Jesuit Missions in Spanish America: The Aftermath of the Expulsion
Author(s): Olga Merino and Linda A. Newson
Source: Yearbook. Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, Vol. 21 (1995), pp. 133-148
Published by: University of Texas Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25765818
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Jesuit Missions in Spanish America:
The Aftermath of the Expulsion
Olga Merino
Institute of Latin American Studies
Tavistock Square
London WC1H0AP
U.K.
Linda A. Newson
Department of Geography
King's College London
Strand, London WC2R 2LS
U. K.
ABSTRACT
When the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish America in 1767
they were administering over 250,000 Indians in over 200
missions. The fate of the missions varied. Some were secularized,
others were encharged to other religious orders, while others
collapsed. Missions continued to be supported by the Crown
where they were the most economic means of defending the
frontier aganist foreign encroachment.
missions, were seen as a threat to state power (Lynch
1989: 280-84; Morner 1966: 17-24). On 27th
February 1767 Charles III ordered the expulsion of
the Society of Jesus from Spain and her dominions
(Hernandez 1908: 335-37); Jesuit buildings were to
be searched and their property and assets placed
under the administration of juntas de temporalidades.
As for the Jesuit missions, their temporal and spiritual
During the colonial period Jesuit missions acted
as primary institutions of colonization. They were
employed by the Spanish Crown to undertake the
preliminary Christianization and "civilization" of
native peoples, thus paving the way for Spanish
settlement and thereby extending and safeguarding
its dominion. However, between 1759 and 1768 the
Jesuits were expelled from the main European
administration was to be clearly separated. The
former was to be entrusted to civil administrators of
proved integrity; their spiritual welfare, which would
henceforth be under the direct control of bishops,
was to be handed over to secular priests or friars
from other religious orders (Aranda 1908: 351-55).
The fate of Jesuit missions in Spanish America
after the expulsion varied. Some were secularized,
others were entrusted to other missionary orders,
Catholic countries and their respective colonies, and
in 1773 Pope Clement XIV promulgated the official
while others collapsed. Numerous studies exist of
suppression of the Society of Jesus. These moves
but no overview exists of the varied fates of the
were the culmination of anti-Jesuit propaganda that
missions. This paper is a preliminary attempt to fill
this gap. It will analyze the pattern of post-Jesuit
had been fueled by Enlightenment ideas and growing
the process of Jesuit expulsion for individual areas,
religious nationalism; the allegiance of the Jesuits
to the Pope and their material wealth and autonomy,
administration, examining the implications of the
most visibly demonstrated in the Paraguayan
communities. Since the aftermath of expulsion was
form of control for the future of mission
Yearbook, Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, 1995, vol. 21, pp. 133-148
? Copyright 1995, Conference of Latin American Geographers
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134 CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS
strongly influenced by the history, context, and
problems faced by Jesuits in different areas, the study
will review briefly the background to missionary
endeavor in areas where they were staffing missions
on the eve of expulsion.
JESUIT MISSION FIELDS ON THE EVE
OF EXPULSION
The "spiritual conquest" of the densely settled
regions of central and southern Mexico, Central
America and the Andes was largely the work of
Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and
Mercedarians. The Society of Jesus was not formally
established until 1540 and did not begin work in Peru
and Mexico until 1568 and 1572 respectively. This
new, vigorous and highly disciplined order was
particularly concerned with the conversion of native
peoples. Because of their willingness to work in
remote areas, their organizational ability, and their
connections with persons of high office, despite their
late arrival they were able to carve out missionary
fields that exceeded those of other religious orders.
The Jesuits sought to establish missions in remote
areas where they would be free from interference by
civil administrators, encomenderos and other settlers
(Bamadas 1984:533-34). There they aimed not only
to convert Indians through aggressive preaching,
secularized and incorporated into the bishopric of
Durango. At that time the Jesuits were still working
in the northern Sierra Madre Occidental, the northern
Pacific coast, and Baja California, where they
possessed over 100 missions and administered a
minimum of 90,000 Indians (Table 1).
With few exceptions, Indian societies in this
border region were semi-sedentary. The relatively
larger communities on the mainland coast and
foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental were more
easily brought under Jesuit administration.
Elsewhere hostile groups often resisted
missionization and native revolts, often stimulated
by epidemics (Reff 1991: 271-74) or encouraged by
white settlers who sought access to mission labor,
resulted in frequent shifts in missionary activity. In
Baja California conflict with settlers was mitigated
by the absence of mineral wealth, but here the barren
soil and shortage of water meant that few missions
were self-sufficient and as such had to depend on
irregular supplies from the mainland. Even though
the legend of California's insularity was dispelled
in 1746, it was not until the post-Jesuit period, when
the "pacification" of the north-west corridor was
finally achieved, that transportation by land from
New Spain finally became feasible.
A special feature of the Californian missions was
their financing. Early attempts to colonize the region
often conducted in the native language, but at
enhancing the economic and social viability of
mission communities as independent entities.
had been costly and fruitless such that the Crown
was unwilling to commit further resources. Hence
Ultimately, however, their isolationist policies ran
counter to those of the civil authorities and secular
on the condition that they financed the venture
church who viewed the missionary orders' role as
one of preparing native peoples for integration into
colonial society.
Viceroyalty of New Spain
The Jesuits arrived in Mexico in 1572, but it was
the Jesuits were permitted to work in the Peninsula
themselves (Dunne 1952: 354). They therefore
established the Pious Fund (1697), which not only
financed the enterprise through donations, but gave
them a degree of autonomy not enjoyed by Jesuits
elsewhere (Bolton 1935: 275).
not until the 1590s that they began working in Sinaloa
Viceroyalty of New Granada
and Nueva Vizcaya. During the early seventeenth
Colombia and Venezuela: The Jesuits founded their
century their efforts extended northward through
Tarahumara country and Sonora, and between 1697
first college in present-day Colombia in 1598. Early
attempts to establish missions in the eastern lowlands
1767 they founded a chain of missions in Baja
California (Bolton 1935-36: 262, 265-77; Merrill
were thwarted by opposition from the secular clergy
and Spanish settlers such that it was not until 1662
1993:131-35). They had also begun work in Nayarit
that missionary work began in earnest. At that time
in 1716. In so doing the Jesuits had effectively pushed
five missionary orders (Jesuits, Dominicans,
the frontier northwards allowing silver mining and
Franciscans, Augustinians, and a branch of the last
livestock economies to develop in their wake. By
1767 many Jesuit missions had already been
order known as Recoletos) were assigned territories
in the eastern lowlands (Rausch 1984:48-68).
