Limits of Colonialism, 1492–1750

In a letter addressed to Philip II in 1594, Fray Nicolas Ramos, Archbishop of Santo Domingo, complained of the laxity with which the king’s subjects inhabiting la Banda del Norte (the Northern Band) were fulfilling their Catholic duties: settlers, the archbishop reported, were accepting Protestant baptismal rites and reading Protestant bibles. There was contraband not only in religion, however, for Dominican cattle and slaves were finding their way into the possession of Dutch and English trespassers of the monopoly. Four years had passed when one Baltasar Lopez de Castro, a judge assigned by the Audiencia to investigate the situation, submitted his opinion that the best way to eliminate the contraband and protect the colonists from the pernicious influence of foreign religion would be to relocate all the cattle of the Banda del Norte to the vicinity of the southernmost region of the island. Not only the cattle, advised the judge, but also the untrustworthy settlers of the Northern Band and their slaves. Thus was introduced the idea of las Devastaciones.2