Catholicism was too present in the colonization process of Brazil and the Jesuits were which for long centuries disseminated the Christian faith and catechized large numbers of indigenous people in the tropics. An example of this religious reality was the mission practice, with the objective of converting natives of Portuguese America to Catholicism.
In Brazilian territory, during the colonial era, Portuguese and Spanish disputed areas of influence to practice their political or religious goals. Furthermore, there was a clash of interests between priests and landowners, as priests they wanted to convert the indigenous people into the religious sphere, the landowners wanted to use them in their work slave.
However, even with this dichotomy between Jesuits and Bandeirantes in relation to the capture of indigenous peoples, the missions managed to prosper in some regions, such as the seven peoples of the missions developed in the current region of Rio Grande do Sul. It was up to the Spaniards the role of idealizing and building these missions composed of seven reductions, which were: reduction of
San Francisco de Borja, in St. Nicholas, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Lawrence Martyr, Saint John the Baptist, São Luiz Gonzaga and Santo Angelo Custodio.It is worth remembering that one of the theses about the reasons for creating these seven reductions in southern Brazil was the territorial dispute between the Spanish and Portuguese crowns, in which the former had the objective of secure these lands before the Portuguese and, thus, encouraged the process of occupation by the priests Spanish people.
The first reduction to be born was that of São Francisco de Borja, in 1682, founded by Father Francisco Garcia. In 1707, this reduction already had 2,814 inhabitants and later gave rise to the city of São Francisco de Borja. In contrast, the reduction of São Luiz Gonzaga in 1707 had a population of only 1,997 people.
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The reduction of São Nicolau was previously inhabited, but its inhabitants had been expelled by Francisco Bueno's pioneers, taking refuge in Argentina and founding the reduction of apostles. However, in 1627, these former inhabitants returned to their region of origin and founded the reduction of São Nicolau. Another example of the problem between Jesuits and Bandeirantes was the reduction of São Miguel Arcanjo, which was attacked and, consequently, abandoned by its founder Cristóvão de Mendonça and by the indigenous people who there inhabited. This reduction was only repopulated in 1687, with the arrival of more than 4,000 people and rebuilt as it was before the attack by the bandeirantes. It is worth remembering that the São Miguel Arcanjo reduction was divided into two, with around 2,800 people going to the new São João Batista reduction.
The decline of these reductions was due to differences in policies between Portugal and Spain, especially after the Treaty of Madrid, in 1750, in which the reductions in southern Brazil were kept by the Portuguese in exchange for the Colonia do Sacramento for the Spanish people. Even so, disputes continued between priests and indigenous people who did not want to abandon their reductions of origin and move to other regions.
*Image credits: Renata Sedmakova and Shutterstock.com
By Fabricio Santos
Graduated in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SANTOS, Fabrício Barroso dos. "Seven peoples of the Missions"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiab/povos-das-missoes.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