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MERINO 135
Table 1. Jesuit Missions in Spanish America
Date of
Number of
Number of Centers
Indians
Mission Field First Mission (Settlements) in 1767
Control of Spiritual Affairs after 1767
NEW SPAIN
Sinaloa
Sonora
1591
Chinipas
1621
Tarahumara
1607/1673
Baja California
1697
19 (60)
14
1721
7
c.2,8005
102
c. 80,800
Nayarit
21 (50)
29 (60)
12
1614
TOTAL
30,0001
secularized
15,0002
2 secularized, 27 Franciscans
25,0003 J
c.7-8,0004
1 secularized, 11 Franciscans
9 secularized, 10 Franciscans
1768-1773 Franciscans, from 1773 Dominicans
Franciscans
NEW GRANADA
Casanare
1661
Meta
1723
4
1684/1732
6
1638
25 (37)7
14,0008 secularized to 1770, Franciscans to 1774,
42
23,940
Upper Orinoco
Mainas
5,4206 5 Dominicans, 2 Franciscans
TOTAL
2,2006 1 Franciscans, 3 Augustinian Recoletos
2,3206 Franciscans
secularized to 1790, Franciscans from 1790
- PERU 18,5359
secularized
19,98110
secularized
Chaco 1638/1732 15
20,100n
7 secularized, 5 Franciscans, 3 unknown
Paraguay 1609 30
88,86412
10 Franciscans, 10 Mercedarians, 10 Dominicans
Llanos de Mojos 1668 15
Chiquitos 1690 10
Taruma 1746 2
4,31713
Chile (Valdivia) 1595 2(85)
Chile (Chiloe) 1617 4(77)
?
Franciscans
10,47814
Franciscans
collapsed
TOTAL
78
162,275+
GRAND TOTAL
c.222
c.267,015
Missions 1967: 949; Reff (1991): 211-13, 216-18 provides
6 Alvarado(1893): 125-127.
figures for the missions for 1759 which sum to 35,553, but
notes that many were working outside the missions.
7 Velasco (1979) 3: 457-59.
Gerhard (1982): 285 estimates 17,370 Indians in Sonora in
1765, but not all would have been under Jesuit
administration. Reff (1991): 219-20, 226 includes figures
for 1764 which sum to 14,435.
Revilla Gigedo (1966): 43-46.
Revilla Gigedo (1966): 22 gives 8,000 at the time of
expulsion; Missions (1967): 950 gives nearly 8,000 in 1768;
Gerhard (1982): 294 estimates that there were 14,060
Indians in the whole Peninsula; Engelhardt (1929): 342
gives 6,585 for 13 missions.
Revilla Gigedo (1966): 17; Gerhard (1982): 113.
8 See text.
9 Rene-Moreno (1888): 17, 133.
10Rene-Moreno (1888): 311. Metraux (1948) notes a 1766
census which recorded 23,788 Indians and an account by
the Intendant of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Francisco de
Viedma, in 1788 suggested there were about 22,000 Indians
(Larson 1988: 248).
11 Missions (1967): 954.
12Gonzalez (1942): 290.
13Dobrizhoffer (1822): 52-56.
14Enrich (1891): 284-85,433.
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136 CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS
WJjB^- Sonora
Jkm Tarahumara _ Post-Jesuit Administration
Secularized
Baja ^^ChinipasC
^1 \Sinaloa ?H Other
Missionary Orders
California V xT . __
/INayant V Alternating Secular/Regular Control
_'^N__hJ Mission Field Abandoned
Jesuit work in this region faced opposition from
settlers, and was threatened by the hostility of the
Carib and Guahibo, sometimes abetted by the Dutch.
The Indians also failed to adapt to a sedentary life
and the relatively late foundation of many missions
meant that at the time of the expulsion they had not
been consolidated. The Jesuits left seven missions
in the Llanos de Casanare with over 5,420
^V^r^rx/ Casanare JT^^^^l
\ <0^W Upper Orinoco^x
J Meta \
C ( Y^' Mainas / ( |
inhabitants, four on the banks of the Meta River with
2,200, and six in the Upper Orinoco with 2,320
(Alvarado 1893: 125-27; Navarro 1960b: 711-12;
Pacheco 1968: 353-54; Rausch 1984: 63).
Amazon Headwaters: Jesuits arrived in Lima in
1568 and Quito in 1586, but they did not establish
missions in the Amazonian headwaters until 1638.
X^^^<\^ Chiquitos \ C i
Chaco\ I Tam4a
Initial efforts focussed on the Upper Maranon and
its main tributaries, but in the eighteenth century they
extended their jurisdiction into the Napo and Lower
Maranon (Grohs 1974: 124). At the time of their
expulsion the Jesuits possessed twenty-five mission
\ / ^JpP Paraguay
Valdivia |j|
secularized and the remaining twenty-one contained
9,163 Indians (Mariano de Echeverna and Aguilar y
Chiloe |f J
c
r
centers from which they administered fifteen
settlements in the Upper Maranon, twelve in the
Lower Maranon and ten in the Napo (Velasco 1979:
457-59). By 1769 four missions had already been
Saldana 1911: 371-72). Slightly earlier accounts
0
2000
give higher estimates of about 14,000 (Astrain 1925:
432; Chantre y Herrera 1901: 582-83; Jouanen 1941
2: 537;Porrasl987:51).
Communications in this region, being largely by
river, were perhaps the most difficult of all the areas
The Jesuits began work in the Llanos de Casanare,
but they hoped to found missions along the Meta
River and extend their activities to Guayana in order
to control traffic on the Orinoco and open up trade
with Europe. Attempts to expand into Guayana were
thwarted by hostile Indians, but after 1715 they
established missions on the Meta River and in the
Middle Orinoco. Expansion further east was
prevented by an agreement in 1734 which limited
their activities to the west of the Cuchivero River.
Even though the Jesuits received official military
support as well as some financial backing, their
missionary work in this region was financed largely
from the profits from their sugar estates and livestock
in which the Jesuits worked (Astrain 1925: 405).
Shortages of missionaries and the diversity of native
languages spoken were additional obstacles to
missionary work, while mission stability was
undermined by epidemics and the failure of the
Indians to adapt easily to a sedentary life (Gonzalez
Suarez 1970: 137^7; Vargas Ugarte 1960 3: 289).
Finally these missions effectively held the frontier
against the Portuguese advance upriver and were
constantly subject to slave raids from Para, which
were sometimes aided and abetted by Carmelite
missionaries who disputed Jesuit jurisdiction along
the Maranon as far as the Napo River (Astrain 1925:
423; Gonzalez Suarez 1970: 165).
raising enterprises.
