Lewis Hanke | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 2, 1905 Oregon City, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | March 26, 1993 (aged 88) Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | Northwestern University (BS, MA) Harvard University (PhD) |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Known for | Writings on the Spanish conquest of Latin America |
| Spouse | Kate Gilbert Hanke (died 1993) |
Lewis Hanke (January 2, 1905 – March 26, 1993) was an American historian of colonial Latin America best known for his writings on the Spanish conquest of Latin America. Hanke presented a revisionist narrative of colonial history that focused on the role of Bartolomé de las Casas, who famously advocated for the rights of Native Americans, and searched for just resolutions to the tensions between the conquistadores and the natives during the colonial period of Spanish rule. Hanke's writings documented Las Casas' work as a political activist, historian, political theorist, and anthropologist. His scholarship also uncovered evidence to support Hanke's claim that Las Casas did not act as the sole voice of conscience during the colonial era, but actually constituted the head of what was a larger reform movement by a number of Spanish colonists to prevent "the destruction of the Indies.”[1]