untitled by Atlas Of The North American Indian

Author:Atlas Of The North American Indian
Language: eng
Format: epub

The Spread of Christianity

concert with government officials; in other cases they worked

independently.

and Religious Revitalization

French Jesuit priests, members of the Roman Catholic

Society of Jesus, were especially active in New France, spread-

Movements

ing out from the St. Lawrence River. Work by them among the

Algonquians and Iroquoians during the middle to late 1600s

In the conquest of aboriginal America, European civilization

resulted in the establishment of missions in Indian villages as

waged ideological as well as military and economic warfare

well as new Native mission settlements, such as Caughnawaga

against the integrity of Native culture. The European pow-

(Kahnawake) south of Montreal, inhabited by Mohawk.

ers that colonized North America sent forth, not only armies

The Jesuits were also active in Spanish-held lands in colo-

and traders, but also missionaries to convert the Indians from

nial times, until a royal decree in 1767 expelled them from all

so-called pagan and primitive ways to Christian religion and

of New Spain. The Franciscans and Dominicans continued

Western customs. The resulting effect of Christian missionaries

their work, however, spreading northward out of Mexico into

on tribal culture has been as profound in its own way as the

the American Southwest and California. A military man and

Indian wars, the fur trade, and European diseases.

a priest often traveled together so that both state and church

were represented. Churches were built in Indian villages along

MISSIONARIES AND

with presidios (forts) to guard them. With time new villages

were founded. In 1769, Gaspar de Portolá, an army officer, and

MISSION INDIANS

Junípero Serra, a Franciscan priest, founded a mission at San

The Christianizing of the Native population was part of the

Diego de Alcalá in present-day California. Serra went on to

European development of North America. Churches of vary-

found eight more missions; a total of 21 missions stretching

ing Catholic and Protestant denominations sent out mis-

as far north as San Francisco de Asis would be founded in the

sionaries to seek converts. In some cases they worked in

years to come.

San Diego de Alcalá, the first of 21 missions built in California by Spanish missionaries, was founded on July 16, 1769. (Jose Gil/

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The Spanish rounded up Indians of

different tribes and settled them at dif-

ferent missions. The captives were forced

to work, building churches and other

buildings, tending crops, and making

soap and other products. If the Indians

refused to work or if they ran away

and were caught, they typically received

whippings as punishment. They were

forced to speak Spanish and reject their

own religions in favor of Catholicism.

Intermarriage was encouraged to blur

the distinctions among tribes. By the

time the missions were closed by Mexico

in 1834, 13 years after Mexican indepen-

dence from Spain and 14 years before the

United States gained control of Califor-

nia, many Indians of the region had lost

their Native religions and languages and

tribal identities.

The main Protestant denominations

active in missionary work in North Amer-

ica were the Puritans, Society of Friends

(the Quakers), Moravians, Presbyterians,

Anglicans, Baptists, and Methodists. Most

of the Protestant missionaries spread

inland from eastern coastal regions. Some

of the better-known mission settlements

resulting from their efforts were Natick

among the Massachuset, Stockbridge

among the Mahican, Conestoga among

the Susquehannock, and Gnaddenhut-

ten among the Lenni Lenape (Delaware). Among the early

and the Winnebago Prophet (White Cloud),

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