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MERINO 137
175). One of the most important industries to
Viceroyalty of Peru
Llanos de Mojos: Between 1539 and 1631
numerous expeditions in search of a land of "fabulous
wealth" were conducted through the extensive
rainforest at the foot of the Andes to the Llanos de
Mojos. However Jesuit work did not begin among
the chiefdoms of this region until 1668 and during
the following century over twenty missions were
founded, the first in 1682 (Barnadas 1984b: 146
49; Block 1994: 35-54; Denevan 1966: 28-33).
Some settlements were abandoned because of
revolts, epidemics, or poor locations, but in 1767
fifteen missions remained housing 18,535 Indians
(Rene-Moreno 1888: 17,133). According to a later
develop was the production of wax, which bartered
in Potosi and from there distributed throughout Peru
financed the purchase of iron for tools that were
essential to retain the Indians in the missions. In
1767 the ten Jesuit missions contained about 20,000
Chiquito (Rene-Moreno 1888: 311; Metraux 1948:
384; Larson 1988: 248).
The Chaco: The Chaco was inhabited by a large
number of tribes, such as the Toba, Mocobie,
Chiriguano, Abipon, Vilela, Lule. Perhaps the most
notable were the warlike Chiriguano against whom
the Inka fortified their eastern borders (Caraman
1976: 189; Larson 1988: 249). During the
account by the Governor of Mojos, Lazaro de Ribera,
seventeenth century Jesuits, Franciscans,
it would appear that just prior to the expulsion there
had been 30,000 under Jesuit administration, but as
Augustinians, and Dominicans all made intermittent
attempts to convert these Indians, but in 1727 a major
early as 1788 their numbers had fallen rapidly to
20,000 (Denevan 1966: 33; Parejas Moreno 1976:
953). Since the region was remote from any Spanish
secular activity, the Jesuits were able to develop the
missions as close to the ideal-type they envisaged.
Although the Mojo missions never equalled the
prosperity of those in Paraguay, economically they
were moderately successful producing cotton
textiles, cacao, and tallow. They were of added
significance because of their strategic location. As
with the Guarani missions, they acted as a barrier to
Portuguese advance west, in this case through the
Mato Grosso and up the River Madeira. Indeed they
played an active role in the frontier dispute with
Brazil that in 1771 resulted in the boundary being
drawn at the Guapore River (Denevan 1966: 32-33).
Chiquitos: The Chiquito Indian group, who
revolt resulted in the destruction of all the Chiriguano
missions (Metraux 1948: 467^8). In 1732 Jesuits
from the College of Santa Fe began to establish
missions in the southern part of the Chaco and within
thirty years had established two strings of missions
along its eastern and western boundaries, effectively
protecting the Spanish towns they flanked from
hostile attack. The stability of the Chaco missions
depended on the ability of the Jesuits to maintain a
constant supply of tools and gifts, without which the
Indians would resort to raiding. Even so the secular
authorities provided little financial support for the
purchase of such goods (Caraman 1976: 197-98).
Despite official indifference and Indian hostility,
which made the Chaco a difficult region for mission
ary work, in 1767 the Jesuits left fifteen mission
stations which, although poor in terms of material
belonged to the Guarani family, extended from the
eastern foothills of the Andes to the frontiers of
prosperity (Hernandez 1908: 133; Caraman 1976:
196), housed 20,100 Indians (Missions 1967: 954).
present-day Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Jesuit
Paraguay: Although Jesuits belonging to the
work in this region began in 1690 with the
province of Paraguay penetrated as far as the Pampas
establishment of a college at Tarija, north of Jujuy.
The Chiquito were semi-nomadic, cultivating manioc
and maize, but being seasonally dependent on
hunting and fishing. As with the Guarani, the need
for protection against Brazilian enslavers encouraged
them to move into the missions. However, the
Chiquito missions failed to thrive like their
and Patagonia, in 1767 they were only staffing
missions among the Guaranf and in the
aforementioned Chaco. The Jesuits arrived in
Asuncion in 1585, but they did not found their first
stable reductions until 1609. At the time of their
expulsion, they were administering 88,864 souls in
thirty missions (Furlong 1962:630; Gonzalez 1942:
Paraguayan counterparts: the shortage of pasture, for
290). They were located in four contiguous
instance, made livestock raising impossible on the
same scale as the southern missions (Caraman 1976:
geographical areas limited by the basins of the Alto
Parana and Uruguay rivers. Eight were situated in
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138 CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS
present-day Paraguay, fourteen in Argentina and
seven in Brazil.
In managing the Guarani reductions, the Jesuits
sustained a long struggle on three fronts: against the
expansionist designs of the Portuguese, the enslaving
raids of the bandeirantes, and the labor demands of
settlers. The importance of the Guarani missions
was heightened by their location on the border
between Spanish and Portuguese territories. Due to
a limited Spanish presence in the area and the
Crown's lack of financial resources to strengthen its
military position, it depended on the Jesuit missions
to defend the frontier. Whereas border missions were
often supported by military garrisons, the residents
of the Guarani reductions in themselves constituted
a military contingent at the disposal of the Spanish
state. According to Armani between 1644 and 1766
the Guarani were employed in up to seventy Spanish
military operations (Armani 1987: 113). In return
for their military duties from 1649 they were
exempted from forced labor and their tribute
payments reduced (Morner 1953: 120). These
privileges fostered the image of the Guarani missions
as an enclosed world?as "a state within a state"?
and they were continually opposed by Spanish
settlers who sought access to Indian labor. The
wealth acquired by the Jesuits through the efficient
established at San Joaqufn, and another was founded
at San Estamslao in 1751. Their late foundation and
the natives' failure to adapt to a sedentary life, meant
that at the time of expulsion they contained only
2,017 and 2,300 Indians respectively (Caraman 1976:
257; Dobrizhoffer 1822: 52-56).
Chile: Jesuit work in Chile was shaped by wars with
the Araucanians and opposition from Spanish
settlers. The state of perpetual war with the Indians
necessitated a permanent frontier army in which
soldiers supplemented their low incomes by slave
raiding. Due to the Indians' refusal to submit to
Spanish authority this practice received official
sanction, and it was supported by Spanish settlers
desirous of Indian labor. Even though Jesuit
opposition to slavery ran counter to the vested
interests of the soldiers, encomenderos and
estancieros, it was abolished in 1674. The enslaving
raids and Araucanian resistance constituted a difficult
environment in which to undertake missionary
activity (Valdes Bunster 1985: 37-42). The worst
uprisings occurred in 1598, 1655 and 1723 when
many missions were destroyed. However, in the
archipelago of Chiloe the Jesuits undertook
continuous missionary work for more than 160 years.
