Demographic Change and Ethnic Survival among the Sedentary Populations on the Jesuit Mission Frontiers of Spanish South America, 1609-1803

Demographic Change and Ethnic Survival among the Sedentary Populations on the Jesuit Mission Frontiers of Spanish South America, 1609-1803 PDF Author: Robert H. Jackson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004285008
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
Beginning in 1609, Jesuit missionaries established missions (reductions) among sedentary and non-sedentary native populations in the larger region defined as the Province of Paraguay (Rio de la Plata region, eastern Bolivia). One consequence of resettlement on the missions was exposure to highly contagious old world crowd diseases such as smallpox and measles. Epidemics that occurred about once a generation killed thousands. Despite severe mortality crises such as epidemics, warfare, and famine, the native populations living on the missions recovered. An analysis of the effects of epidemics and demographic patterns shows that the native populations living on the Paraguay and Chiquitos missions survived and retained a unique ethnic identity. A comparative approach that considers demographic patterns among other mission populations place the case study of the Paraguay and Chiquitos missions into context, and show how patterns on the Paraguay and Chiquitos missions differed from other mission populations. The findings challenge generally held assumptions about Native American historical demography.

Regional Conflict and Demographic Patterns on the Jesuit Missions among the Guaraní in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Regional Conflict and Demographic Patterns on the Jesuit Missions among the Guaraní in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries PDF Author: Robert H. Jackson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004390545
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
In the 17th and 18th centuries Spain and Portugal contested control of the disputed Rio de la Plata borderlands. The Jesuit missions among the Guarani played an important role in regional conflict through the provision of manpower for campaigns and supplies. However, regional conflict and particularly the mobilization of the mission militia and the movement of soldiers on campaign had demographic consequences for the populations of the missions such as the spread of contagion. This study documents regional conflict in the Rio de la Plata, the militarization of the Jesuit missions, and the demographic consequences of conflict for the mission populations.

A Visual Catalog of Jesuit Missions in Spanish America

A Visual Catalog of Jesuit Missions in Spanish America PDF Author: Robert H. Jackson
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527564193
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 816

Book Description
From the late sixteenth century until their expulsion in 1767, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) played a pivotal role in the life of Spanish America. They educated the urban population, tended to the spiritual needs of city folk, conducted “popular missions” to correct doctrinal issues with the urban and rural populations, and administered missions among the indigenous populations on the frontiers. Jesuit missions stretched from northern Mexico to Patagonia in South America, and left a considerable historical and architectural heritage and patrimony. This volume outlines the historical development of Jesuit missions located in northern Mexico and South America, and illustrates the architectural heritage they left behind.

Communities on a Frontier in Conflict

Communities on a Frontier in Conflict PDF Author: Robert H. Jackson
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527518280
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255

Book Description
In his historical satirical novel Candide, Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) presented a fanciful vision of the Jesuit missions established among the Guaraní in parts of what today are Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. Some scholars have characterized the missions as having been a socialist utopia, or an independent republic located on the fringes of Spanish territory in South America. What was the reality? This study presents a detailed analysis of one of the Jesuit missions, Los Santos Mártires del Japón, and the story of the creation of mission communities on a frontier contested by Spain and Portugal during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It documents the historical realities of the Jesuit missions, their patterns of development, and the demographic consequences for the mission populations of military conflict.

A Population History of the Missions of the Jesuit Province of Paraquaria

A Population History of the Missions of the Jesuit Province of Paraquaria PDF Author: Robert H. Jackson
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527534308
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 343

Book Description
Scholars have debated the demographic consequences for the indigenous populations of the Americas of 1492, the beginning of sustained contact between the Old and New Worlds. Some have hypothesized an initial die-off of indigenous population resulting from the introduction of highly contagious crowd diseases such as smallpox and measles. So-called “virgin soil” epidemics caused catastrophic mortality that culled the indigenous populations, and some scholars such as the late Henry Dobyns hypothesized a rate of decline of around 90 percent as epidemics spread across the Americas like a miasmic cloud. However, over the course of generations, the indigenous populations developed immunities to the maladies, and recovered. This book presents a detailed case study of indigenous populations congregated on Jesuit missions in lowland South America that challenges the basic assumptions of the model of “virgin soil” epidemics. It shows that epidemic mortality varied between communities, and that catastrophic mortality occurred on some mission communities generations after first sustained contact. It concludes that patterns of demographic change among indigenous populations were far more complex than is often assumed. This study is of interest to specialists in historical demography, colonial Spanish America, Native American history, and the history of Spanish frontier missions.

