal, who operates with cold, transactional efficiency. Faced with rising debts, he accepts massive bribes from local rulers to lend British troops for the complete destruction of neighboring independent peoples like the Rohillas.
• Lord Clive — The British military commander who lays the foundation of East India Company power. He amasses immense personal riches through extorted gifts and lucrative jaghires, personifying the rapid accumulation of colonial wealth that corrupts both conquerors and governed alike.
• Chief Logan — A Shawnee leader who initially welcomes white settlers and advocates for peace. After British officers massacre his entire family in cold blood, he exacts vengeance, ultimately leaving behind a poignant, solitary testimony to the total destruction of his lineage.
• William Penn — The Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, who models an alternative approach to colonization. By approaching indigenous nations without weapons, purchasing lands fairly, and maintaining strict justice, he establishes decades of peaceful coexistence.

In Its Own Voice

"The object of this volume is to lay open to the public the most extensive and extraordinary system of crime which the world ever witnessed." The author outlines his primary motivation in the opening pages, framing the history of European expansion not as a narrative of progress, but as an ongoing structural evil.

"A negro for a soul, and the soul the blacker of the two!" A seventeenth-century Jesuit preacher scolds Portuguese colonists in Brazil, highlighting the deep spiritual degradation caused by the slave trade.

"There is not now one drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature!" Chief Logan of the Shawnees expresses his grief to the governor of Virginia after British troops murder his entire family without provocation.

What It's Really About

Beneath its vast chronological sweep, the book is a fierce critique of institutional hypocrisy. It exposes the fundamental contradiction between the peaceful ethics of the Christian gospel and the violent reality of Christian nation-building. The core argument asserts that European powers have used religion as a deceitful veneer to cover pure avarice, transforming faith into a tool of conquest and spiritual corruption.

The work also dismantles the racial prejudices of the nineteenth century by defending the intellectual and moral capacity of indigenous populations. Whether examining the structured agricultural communities of the Rohillas, the fine social organization of the Caffres, or the peaceful treaties of North American tribes, the text proves that barbarism belonged not to the invaded, but to the invaders. Ultimately, it questions whether any nation can retain its own moral integrity while profiting from the systematic oppression and ruin of others abroad.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals to readers who value uncompromising historical analysis and early anti-imperialist thought. It offers a clear, unvarnished window into nineteenth-century reform literature, combining dense historical documentation with profound moral outrage. Reading it feels like sitting before a passionate, highly articulate magistrate who lays out case after case with unyielding energy, refusing to let the reader look away from uncomfortable truths.

The text presents distinct period difficulties that modern readers must navigate. Its narrative structure is massive, covering multiple centuries and continents in dense, detailed prose. It frequently integrates long extracts from parliamentary papers, contemporary histories, and original dispatches, which can slow the reading pace. Furthermore, the prose reflects the elevated rhetorical style and strong religious framing of the 1830s.

Yet these very qualities give the work its lasting power. It serves as a vital historical record that preserves voices of resistance—from native leaders like Hatuey and Logan to internal critics like Las Casas and Pringle—who refused to accept conquest as inevitable. For anyone seeking to understand the deep roots of global inequality and the historical critique of western empire, this passionate, evidence-driven survey remains a vital and eye-opening text.