Dbq Christianity In Latin America

Between the period 1500-1800, Christianity made its way to the Americas, changing many societies in Latin America. The overall cause for the expansion of the Christian faith was the Western Schism, the split in the Roman Catholic Church, which resulted in lots of tension for the Christian faith and pressure on the Church to spread the word. A little later, the New World had been discovered and Europeans were beginning to come to the New World. Here, the Europeans brought disease, chattel slavery, and their faith, referred to as the Columbian Exchange. Those Europeans began to make efforts to westernize the New World as well as the indigenous people, which resulted in the Christian faith to be encouraged to the point that indigenous people were

Ultimately, the arrival of Christianity in the Americas created cultural diffusion amongst the indigenous population to certain extents based on willingness and capabilities of the natives, while also forcing other native religions to continue to carry out in secret due to the fact that the church wanted to make Christianity prominent in the Americas and push aside all others, mainly using the Inquisitions to punish anyone against them (all the while simultaneously encouraging Christianity). The Catholic Church attempted to spread Christianity amongst the indigenous people of Latin America; however, they were only successful to a certain extent with converting people to Christianity depending on the willingness of the natives as well as the capabilities of the priests. For example, in document 3, a manuscript written by Jacinto de la Serna to aid priests working among the natives of Mexico in 1656, the priest had worked to try to teach the Amerindian population the religion of Christianity, but the natives outside of the main towns held onto their old faiths, merging the Christian rituals with their own to stay hidden. From this, it can be seen how,

An example of this can be found in Document 1, a record of Domingos Fernandes Nobre's confession at his Inquisition trial, in which he stated that he practiced native customs and their heathen ways, partaking in their religious rituals. The purpose of the document was to show a confession at an Inquisition trial, which was not meant to be heard by the public, but rather remain as a record for the government or court, most likely; in addition, Domingos Fernandes Nobre had no reason to lie about doing unfaithful things since these actions were punishable by death during the time of the Inquisition, therefore making this account accurate and truthful. Continuing on, many of those found guilty during the Inquisition were tortured or punished making actions like Domingos Fernandes Nobre something to be avoided. Although Domingos was truthful, submitting himself to the punishment that was to come for his “sins,” his trial shows the extent to which the Church was willing to go to encourage people to convert, yet still fail to do so. Thus, Christianity didn’t reach some of the indigenous who attempted to continue their own “heathen ways” in secret. These attempts of secrecy could also be seen in document 4, which shows the point of view of