The Bourbon Reforms and the Remaking of Spanish Frontier Missions

The Bourbon Reforms and the Remaking of Spanish Frontier Missions PDF Author: Robert H. Jackson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004505261
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 379

Book Description
During the eighteenth century the Spanish Bourbon monarchs attempted to transform Spanish America. This study analyses the efforts to transform frontier missions, and the consequences and particularly demographic consequences for the indigenous peoples that lived on the missions.

Frontiers of Evangelization

Frontiers of Evangelization PDF Author: Robert H. Jackson
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806159316
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
The Spanish crown wanted native peoples in its American territories to be evangelized and, to that end, facilitated the establishment of missions by various Catholic orders. Focusing on the Franciscan missions of the Sierra Gorda in Northern New Spain (Mexico) and the Jesuit missions of Chiquitos in what is now Bolivia, Frontiers of Evangelization takes a comparative approach to understanding the experiences of indigenous populations in missions on the frontiers of Spanish America. Marshaling a wealth of data from sacramental, military, and census records, Robert H. Jackson explores the many factors that influenced the stability of mission settlements, including the indigenous communities’ previous subsistence patterns and family structures, the evangelical techniques of the missionary orders, the social and political organization within the mission communities, and epidemiology in relation to population density and mobility. The two orders, Jackson’s research shows, organized and administered their missions very differently. The Franciscans took a heavy-handed approach and implemented disruptive social policies, while the Jesuits engaged in a comparatively “kinder and gentler” form of colonization. Yet the most critical factor to the missions’ success, Jackson finds, was the indigenous peoples’ existing demographic profile—in particular, their mobility. Nonsedentary populations, like the Pames and Jonaces of the Sierra Gorda, were more prone to demographic collapse once brought into the mission system, whereas sedentary groups, like the Guaraní of Chiquitos, experienced robust growth and greater resistance to disease and natural disaster. Drawing on more than three decades of scholarly work, this analysis of crucial archival material augments our understanding of the role of missions in colonization, and the fate of indigenous peoples in Spanish America.

The Jesuits in Spanish America in 1767

The Jesuits in Spanish America in 1767 PDF Author: Robert H. Jackson
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527593827
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 761

Book Description
On June 25, 1767, royal officials in all Spanish territories, including the Americas, began the process of expelling the members of the Society of Jesus. At the time there were some 2,200-2,400 Jesuits in Spanish America, and they staffed urban colegios and frontier missions. This book provides an overview of Jesuit institutions at the time of the expulsion order, their urban role, and the status of frontier missions focusing on the case study of several issues related to the Missions among the Guaraní in South America. This volume contains a visual catalog of historic maps, and historic and contemporary images of selected Jesuit colegios and other urban institutions.

Jesuits in Spanish America before the Suppression

Jesuits in Spanish America before the Suppression PDF Author: Robert H. Jackson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004460349
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 114

Book Description
From the late sixteenth century until their expulsion in 1767, members of the Society of Jesus played an important role in the urban life of Spanish America and as administrators of frontier missions. This study examines the organization of the Society of Jesus in Spanish America in large provinces, as well as the different urban institutions such as colegios and frontier missions. It outlines the spiritual and educational activities in cities. The Jesuits supported the royal initiative to evangelize indigenous populations on the frontiers, but the outcomes that did not always conform to expectations. One reason for this was the effect of diseases such as smallpox on the indigenous populations. Finally, it examines the 1767 expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish territories. Some died before leaving the Americas or at sea. The majority reached Spain and were later shipped to exile in the Papal States.

A Visual Catalog of Spanish Frontier Missions, 16th to 19th Centuries

A Visual Catalog of Spanish Frontier Missions, 16th to 19th Centuries PDF Author: Robert H. Jackson
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527527719
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 607

Book Description
From the sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, the Spanish Crown sponsored missions staffed by members of different Catholic missionary orders to evangelize the indigenous populations, and engage in social engineering in line with royal policy. The missionaries directed the construction of building complexes that included churches, leaving behind an important historical and architectural legacy. This visual catalog documents the surviving complexes on selected missions on the frontiers of Spanish America in what today is Mexico and parts of South America. It also presents basic historical data on the mission communities, including demographic data, and documents damage to early mission buildings by the earthquakes of September 7 and September 19, 2018.