In the 18th century, the Age of Exploration affected the way people lived dramatically, as demonstrated in The Mission. The Spanish Jesuits go on a Mission to convert the Guaraní Indians into Christians. These Indians live in the jungle above the Iguazu Falls in South America. The Guaraní were affected by this Mission. They were able to build communities, churchs, and homes. The Guaraní Indians were able to learn how to read and write, as well as learning each other’s languages. They created a plantation for themselves to be self-sufficient. 9 out of 10 percent of the profits they made from the plantation went back into the community. The Spanish Jesuits were also able to provide protection for the Guaraní from the slave trade. However, there were also negative effects to the Age of Exploration. The Treaty of Madrid …show more content…
The Counter-Reformation was a response to the Reformation. Realizing that the popularity of Christianity was decreasing, Jesuits traveled to spread Christianity. Their goal was to have people join the Catholic Church. In the Age of Exploration, the Jesuits were able to travel to South America –– something that they weren’t able to do before. Both Spain and Portugal had motives for exploration. The Spanish wanted to spread Christianity among the Guaraní tribe. The Treaty of Madrid allowed the Portuguese to own the land of the Guaraní, which led them to be in danger from the slave trade. This is because of mercantilism –– where the nation’s strength is depended on its wealth. They believed that there is a fixed amount of wealth in the world, this led to intense competition between the nations. In the beginning, Mendoza, a slaver and mercenary, would kidnap natives and sell them to plantations. Cabeza, the Spanish governor, bought these slaves from Mendoza. The Counter-Reformation and Age of Exploration heavily influenced the actions of the Spanish and
The Roman Catholics were one of the first Europeans to disembark in the New World. In addition, there were the Spanish Catholics. There were two missionary efforts of the Spanish that attempted to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. One of their attempts revolved around the priests and their ability to spread the faith. This attempt did not work for several years, until finally, in 1595, the Franciscans were able to progress with their plans. Furthermore, another attempt was when the Spanish used force to enforce their Christian belief. They were outnumbered by the Indians and therefore brought weaponry and soldiers to keep them at bay. Their reason behind the missionary efforts was that they were ordered to spread Christianity to the Native Americans by a holy spirit.
The article “Navigating the Age of Exploration” by Ted Widmer explains how people view American history with only the assumptions pertaining to the present boundaries of the United States instead of seeing the world as explorers did during the Age of Exploration and expanding our boundaries to understand America’s history more fully. Widmer points out that many teachers of American history don’t teach a full continental perspective extending beyond American borders, which doesn’t give credit to the various cultures that contributed to the foundation of the United States. Today, people know little about the contributions of explorers during the Age of Exploration, and their impacts on America. During the Age of Exploration, the Europeans created
Their main goal was to come to the New World and spread Christianity, and they were determined to do so. Document 1 explains that from the minute they arrived in the Americas, the Europeans were instilling their religion into the Native people through friendship and gifts. Not to mention, Document 6 states, “missions were built to help spread Christianity.” It also says, “missions and settlements helped spread European languages.” By looking at Latin America today we can see how much the Spanish and Portuguese have helped mold what it is today.
Bartolome de Las Casas was a Christian Priest that accompanied the Spaniards on their conquest of the Indies, and is a witness to the crimes and massacres committed against the natives. De Las Casas documented specific events where the Spaniards wronged the natives but makes it clear that there were far more incidents than the ones he reports. His audience is the Christian community in Castile (modern day Spain), and the Monarch. His aim in this documentation was to inform the formerly mentioned groups who are ignorant of the accounts and are financing the Spaniards expeditions to possibly put a stop to the Spaniards reign of terror. That’s also the reason why De Las Casas didn’t express contempt for the Roman Catholic Church or the Monarch; they were unaware of what was happening.
The discovery and conquest of American Indians inspired efforts to develop an ideology that could justify why they needed to enslave the Indians. The Spanish monarch wanted an ideal empire. "A universal empire, of which all their subjects were but servants. Charles V remained for them the dominus mundi, the legitimate and God-ordained lord of the world." (Weckmann, The Transit of Civilization, 23) Gold and religious conversion was the two most important inspirations for conquistadors in conquering America. Father Bartolome De Las Casas was a Dominican priest who came to the New World to convert the Indians to become Christians. He spent forty years on Hispanolia and nearby islands, and saw how the Spaniards brutally treated the Indians and sympathized with them. The Devastation of the Indies was an actual eyewitness account of the genocide by Las Casas, and his group of Dominican friars in which he demonizes the Spanish colonists and praises the Indians. Father Las Casas returned to Seville, where he published his book that caused an on going debate on whether the suppression of the Indians corrupted the Spaniards' values. What Las Casas was trying to achieve was the notion of human rights, that human beings are free and cogent by nature without the interference of others.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Europeans began their colonization and settling into America. France and Spain both began exploring the New World to find gold and to spread Catholicism. What differed between them were their priorities in colonization. During the 16th century Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther posted the Ninety Five Theses, accusing the Church of corruption. Because of that, he ended up dividing the Catholic Church, which led to the rise of Protestant Churches in Europe. Spain, as a representative of Orthodox Catholicism, wanted to spread Catholicism further. They then established colonies in America, to convert the Indians to Catholicism and to stop Protestantism. France had entered the New World in search
When they found the “new world” is too weak to resist the invasion of European, they started to establish the colony in America. Bartolomé de Las Casas used to be a priest who explored America on Hispaniola and Cuba. But after he witnessed the colonists enslave and mistreat Indians, he changed his mind and start to protect the Indians. He free his Indian slaves in 1514, and start to against Spanish mistreat them (Foner, p.7). After that, he made the effort to liberate the Indian slaves, and he had backed to Spain several times want to make the King reduce the heavy labor of Indians. Finally, Spain published New Laws in 1542, which indicate that Indians no longer be enslaved (Foner, p.7).
