Christianization Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Early colonialism (1500s–1700s) == Following the geographic discoveries of the 1400s and 1500s, [[Population growth|increasing population]] and [[inflation]] led the emerging nation-states of [[Portugal]], [[Spain]], and [[France]], the [[Dutch Republic]], and [[England]] to explore, conquer, colonize and exploit the newly discovered territories.{{sfn|Matthews|Platt|1992|p=304}} While colonialism was primarily economic and political, it opened the door for Christian missionaries who accompanied the early explorers, or soon followed them, thereby connecting Christianization and colonialism.{{sfn|Nowell|Magdoff|Webster|2022}}{{sfn|Robinson|1952|p=152}} History also connects Christianization with opposition to colonialism. Historian [[Lamin Sanneh]] writes that there is an equal amount of evidence of both missionary support and missionary opposition to colonialism through "[[protest]] and [[Resistance movement|resistance]] both in the church and in politics".{{sfn|Sanneh|2007|pp=134–137}} In Sanneh's view, missions were "colonialism's [[Achilles' heel]], not its shield".{{sfn|Sanneh|2007|p=135}} He goes on to explain this is because, "Despite their role as allies of the empire, missions also developed the [[vernacular]] that inspired sentiments of [[national identity]] and thus undercut Christianity's identification with colonial rule".{{sfn|Sanneh|2007|p=271}} According to historical theologian Justo Gonzales, colonialism and missions each sometimes aided and sometimes impeded the other.{{sfn|Gonzalez|2010|p=418}} Different state actors created colonies that varied widely.{{sfn|de Juan|Pierskalla|2017|p=Conditions at Times of Colonial Intervention}} Some colonies had institutions that allowed native populations to reap some benefits. Others became extractive colonies with predatory rule that produced an autocracy with a dismal record.{{sfn|de Juan|Pierskalla|2017|p=Colonial Legacies and Economic Development}} === Disease === A catastrophe was wrought upon the Amerindians by contact with Europeans. Old World diseases like [[smallpox]], [[measles]], [[malaria]] and many others spread through Indian populations.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pringle |first1=Heather |title=How Europeans brought sickness to the New World |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/how-europeans-brought-sickness-new-world |website=Science News |publisher=Science |access-date=7 August 2023}}</ref> Historian [[Barry S. Strauss|Barry Strauss]] and the coauthors of ''"Western Civilization The Continuing Experiment"'', have stated that, "In most of the New World, 90 percent or more of the native population was destroyed by wave after wave of previously unknown afflictions. Explorers and colonists did not enter an empty land but rather an emptied one".{{sfn|Strauss|Noble|Cohen|Osheim|2005|pp=230, 454}} === Spanish and Portuguese India, Mexico and the Americas === {{See also|Christianization of Goa}} Portugal practiced extractive colonialism, and was the first to get involved in the pre-existing slave trade.{{sfn|Cheng|1999|p=205}}{{sfn|Morgan|2007|p=3}} Historian [[Kenneth O. Morgan|Kenneth Morgan]] writes that, "the Portuguese and the Spanish dominated the early phase of transatlantic slavery".{{sfn|Morgan|2007|p=2}} [[File:Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Calle 69 n53 -Av.6, Venustiano Carranza, Federal District, Mexico08.jpg|thumb|Evangelization of Mexico|alt=photo of painting depicting monks baptizing Mexicans one at a time]] [[File:Meirelles-primeiramissa2.jpg|thumb|''"First Mass in Brazil"''. painting by [[Victor Meirelles]]|alt=photo of painting by Victor Meirelles depicting the first mass given in Brazil]] Under Spanish and Portuguese rule, creating a [[Commonwealth Theology|Christian Commonwealth]] was the goal of missions. This included a significant role, from the beginning of colonial rule, played by Catholic missionaries.{{sfn|Sanneh|2007|p=218}} Early attempts at Christianization in India were not very successful, and those who had been converted were not well instructed. In the church's view, this led them into "errors and misunderstandings" that were often defined as heresy.{{sfn|Paiva|2017|pp=568, 585}} In December 1560, the state controlled [[Portuguese Inquisition]] arrived in [[Goa|Goa, India]].{{sfn|Paiva|2017|p=566}} This was largely the result of the crown's fear that converted Jews were becoming dominant in Goa and might ally with [[History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Jews]] to threaten Portuguese control of the [[Spice trade|spice trade]].{{sfn|Paiva|2017|pp=567–568}} After 1561, the Inquisition had a practical monopoly over heresy, and its "policy of terror ... was reflected in the approximately 15,000 trials which took place between 1561 and 1812, involving more than 200 death sentences".{{sfn|Paiva|2017|pp=588, 591}} Spanish missionaries are generally credited with championing efforts to initiate protective laws for the Indians and for working against their enslavement.{{sfn|Woods|2012|p=135}} This led to debate on the nature of [[Human rights|human rights]].{{sfn|Spliesgart|2007|p=287}} In 16th-century Spain, the issue resulted in a crisis of conscience and the birth of modern [[International law|international law]].{{sfn|Woods|2012|p=137}}{{sfn|Johansen|2005|pp=109–110}} [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] opposition to the enslavement of native Amerindians inadvertently contributed to the proliferation of black African slaves in their place.{{sfn|Morgan|2007|pp=3-4}} In words of outrage, [[Junipero Serra]] wrote of the depredations of the soldiers against Indian women in California in 1770.{{sfn|Castañeda|1993|p=15}} Following through on missionary complaints, [[Antonio María de Bucareli|Viceroy Bucareli]] drew up the first regulatory code of California, the ''Echeveste Regulations.''{{sfn|Castañeda|1993|p=19}} Missionary opposition and military prosecution failed to protect the Amerindian women.