Here they put into practice a system of "circular" or
"flying" missions where, from a small number of
running of their enterprises, associated in this area
with the production of yerba mate, cattle raising and
textile manufacture, further inspired resentment.
Conflict with the Portuguese also threatened the
mission centers, the Jesuits administered the
reductions. Paulista raids were particularly severe
during the 1630s when maybe 60,000 neophytes
operating from four mission centers administering
10,478 Indians in 77 mission stations (Enrich 1891:
were captured and sold in Brazilian markets, forcing
the Jesuits to move the missions further west
(Furlong 1962: 120). Later under the Tratado de
Lfmites in 1750, Portugal ceded to Spain the colony
of Sacramento in exchange for Spanish territory
sacraments periodically to scattered populations
(Enrich 1891:262-64; Hanisch Espindola 1974: 65
67). At the time of the expulsion the Jesuits were
284-85). Meanwhile, in Arauco Jesuit activity
appears to have ceased with a major uprising in 1766
(Hanisch Espindola 1974: 64), but previously they
had administered 91 mission stations from 17 centers
(Missions 1967: 954). In Valdivia the Jesuits also
between the Uruguay and Ubicui rivers (today's Rio
Grande do Sul), where seven of the reductions were
possessed two mission fields composed of 85 mission
Spanish territory, but the Indians rebelled and had
THE FATE OF THE MISSIONS
located. These missions were to be transferred to
to be subjugated by force of arms. In 1761 Charles
III revoked the Treaty and the seven missions were
restored, but the war had cost 16,000 Indian lives
(Caraman 1976: 235-53; Furlong 1962: 646-74).
The Jesuits also worked among the Tobatine, a
branch of the Guarani, in Taruma in central Paraguay.
In 1746, after many failures, a mission was
stations (Aranguiz 1967: 328).
Royal instructions stipulated that the temporal
and spiritual administration of Jesuit missions was
to be clearly separated. The former was to be
entrusted to civil administrators, while bishops were
called upon to provide replacement clergy, either
secular priests or members of other religious orders
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MERINO 139
(Aranda 1908: 351-55). It was intended that
labor and acquiring mission lands. Typical mining
missions established in Spanish America would be
centers had developed and the region had lost many
transitional institutions entrusted with the
preliminary conversion and "civilization" of Indians
in frontier regions. In theory they were to last only
ten years, after which they were to be handed over
to the secular clergy and the Indians made liable for
tribute payment and labor service. Secularization was
of its frontier characteristics. Conditions were
therefore ripe for secularization. Indeed the process
had already begun in 1755 when over twenty
missions were placed under the authority of the
bishop of Durango (Chapman 1925:204). Following
the expulsion all Jesuit settlements in Sinaloa were
the Crown's ultimate objective and it signified that
put in the hands of secular clergy. However, only a
the process of conversion and "civilization" was
reasonably complete. Secularization was advocated
missions but staffed by secular priests (Gerhard 1982:
by bishops who wished to extend their authority and
23). In Sonora, of the twenty-nine Jesuit missions
enhance diocesan income, and it was supported by
employers who sought access to mission labor. A
major obstacle to secularization was the absolute
Miguel Oposura, became doctrinas staffed by secular
few became beneficios, many being retained as
only two, San Francisco Javier Batuco and San
shortage of secular priests as well as their reluctance
to undertake unattractive and less remunerative work
priests; the rest were taken over by Franciscans
(Gerhard 1982: 284).
The bishop of Durango had hoped to secularize
in frontier regions. Another impediment was that in
the Tarahumara missions, but insufficient clergy were
insufficiently prepared for an independent existence.
available. As a result only nine of the nineteen
missions in this area were secularized and not all
For these reasons, the majority of missions were
possessed resident priests (Revilla Gigedo 1966:43
taken over by other religious orders.
46). The remaining missions, along with those from
Chinipas, became the responsibility of Franciscans
from the College of Guadalupe de Zacatecas. In
some areas mission Indians were considered
The fate of the Jesuit missions after the expulsion
will be considered under four headings: secularized
missions, missions that were taken over by other
religious orders, missions that collapsed, and those
that may be considered "special cases."
Nevertheless, these divisions are not clear-cut. For
example, in some areas the shortage of secular clergy
meant that missions that were meant to be secularized
were entrusted to other religious orders and in others
the shortcomings of one group of clergy lead to its
replacement by another. The section "secularized
missions" includes only those missions that were
actually transformed into curatos or beneficios. In
the long-term most missions declined, but the section
devoted to "missions that collapsed" considers only
those missions whose demise occurred within several
decades following expulsion regardless of whether
they were abandoned or entrusted initially to secular
or regular clergy (Table 1).
terms of the native population, less than half of the
population passed to secular administration, which
proved largely a failure because of the economic
decline of the missions and the shortage of clergy to
staff them on a permanent basis.
Secularization was not as extensive in other
regions of Spanish America partly because of the
shortage of secular clergy, but also because the
capacity of the Indians to live an independent
existence following their close supervision by the
Jesuits was called into question. This was the case
in the Llanos de Mojos and Chiquitos where a unique
form of administration was introduced which
effectively maintained the mission system run by
secular clergy. In the Chaco those missions entrusted
to the secular clergy soon collapsed, while in the
province of Mainas in the Amazon headwaters the
shortcomings of the secular clergy soon led to their
Secularized Missions
Secularization was most rapid in New Spain,
above all in Sinaloa and southern Sonora. At the
time of the expulsion these regions represented the
northern limit of secularization. Their mineral wealth
had attracted large numbers of settlers who pressed
for secularization with a view to exploiting Indian
replacement by Franciscans.
Missions Taken Over by Other Religious
Orders
Most Jesuit missions in Spanish America were
taken over by the Franciscans, though other religious
orders were involved particularly in New Granada
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140 CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS
and Paraguay. Provincials of the religious orders
already operating in different regions were called
upon to provide substitute clergy. The pattern of
replacement therefore reflected in part their
distribution at the time of expulsion. However, the
Franciscans assumed a particularly prominent role.
Not only had they been second to the Jesuits in
converting Indians in frontier regions, but starting
in 1683 they had established a chain of apostolic
colleges to provide training for missionary work in
which they incorporated some of the methods
employed by the Jesuits (Barnadas 1984a: 535).
