Lewis Hanke

Lewis Hanke (1905–1993) was a preeminent U.S. historian of colonial Latin America, and is best known for his writings on the Spanish conquest of Latin America. Hanke, along with two others, Irving A. Leonard and John T. Lanning, 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.” His historiography was similar to the one of his contemporary Jaime Eyzaguirre.

Born in 1905 in Oregon City, Oregon, Hanke received his B.S. and M.A. in history from Northwestern University. He went on to complete his Ph.D from Harvard University in 1936. He served as the first chief of the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, and headed the Hispanic Foundation until 1951. He began his teaching career at the University of Texas, then moved on to Columbia University. Hanke later joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1969, where he remained until his retirement in 1975.

To many, Hanke is considered the father of the field of Latin American studies in the United States. He created the Handbook of Latin American Studies, and that, along with his considerable historiographical achievements in Latin American history, continue to figure among the foundational works of Latin American studies research and library collections in both the U.S. and abroad.

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