{{sfn|Castañeda|1993|pp=23–26}} On the one hand, California missionaries sought to protect the Amerindians from exploitation by the conquistadores, the ordinary soldiers and the colonists. On the other hand, Jesuits, [[Franciscans]] and other orders relied on [[corporal punishment]] and an institutionalized [[racialism]] for training the "untamed savages".{{sfn|Castañeda|1993|pp=28–29}} === French Canada, North America, west Africa and the West Indies === In the seventeenth century, the [[French colonial empire|French]] used [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] as a means of establishing colonies controlled by the nation-state rather than private companies.{{sfn|Belmessous|2013|p=6}} Referred to as the "[[Civilizing mission|Civilizing Mission]]", the goal was a political and religious community representative of an ideal society as articulated through the [[Progressivism|progressive theory of history]]. This common theory of the time asserts that history shows the normal progression of society is toward constant betterment; that humans could therefore eventually be perfected; that primitive nations could be forced to become modern states wherein that would happen.{{sfn|Belmessous|2013|pp=2–5}}{{sfn|Priestley|2018|p=192}}{{sfn|Burrows|1986|p=abstract}} The French advocated multiple aspects of European culture such as "[[civility]], [[social organization]], [[law]], [[economic development]], [[Marital status|civil status]]", as well as European dress, bodily description, religion, and more, excluding and replacing local culture as the means to this end.{{sfn|Belmessous|2013|pp=1–2}} Dutch historian [[Henk Wesseling]] describes this as "... turning the coloured peoples - by means of education - into coloured Frenchmen".{{sfn|Wesseling|2015|p=201}} === Dutch Indonesia, South Africa, Curaçao, New Guinea === The [[Dutch Reformed church]] was not a dominant influence in the Dutch colonies.{{sfn|Oostindie|2008|p=8}} However, the [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch East Indies Trading Company]] was a dominant force; it became a monopoly with government support as a merchant company, a military power, a government, and even an agricultural producer. Dutch imperialism began with a military takeover of the [[Banda Islands|Bandanese island]] of Pulau Ay in 1615, which was followed by more military action, forced relocation (and forced mobilization), slavery, the slave trade which defined people as property like crops, and other forms of coerced labor.{{sfn|van Rossum|2020|p=abstract}}{{sfn|Rogozinski|2000|pp=213-214}} === British North America, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Africa === Colonies in the Americas experienced a distinct type of colonialism called [[settler colonialism]] that replaces indigenous populations with a settler society. Settler colonial states include Canada, the United States, Australia, and South Africa.{{sfn|Barker|Lowman|n.d.}} Great Britain's colonial expansion was for the most part driven by commercial ambitions and competition with France.{{sfn|Britannica|British Empire|2023}} Investors saw converting the natives as a secondary concern.{{sfn|Robinson|1952|pp=152–168}} Historian of British history and culture, Laura Stevens, writes that British missions were "more talk than walk".{{sfn|Schacter|2011|p=2}} From the beginning, the British talked (and wrote) a great deal about converting native populations, but actual efforts were few and feeble.{{sfn|Schacter|2011|p=2}} Historian [[Jacob J. Schacter|Jacob Schacter]] says these missions were universally Protestant, were based on belief in the traditional duty to "teach all nations", the sense of "obligation to extend the benefits of Christianity to heathen lands" (just as Europe itself had been "civilized" centuries before), and a "fervent pity" for those who had never heard the gospel.{{sfn|Schacter|2011|p=5}} Schacter adds that "ambivalent benevolence" was at the heart of most British and American attitudes toward Native Americans.{{sfn|Schacter|2011|p=3}} The British did not create widespread conversion.{{sfn|Schacter|2011|p=2}} ==== In the United States ==== {{main|History of immigration to the United States}} Missionaries played a crucial role in the [[acculturation]] of the [[Cherokee]] and other American Indians.{{sfn|Noll|1992|p=188}} A peace treaty with the Cherokee in 1794 stimulated a cultural revival and the welcoming of white missionaries, says historian [[Mark A. Noll|Mark Noll]]. He has written that "what followed was a slow but steady acceptance of the Christian faith".{{sfn|Noll|1992|p=188}} Both Christianization and the Cherokee people received a fatal blow after the discovery of gold in north Georgia in 1828. Cherokee land was seized by the government, and the Cherokee people were transported West in what became known as the [[Trail of tears]].{{sfn|Noll|1992|pp=188–190}} The history of [[American Indian boarding schools|boarding schools]] for the indigenous populations in Canada and the US is not generally good. While the majority of native children did not attend boarding school at all, of those that did, recent studies indicate a few found happiness and refuge while many others found suffering, forced assimilation, and abuse.{{sfn|Eder|Reyhner|2017|p=6}} Historian [[William Gerald McLoughlin]] has written that, humanitarians who saw the decline of indigenous people with regret, advocated education and assimilation as the native's only hope for survival.{{sfn|McLoughlin|1984|p=abstract}}{{sfn|Eder|Reyhner|2017|p=3}} Over time, many missionaries came to respect the virtues of native culture. "After 1828, most missionaries found it difficult to defend the policies of their government" writes McLoughlin.{{sfn|McLoughlin|1984|p=abstract}} The beginning of American Protestant missions abroad followed the sailing of William Carey from England to India in 1793 after the [[Great awakening]].{{sfn|Noll|1992|p=185}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page