Talk:Bartolomé de las Casas/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Pyrotec (talk · contribs) 19:34, 27 June 2012 (UTC)


 * I will review. Pyrotec (talk) 19:34, 27 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Great, thanks! I'm looking forward to working with you.·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 19:48, 27 June 2012 (UTC)

Initial comments
Sorry for the delay. Its quite a longish article and I've just done a couple of quick skim-reads of the article. It looks comprehensive, well reference and well referenced, so my initial impression is that its somewhere between GA and FA. Having said that, I'm now going to work my way through the article section by section, starting at Life and times, working my way to the end and then doing the WP:Lead. My intention is to have this section completed by or during the weekend. Its also worth noting that at this stage I mostly be looking to see if there are any "problems" (for minor ones its often quicker to fix them, rather than list them, wait, and then check them). So if I don't find very many "problems" I will not be writing very much here. Pyrotec (talk) 19:11, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Life and times -
 * Background and arrival in the New World -
 * A personal comment, I don't like "passim" references. Having looked at my latin dictionary, its an adverb meaning "here and there, at random, indiscriminately". I can't see any real difference between ref 4 (with a passim) and ref 1 (the same paper, without any page numbers).
 * I use passim to mean "throughout", and I use it when the sourced claim is a point or argument that appears not in one specific place in the cited source, but in the source as a whole. The alternative which I would use if writing professionally would be to just cite the title with no page number, but some reviewers want page numbers for everything. If you don't mind having refs with no page numbers we can remove the passim.·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 19:36, 29 June 2012 (UTC)
 * It is a personal point (i.e. its not mandatory as far as GA is concerned) but I'd perfer not have it. Ref 1 is the same source with no page number, so ref 1 could be used twice (however, the article does not have any references used more that once and I don't wish to "spoil" your house style).Pyrotec (talk) 20:21, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Conquest of Cuba and change of heart, Las Casas and King Ferdinand & Protector of the Indians -
 * These three subsections look to be compliant.


 * Las Casas and King Charles V: The peasant colonization scheme -
 * These subsections look to be compliant.


 * The Cumaná venture
 * I found mention of "Audiencia", but this seems to be the only occurrence, so I'm not sure what/who it is.
 * Good point, will introduce description at first mention


 * A Dominican friar
 * This subsection looks to be compliant.


 * The New Laws -
 * I found mention of "Verapaces", but this seems to be the only occurrence, so I'm not sure what it is/they are.
 * Yes, it probably good to describe that the area then called "Tzulutlan" is now called Alta Verapaz and Baja Verapaz, in plural the Verapaces. 
 * Woops. Sorry, I got to Verapaces I could not work out what it was, so I used search to look (without success) for Verapaces and Verapace - never thought about singular/plural forms. Pyrotec (talk) 20:38, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

...stopping for now. To be continued. Pyrotec (talk) 20:13, 29 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Bishop of Chiapas, The Valladolid Debates & Later years and death -
 * These subsections look to be compliant.


 * Works & Las Casas in Posterity -
 * These two sections look to be compliant.

Quite a good lead. Pyrotec (talk) 20:45, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
 * '''WP:Lead -

Overall comments
GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria Quite a comprehensive topic on the life and works of this historical (but perhaps overlooked) person.
 * 1) Is it reasonably well written?
 * A. Prose quality:
 * B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:
 * 1) Is it factually accurate and verifiable?
 * A. References to sources:
 * B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary:
 * Well referenced.
 * C. No original research:
 * Well referenced.
 * 1) Is it broad in its coverage?
 * A. Major aspects:
 * B. Focused:
 * 1) Is it neutral?
 * Fair representation without bias:
 * 1) Is it stable?
 * No edit wars, etc:
 * 1) Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?
 * A. Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales:
 * Well illustrated.
 * B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:
 * Well illustrated.
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass or Fail:
 * 1) Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?
 * A. Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales:
 * Well illustrated.
 * B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:
 * Well illustrated.
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass or Fail:

I'm pleased to be able to award this article GA-status. Its a strong GA, and I believe that it is well on the way to being an FA. Pyrotec (talk) 20:45, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks!·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 21:09, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

Claims of Jewish heritage
The claims of las Casas' being of converso heritage are unsubstantiated and in fact contradicted by himself during his life time as he claimed to be a descendent of one of the old christian families of Seville. None of his known family members or ancestors have been classified as conversos, nor have they been the subject of inquisitory processes of crypto-jewishness. There is no factual basis for the claims that he had a jewish heritage, and the sources given (jewish virtual library and a selfpublished book) are not reliable or notable.·ʍaunus·snunɐw· 19:23, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Other sources besides the very-reliable and -notable Jewish Virtual Library discuss whether Las Casas was a converso or ben Anusim (See, e.g., Jose Rabasa's "Inventing America" and Dr. Dan Bursztyn's "The conquest's converted converter".). Know what you're discussing before you discuss it.

173.64.113.157 (talk) 03:41, 11 March 2016 (UTC)
 * I am sorry but none of those sources are not more reliable than Las Casas mthree main biographers. The rumours of converso heritage (probably originating as smears by his political opponents) have been rejected by all of his biographers.·maunus · snunɐɯ· 05:38, 11 March 2016 (UTC)