Broadly speaking about two-thirds of the Jesuit
missions in New Spain were taken over by the
Franciscans. Although some missions in southern
Sonora and Nueva Vizcaya were sufficiently
consolidated to be handed over to diocesan clergy,
the shortage of secular priests necessitated the
entrusted to civil administrators (Gonzalez 1942:
295-302). Rather than being assigned as contiguous
groups, each group of ten missions was dispersed
throughout the region with the likely aim of limiting
any independent power that might emerge from a
unified territorial base. Despite the involvement of
three missionary orders, together they were able to
provide only fifty-six priests to replace the eighty
Jesuits who had been expelled (Hernandez 1908:
271).
The Jesuit missions in Chile were mainly taken
over by Franciscans. Native hostility prevented
Franciscans from the Apostolic College at Chilian
from assuming immediate responsibility for the
Araucanian missions and in the interim they took
charge of those in the archipelago of Chiloe. About
1771 the latter were replaced by Franciscans from
the College of Santa Rosa de Ocopa in central Junin,
employment of Franciscans. In Sonora those
Peru, because it was considered to have better
between Franciscans from the College of Santiago
by sea (Enrich 1891: 433-34; Missions 1967: 953;
Urbina Burgos 1983: 168). The College at Chilian
missions that were not secularized were divided
de Jalisco (8) and the College of Santa Cruz de
Queretaro (19) (Gerhard 1982: 284). The former
college also took charge of the Jesuit missions in
Nayarit. Meanwhile those in Chinipas and
Tarahumara country were taken over by Franciscans
from the College of Guadalupe de Zacatecas.
Initially the Baja California missions were tended
by Franciscans from the College of San Fernando
resources and easier communications with Chiloe
also assumed responsibility for the two missions left
in the Valdivia region.
Missions That Collapsed
All former Jesuit missions eventually declined,
but the process was more rapid in areas where
mission communities were insufficiently con
solidated at the time of the expulsion. Different
de Mexico, but in 1773 some were transferred to the
Dominicans to allow the Franciscans to direct their
combinations of factors were responsible in different
attention to Alta California. The Baja California
missions will be analyzed below as a special case.
failure of mission Indians to adapt to a sedentary
In the Viceroyalty of Peru shortages of secular
clergy and their reluctance to work in remote frontier
regions severely restricted secularization. In
Paraguay, the Marquis, Francisco de Paula Bucareli
y Ursua, Governor of Buenos Aires, had hoped to
secularize the Paraguayan missions, but the local
bishop could recruit only ten secular priests. He
therefore sought the assistance of the Franciscans,
Mercedarians, and Dominicans. These orders were
reluctant to fill the posts and they attempted to
bargain, unsuccessfully, for a tripartite division of
the area and for temporal as well as spiritual authority
in the missions (Furlong 1962: 676-77; Hernandez
1908: 201-22). Eventually each religious order
assumed spiritual responsibility for ten of the thirty
Guarani reductions, while their temporalities were
areas, but included their weak economic base, the
life, native hostility, and the advance of the
Portuguese. Many of the missions that collapsed
were entrusted for brief periods to either secular or
regular clergy who failed to maintain them. Included
under this heading were the former Jesuit missions
in the Amazon headwaters, the Upper Orinoco, and
the Chaco.
In the Amazon headwaters, Jesuits in the
province of Mainas had been aware of the precarious
state of the missions and had clamored for the
provision of a good road and for arms for defence
against the Portuguese (Gonzalez Suarez 1970:255).
Neither were provided and in 1806 the President of
the Audiencia of Quito reported that the missions
that had been won at great cost had collapsed and
that the Indians were now subject to enslavement by
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MERINO 141
the Portuguese (Vargas Ugarte 1961 4: 164). The
decline of these missions was hastened by poor
management that changed frequently in the years
immediately after the expulsion (Gonzalez Suarez
1970: 189-97; Vargas Ugarte 1961 4: 89). Initially,
they were handed over to the secular clergy, but due
to inept management in 1770 they were replaced by
Franciscans from the province of Quito. However,
the situation did not improve. The Franciscans were
unable to maintain resident priests and were charged
with ill treating the Indians, such that in 1774 secular
priests were put in charge once again. However, their
energies were largely spent in trading goods to
supplement their poor salaries, so that in 1790 they
were again replaced by Franciscans from Quito.
Finally, in an attempt to save the region from
irremediable decline, in 1803 the Crown established
the bishopric of Mainas under the authority of the
archbishop of Peru and from that time onwards the
missions were staffed by Franciscans from the
College of Santa Rosa de Ocopa.
In present-day Venezuela and Colombia, five of
the seven Jesuit missions in the Llanos de Casanare
Special Cases
The missions in Baja California and those in the
Llanos de Mojos and Chiquitos are treated as special
cases since the clergy, regardless of whether they
were secular or regular, managed to retain control
of both spiritual and temporal affairs in the missions
after the expulsion.
Baja California: As already indicated, the Baja
California settlements were offered to Franciscans
of the College of San Fernando in Mexico City in
June 1767, but it was not until April 1768 that friars
reached the Peninsula. In the interim, the missions
were turned over to military commissioners, whose
mismanagement left the settlements in a state of near
ruin (Chapman 1925: 184-185; Engelhardt 1929:
346-347). As a result, the royal inspector, Jose de
Galvez, after a visita in late 1768, gave orders for
the return of the temporalities to missionary control.
At the same time he suppressed two of the fourteen
missions (Dolores and San Luis Gonzaga) since there
was little hope that they might improve.
Why did the Spanish Crown strengthen the
power of the missionaries in Baja California? As
were handed over to the Dominicans, while the other
products of the Enlightenment royal officials were
two, together with that of Jiramena on the Meta
River, were entrusted to the Franciscans. The other
three missions on the Meta River were transferred
reluctant to strengthen the mission system. However,
to the Recoletos (Pacheco 1968: 367; Rausch 1984:
they were anxious to protect the region from foreign
encroachment at minimal cost. Once the French had
lost their colonies in 1763 with their defeat in the
86). Franciscans also assumed responsibility for the
Seven Years War, the real threat came from the
missions in the Upper Orinoco, but they were unable
Russians and the English. As early as 1725 the
to take charge of them until 1785. In the interim
they were visited irregularly by Andalucian
Capuchins (Rey Fajardo 1974: 56-60; Navarro
1960b: 719). Economic decline, desertion, and the
failure to maintain resident priests meant that like
Russians, with the aim of stimulating the fur trade,
initiated expeditions along the Pacific coast.
