DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199766581-0244
Introduction
While it is certainly true that more academic studies have focused on the North American missions, in terms of their historical impact South American missions were just as important to the frontiers of Spain and Portugal’s American empires. The massive size alone of the frontier region, stretching from the upper reaches of the Amazon basin to the headwaters of the Paraná as well as stretching across the lower Southern Cone, meant numerous missionary enterprises emerged in an attempt to evangelize the peoples who inhabited these regions. While small handfuls of Dominicans, Mercedarians, and Augustinians would engage in such efforts, most missions were established by the Jesuits or Franciscans. Certainly, for the Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus as they are properly known, American missions represented an extension of the Counter-Reformation for which they were created. Starting in the mid-16th century, this relatively new organizat