Primary sources are firsthand accounts of events. By contrast, secondary sources are secondhand accounts of events. Both sources are useful, but it is important to differentiate between valid primary and secondary sources. In this lesson, you'll learn how to locate and use primary and secondary sources to acquire information about the treatment of Native Americans. Practice this skill by analyzing the quotation and the image. Using the steps below, distinguish between the primary and the secondary source.
“They [the Spanish] have set out to line their pockets with gold…. The Spaniards have shown not the slightest consideration for these people, treating them (and I speak from first-hand experience, having been there from the outset) not as brute animals–indeed, I would to God they had done and had shown them the consideration they afford their animals–so much as piles of dung in the middle of the road.”
–Bartolomé de Las Casas, 1542