Likewise, the English, who had captured Manila in
1762, threatened to approach California either from
eventually abandoned.
the Atlantic coast westward, or by sea from the
Pacific itself. Even though Baja California had not
proved an ideal ground for missionary activity,
abandoned soon after the expulsion. Here some
most economic means of holding the frontier
missions in the Amazon headwaters they were
Likewise, the missions in the Chaco were
missions were entrusted to secular clergy and others
to Franciscans, but in both cases the poor quality of
support for missionary endeavor was considered the
(Chapman 1925: 254-68; Aschmann 1959: 250).
In 1773 the Califomian mission field was divided
the clergy, the lack of resident priests, and economic
between the Franciscans and the Dominicans. Seven
decline were exacerbated by native hostility and
conflicts between neighboring groups such as
missions in the south of the Peninsula, were
Mocobie and Abipon (Bruno 1979: 79, 223-49).
Meanwhile, the two missions in Taruma were
abandoned as soon as the Jesuits left (Hernandez
1908: 205, 369).
of the remaining twelve missions, mainly the older
transferred to Dominican control (Engelhardt 1929:
456). The aim was to relieve the Franciscans from
their duties in Baja California to enable them to
occupy Alta California. Not only were the
Franciscans were more enthusiastic about this task,
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142 CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS
but by this means the Crown sought to open up an
essential supply route from Sonora that could save
the Californias from foreign occupation (Dunne
1952:425-26). During the Dominican period (1773
1868), some of the former Jesuit missions were
abandoned: Guadalupe and Santiago in 1795, and
San Pedro Martir about 1806 (Gerhard 1982: 295).
Like the Franciscans, the Dominicans also controlled
the management of the temporalities until the end of
the colonial period (Engelhardt 1929: 661).
Llanos de Mojos and Chiquitos: Jesuit missions
among the Mojo and Chiquito in eastern Bolivia
passed through two administrative phases: the so
called gobierno de los curas (11f61'-1790), when the
secular clergy assumed the temporal and spiritual
power that had been exercised by the Jesuits, and
the period from 1790 to 1830, when temporal affairs
were placed in the hands of civil administrators.
The expulsion of the Jesuits was particularly
difficult to implement in eastern Bolivia since this
extensive area was remote, largely unknown, and
communications were difficult. The Jesuits had
exercised absolute control in this region and the
capacity of the Indians to lead an independent life
after the expulsion was questioned. At the same time
it was judged essential to maintain the mission
settlements as a buffer against Portuguese expansion
from the east. With these considerations in mind, the
archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Francisco
Ramon Herboso, was entrusted by the Audiencia of
Charcas to organize a system of government for the
former missions. In the event the new system
differed little from that which had existed under the
Jesuits except that the Indians were permitted to trade
and the missions were to be run by secular clergy:
one priest was put in charge of temporal matters and
the other had responsibility for spiritual affairs. In
practice, however, only the most important
"missions" were assigned two priests (Parejas
religious codes, appropriated the greater part of the
missions' income, diverted produce from the
missions to merchants in Santa Cruz and
Cochabamba, and encouraged contraband trade with
the Portuguese in Mato Grosso (Barnadas 1984b:
161-62; Desdevises de Dezert 1918: 392-93; Larson
1988: 250-51; Ribeiro de Assis Bastos 1971: 154).
In January 1790, the Audiencia accepted a plan
drawn up by the governor of Mojos, Lazaro de
Ribera, to rectify the twenty-two years of corrupt
and inefficient administration by transferring the
authority over temporal affairs to civil administrators.
Subsequently the missions were run more efficiently,
but the increased commercialization it brought
undermined the basis of mission culture, provoking
social unrest and desertion (Block 1994: 125-141;
Larson 1988: 250; Parejas Moreno 1976: 951-53).
ANALYSIS OF THE DECLINE OF THE
MISSIONS
Although diverse factors were involved in the
collapse of mission settlements in different regions,
it is possible to identify some common factors which
contributed to their decline, such as the shortage of
priests to assume the posts, the lack of financial
support, the appointment of civil administrators,
depopulation, and political conflicts.
The Shortage of Clergy
The order for the expulsion of the Jesuits
required the secular authorities to provided suitable
clergy to replace them. However, not only was there
an absolute shortage of priests, but many were
reluctant to serve in frontier regions. In addition
many were ill-prepared for the task, a particular
problem being their lack of knowledge of native
languages. Although secularization could be justified
in some areas, such as among the Guarani or in
Sonora, shortages of secular clergy made it
Moreno 1976: 950; Rene-Moreno 1888: 67; Vargas
impossible. Even where secularization occurred,
such in the Sierra Madre Occidental, the missions
Major problems with this form of administration
sometimes had no resident priests (Revilla Gigedo
1966: 43-44). In some areas, such in the Llanos de
Ugarte 1965: 144).
were the shortage of clergy and the poor quality of
those appointed, most of whom were not versed in
native languages and some had not even been
ordained (Vargas Ugarte 1965: 144). The so-called
gobierno de los curas was characterized by moral
and economic decline. The priests broke ethical and
Mojos, Chiquitos, and the Amazon headwaters,
priests were precipitately ordained to take over the
missions (Gonzalez Suarez 1970: 190-91). Even
so, as in the Upper Orinoco and Chiloe, many posts
remained vacant for long periods and those appointed
were often too few to attend all the settlements under
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MERINO 143
their jurisdiction. Furthermore, those appointed were
behalf of the Californias, not counting the cost of
of poor quality and lacked training. This was perhaps
supplies and contributions from the Pious Fund.
most evident in the Llanos de Mojos and Chiquitos
during the gobierno de los curas when some were
prosecuted for scandalous behaviour, seizure of
missions is highlighted when it is considered that
goods and illicit trade with the Portuguese (Barnadas
failed to receive their salaries (Revilla Gigedo 1966:
1984b: 161). These issues will be analysed further
below.
The Lack of Financial Support
Financial support for the missions after
expulsion was also a determining factor in their
survival (Vargas Ugarte 1961 4: 77). Some
reductions, such as those among the Guarani, had
well developed economies that enabled them to sur
vive longer despite the post-Jesuit mismanagement.
Meanwhile the persistence of the missions that had
Royal interest in the survival of the Baja California
secular priests in Sinaloa and southern Sonora often
27, 37).
Mismanagement by the New Administration
Without exception all former Jesuit missions
experienced economic decline. Most authors
attribute this to the new administration or the
negligence of particular civil administrators. In fact,
the economic organization inherited from the Jesuits
changed very little, although Indians in the missions
failed to develop a self-sufficient economic base,
were henceforth free to trade (Aranda 1908: 352).
Even their communal organization was, in theory,
to be preserved. Some potential problems arising
such as those in the Amazon headwaters, Chile and
from the appointment of civil administrators and the
Baja California, depended on external financial
implementation of the "new economic system" were
actually foreseen. Thus, instructions concerning the
support.
