Jesuit influence and how it impacted colonial Latin America Paper (Research Paper Sample)

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Jesuit Influence and how it Impacted Colonial Latin America
Before colonization, the main foreigners’ quests on the new lands were missionary work and education. In Europe, the church had split into two major categories: Catholics and Protestants. When Christopher Columbus sailed and founded the new lands (America), the Catholic Church began moving immediately to establish its control in the discovered territory. In the year 1493, a year after the Columbus’ famous voyage, Pope Alexander VI issued a document that was divided America between Portugal and Spain, who remained strong Catholics in Europe during Protestantism. As one Spanish Conquistador, Hernan Cortes, tore through Mexico (Aztec Empire), he was under the order that his expedition’s main aim is to serve God by spreading the Christian faith. Therefore, the first missionaries to arrive in the new lands after the fall of Aztec were missionaries working by Catholic orders – Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, and Jesuits. The missionary work had a profound impact in the colonial Latin America that is still evident to date.[1 Mills, Kenneth, William B. Taylor, and Graham S. Lauderdale. Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History. Wilmington, Del: Scholarly Resources, 2002. Print.]