The Age of Exploration brought many unforeseen changes to the people of Africa. On a path seeking gold, glory, and God, many explorers reached new parts of Africa. Explorers were seeking a more direct route to Asia and believed they must travel through Africa to reach these Asian lands. Namely, Portugal was interested in this under the direction of Prince Henry. There, he believed they could capture the riches of Muslim trade and convert the natives to Christianity. King Henry died before the route to Asia could be accomplished but he laid the groundwork for later exploration and encounters with Africa. During the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans desire to find Asia greatly impacted the lives of native Africans through the slave
During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the dominant force in Western civilization. As the Dark Ages came to a close, the monarchies of Europe began to consolidate power; providing an alternative power base. With the Protestant Reformation came another blow to the influence of the Church. Spain, the forerunner in the Age of Discovery, was a fervently Catholic country. During the 16th century, the monarchy combined the forces of "cross and crown" in its imperial policy; much to the dismay and ultimate destruction of the indigenous peoples of the New World. Through an examination of Aztec polytheism and the Catholicism of the conquistadors, comes the central role of religion in the successful conquest of New Spain.
Before Columbus landed in the West Indies in 1492, The Spanish Inquisition made it known to anyone within Spain’s domain of influence that if a person was not of the Catholic religion, they were to be punished severely and sometimes even fatally. This influence would undoubtedly be brought over to the Americas a century later, as the colonization of the New World would begin by then. While it was very essential for the Spanish (as well as the Portuguese) to improve their economy by using the resources they found in Latin America, it seemed to a number of them as if that was the only reason for being there, or the main reason at the very least. During the Spanish Inquisition and from that point after, it was the Pope’s main goal, to convert everyone to Roman Catholicism; an opportune moment arrived as the Americas were found, along with the Natives who resided there who were waiting to be converted.
Despite the Europeans’ claim, there was still a significant amount of protest in regards of the exploration of the New World. Both royal and religious leaders also questioned their methods of expansion. The king of Spain at the time, Charles V, and the pope, Pope Paul III, publicly disapproved of many of the conquistadors’ actions towards the natives (Las Casas 3). In addition, Bartolomé de Las Casas stated, “Long before they had heard the word Spaniard they had properly organized states, wisely ordered by excellent laws, religion, and custom” (3). Europeans who opposed the harsh treatment of Indians believed that conquistadors were not exploring the New World in order to spread Christianity. In Las Casas words, the conquistadors tended to “act like thieves, cut-throats, and plunderers… to drive the gentlest of people headlong into despair”
In earlier years of conquest the colonial church was still intact by the time the country was now New Spain. The church organization had by then created two distinct branches- secular and regular clergy. This would then spread around the word of Christianity to save souls. By assimilating this spread to the population of “Indians” they would then get acculturated into thinking their way of living was evil and to abandon their beliefs and to always “praise the lord”. Through t...
Many explorers believed it was God's will to find new areas and countries. Spain was a very strong Catholic country. It was estimated that over two thousand heretics were burned down at the stake during the exploration. For a large part of the Spanish exploration, there was no religious freedom. Many Muslims and Jews were kicked out or killed during the Spanish Inquisition. One of the reasons the Spanish kings let Columbus sail to the new world was because there would be many people to convert to Christianity. However, instead of converting the Aztecs, Cortes slaughtered them. Despite the teachings and searchings being nearly impossible and full of worry, the missionaries were also putting their lives at risk. They were at risk because, the foreign lands that they were visiting, could’ve been infested with all types of diseases. In regards of it being a dangerous task, it all was completed by the
In the 1400’s European countries had been thrusted into overseas expansion in the fever for land and gold. All throughout Europe, monarchies had sent explorers all over the world to conquer land for their country. Each country had conquered and colonized in various styles, but each had a specific goal that they wanted to achieve. During the European colonization of the Americas or the New World, both the Spanish and the French spread the idea of Catholicism throughout the Americas, however the Spanish believed in treating the Native Americans in a harsher way by enslaving them for labor whereas the French established trade relationships.
From 711-1492, Christian Spaniards lived under Moorish rule until eventually, the Christian Kingdoms took over during the Reconquista. The conflicts between the Muslims and Christians created a militaristic culture in Spain that surpassed that of any other European nation. Furthermore, being trained militarily was often exclusively attributed to the nobility however, in Spain, “many young men knew these skills and used them to their advantage.” Without a doubt, recently reconquering their homeland motivated the Spanish to a basis for expansion and conquest that most other European societies were lacking. In addition, the voyages of Christopher Columbus led to discovering the New World which undoubtedly contributed to added interest in conquest. Eventually, each conquest further raised Spanish hopes for fame and