In Chile the English threat to territories south of
the Bio Bio River persuaded the Spanish Crown to
management of the Guarani reductions issued in
support missionary efforts in this region. It permitted
1768 stipulated that Indians were to be paid a salary
and that a meeting was to be held every year after
the temporalities of the Jesuits to be used for this
purpose so that between 1769 and 1786, Franciscans
administrator of the "mission" to discuss its progress.
the harvest between the corregidor and the
from the College of Chilian restored those in Valdivia
In addition, the general administrator in Buenos Aires
and managed to establish six new missions. By 1806
had to deposit a surety of 10,000 pesos to cover
they had founded a further six, and in the nineteenth
century Franciscans from the College of Castro on
the island of Chiloe extended missionary activity to
the Strait of Magellan (Enrich 1891: 434,437,439
440; Missions 1967: 953). So important was
missionary activity in retaining control of this region,
that in 1840, after the Society of Jesus had been
restored, the Chilean government even debated
whether to allow the Jesuits to return (Hanisch
Espindola 1974: 195).
Similarly, the former Jesuit missions in Baja
California survived because the Crown was prepared
to commit substantial resources to retain control of
the region for strategic reasons. It permitted the
Franciscans and Dominicans to exercise authority
over the temporalities and used part of the Pious
Fund, which at the time of expulsion mounted to
800,000 pesos, to support missionary activity
(RevillaGigedo 1966:26-27; Chapman 1925:253).
Between January 1768 and the end of 1773, the
Spanish Crown expended over 570,000 pesos on
damages incurred through his possible
mismanagement (Gonzalez 1943-1945: 167-183).
Notwithstanding good intentions and
farsightedness, the new administrative system
brought changes which promoted economic decline.
First, it introduced civil administrators who were
often hastily appointed regardless of their
preparedness or suitability to the task. Diego de
Alvear, a witness to the plight of the Guarani
reductions in the 1780s, complained that those
appointed had no knowledge of financial
management and knew nothing of agriculture or
manufacturing (Hernandez 1908: 274-275). Also,
the system could not avoid a pervasive feature of
the Spanish colonial bureaucracy: corruption.
Administrators held their posts for only short periods
during which time they attempted to enhance their
poor salaries by profiting from trade, and in some
cases the indiscriminate slaughter of mission herds
(Lynch 1958: 187-90; Navarro 1960b: 719).
Meanwhile lands remained unmanaged and
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144 CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS
communal activities were abandoned. These
together undermined the economic security of the
missions and dissipated any sense of community
solidarity.
The right of Indians to trade directly with outside
groups, which had not been permitted under Jesuit
control, also had detrimental effects (Navarro 1960a:
706). Fearful that unaccustomed to outside trade
the Indians might be exploited, some restrictions
were imposed. The sale of alcohol was forbidden
The Depopulation of Mission Settlements
Depopulation following the expulsion was both
a cause and consequence of the decline of the
missions. Mission settlements lost population as a
result of epidemics and desertion. The Jesuits
themselves had often unwittingly introduced disease
and by congregating Indians in missions had
encouraged their spread. Opportunities for the
introduction and spread of disease were greatly
enhanced with the opening up of missions to outside
and trade was limited to certain periods of the year,
contacts. For example, syphilis did not appear in
for instance, to the first three months of the year, in
Baja California until the Jesuit missions were turned
the case of the Guarani, and to two annual fairs in
January-February and July-August, in the case of
the Mojo and Chiquito. Yet the Spanish Crown
miscalculated both the degree to which the new
administrators would respect the law and the
consequences that even restricted commerce might
bring. During the gobierno de los curas in the Llanos
de Mojos and Chiquitos a contraband network was
established with the Portuguese in which the
missions played a pivotal role. The secular priests
often traded products destined for mission stores at
Santa Cruz and Charcas with Spaniards or the
Portuguese. The Portuguese were particularly
interested in obtaining mission cattle to supply their
mines, while through the missions Spanish settlers
purchased Black slaves and diamonds from Brazil
(Barnadas 1984b: 161;RibeirodeAssisBastos 1973:
129-33).
The economic decline of the missions was
accelerated by the high costs of administration which
were a constant drain on their resources. Details of
the income and expenditure of the Chiquito missions
indicates that over eighty per cent of their annual
income was used to maintain the administrative
apparatus (Ribeiro de Assis Bastos 1973: 144).
Despite the high costs involved, the new
administrative system failed to maintain mission
communities. The division between temporal and
spiritual matters brought tensions between civil
administrators and the clergy, who often tried to
meddle in the management of the temporalities, and
conflicts arose between them and native leaders
(Armani 1987: 207-208; Ribeiro de Assis Bastos
1973: 122). Such clashes contributed to the
disintegration of mission communities and
encouraged desertion.
over to military commissioners after the expulsion
(Engelhardt 1929: 736-737; Revilla Gigedo 1966:
22). However, the main cause of mission
depopulation appears to have been desertion
encouraged by physical abuse, exploitation by civil
administrators, lack of supervision, or, mainly,
economic decline. The indiscriminate slaughter of
cattle, the abandonment of agricultural tasks and
mismanagement by the new administrators
undermined the economic viability of the former
missions. Populations losses in turn reduced
available sources of labor and encouraged Spaniards
to seize vacated mission lands, thereby weakening
the economy further and providing added stimulus
to desertion.
Yet what became of the Indians who abandoned
the missions? Some of the literature argues that the
Indians, freed from Jesuit control, returned to the
forest (Hernandez 1908: 135-140, 205, 213-214).
This view built around the Guarani above all, may
perhaps be explained by the discovery in the mid
nineteenth century of some isolated Guarani
communities where Christianity was still practised
(Caraman 1976: 286). Other historians have shown
that most former mission Indians were absorbed into
colonial society. Among the Guarani the more
enterprising or skilled sought employment in the
cities of Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Paraguay, Santa
Fe, Entre Rios and Corrientes, while the less skilled
found work as peons on Spanish estancias (Armani
1987: 208; Caraman 1976: 287-288; Mariluz
Urquijo 1953: 325). Likewise, those Indians who
deserted the missions in the Llanos de Mojos were
integrated into the colonial economy, a process which
was accelerated by the "rubber boom" of the mid
nineteenth century (Denevan 1966: 33).
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MERINO 145
It is worth noting that Brazil was the destination
of many Indians fleeing from missions in Paraguay,
the Llanos de Mojos, and Chiquitos. In the case of
the Paraguay missions, desertion to Brazil had begun
prior to the expulsion as a consequence of the Tratado
de Limites in 1750. Until 1761 when the Treaty was
revoked, the Portuguese gained the confidence of
the Guarani, who considered themselves betrayed
by the Spanish. Their experience encouraged many
Guarani who deserted the missions to flee to Brazil
where they were mainly gathered into militia corps
(Mariluz Urquijo 1953: 325). Similarly, in 1771
fugitives from the Chiquito missions were settled at
Vila Maria do Paraguay in Portuguese territory. The
Portuguese actively encouraged these desertions by
considering those who had fled to be free individuals
asking for asylum, while the Spanish authorities, not
denying their status as free individuals, considered
them to be fugitives who owed tribute to the Crown
(Ribeiro de Assis Bastos 1971: 165-166).
The return to the forest can be considered a myth
in the case of the Paraguay missions and those in the
Llanos de Mojos and Chiquitos, though even here it
was not unknown (Armani 1987:208 n.80; Denevan
1966: 39). It was more characteristic, however, of
areas where for the most part the missions collapsed.
In these regions the Indians had proved resistant to
sedentary life and the late date of mission foundations
had allowed only limited cultural assimilation. This
was the experience of missions in Nayarit in New
Spain (Gerhard 1982: 114), the Amazon headwaters
(Gonzalez Suarez 1970: 121, the Chaco (Caraman
1976: 293; Hernandez 1908: 277) and the southern
Chilean islands (Enrich 1891: 434).
Political Conflicts
In the longer term conflicts with the Portuguese
and the Independence wars also affected the fate of
the former Jesuit missions. In the case of the
Paraguayan missions, in 1801 the Portuguese seized
the whole Banda Oriental where seven reductions
were located. When the Spanish attempted to recover
them in 1810 a war ensued in which the missions
were effectively destroyed (Caraman 1976:289). At
the same time five of the Guarani reductions in
Argentine territory were devastated and their
inhabitants dispersed (Armani 1987: 209). The
Independence wars were also particularly destructive
in the River Plate area, while in Bolivia they were
associated with periodic raids on the reductions of
the Llanos de Mojos aimed at seizing cattle, horses
and silver (Denevan 1966:33). Remoter areas, such
as the Chiquitos, suffered to a much lesser degree
(Hernandez 1908:277, see also Caraman 1976:293).
Structural Problems
Among the factors that hastened the decline of
the missions after the expulsion were structural
problems inherited from the Jesuit system. Liberal
criticism of the eighteenth century blamed the Jesuits
for having imposed (where feasible) a paternalistic
regime that did not allow individual development.
Indeed, the Indians were kept in a state of "infancy"
because decision-making and management were
exercised by the friars, whose segregation policy
shielded them from external influence. Nevertheless,
those who succeeded the Jesuits often failed to
integrate the Indians into colonial society according
to the economic principles of Liberalism, but
maintained them in a state of "tutelage." This feature
of post-Jesuit administration stemmed from doubts
about the capacity of the Indians to live an
independent existence (Ribeiro de Assis Bastos 1971:
164). As such, the former Jesuit missions retained
many of their essential features. However, to function
effectively the administrative system required
isolation of the missions from outside contacts the
organization and discipline of the Jesuits, neither of
which pertained after their expulsion.
CONCLUSION
The expulsion of the Jesuits from Latin America
in 1767 may be interpreted as one of the Bourbon
reforms aimed at modernizing the colonial
bureaucracy, rooting out privilege and concentrating
power in the hands of the Crown. In the context of
conquest the missions had served the State well in
Christianizing and "civilizing" the Indians,
promoting the colonization of new lands and holding
imperial frontiers. Yet, in the context of settled
society, the mission was becoming an obsolete
device. Moreover, the dependence of the State on
the Church clashed with the principles of European
Enlightenment.
Even so, the fact that the Crown issued
instructions for the continued administration of
mission settlements indicates its desire not to see
them dismantled. Nevertheless, the measures it
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146 CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS
adopted after the expulsion produced this effect. The
opening up of the missions to commerce, as the
Crown's instructions stated, did not integrate Indians
into the colonial economy in the way intended. On
the contrary, it exposed the Indians to exploitation
by traders, yet continued to exclude them from the
management of economic affairs. At the same time
the economic viability of the missions was
undermined by corrupt military commissioners and
newly-appointed civil administrators who
misappropriated the Jesuit temporalities. Spiritual
affairs also suffered due to shortages of clergy and
the poor quality and training of those available.
Deteriorating economic conditions in the missions,
in the Jesuit period, such as in the Amazon
headwaters, the Chaco or the Upper Orinoco,
collapsed sooner.
This generalization does not apply, however, in
areas where strategic interests were involved. Jesuit
missionary work in Baja California had proved less
than successful. Even so, after the expulsion, the
Spanish Crown not only invested large sums of
money in the maintenance of the former Jesuit
settlements, but also encouraged the Franciscans to
occupy Alta California. Given the lack of economic
incentives to attract white settlers and the chronic
scarcity of funds from the Royal Exchequer to
undertake the military occupation of the Peninsula,
social disintegration, and the lack of spiritual
missionary activity was the cheapest and most
guidance encouraged many to desert the missions
for more viable livelihoods. In certain areas, the
effective means to save the Californias from foreign
declined after the expulsion, though their demise was
encroachment. Similarly, the threat of English
occupation in southern Chile boosted missionary
endeavors with the Franciscans extending their
influence to the Strait of Magellan. Despite the
modernizing aims that might have inspired the
quicker in some areas than others: the stronger their
expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish America and
advance of the Portuguese or onset of wars
accelerated their decline.
With only a few exceptions, the Jesuits missions
foundations, the longer they survived. Those
missions with developed economies and social
organization before the suppression, such as those
in Paraguay and, to a lesser extent, the Llanos de
Mojos, managed to survive after Independence,
the reluctance of officials to support missionary
endeavor, old devices?in this case "missionary
conquest"?continued to be used where they were
the most economic means of achieving political or
strategic objectives.
whereas those whose existence had been precarious
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148 CONFERENCE OF LATIN AMERICANIST GEOGRAPHERS
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RESUMEN
Cuando los jesuitas fueron expulsados de Hispanoamerica
en 1767, ellos administraban unos 250,000 indigenas ubicados
en m&s de 200 misiones. El destino de las misiones fue variado
pues mientras algunas fueron secularizadas, otras fueron
entregadas a otras ordenes religiosas, y algunas simplemente
desaparecieron.
La Corona espanola continuo apoyando las misiones por
ser estas la forma mas economica de defender las fronteras en
contra de la amenaza extranjera.
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