Author : Antonio Ruiz de Montoya
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.X/5 (2 download)
Book Synopsis The Spiritual Conquest Accomplished by the Religious of the Society of Jesus in the Provinces of Paraguay, Paraná, Uruguay, and Tape by : Antonio Ruiz de Montoya
Download or read book The Spiritual Conquest Accomplished by the Religious of the Society of Jesus in the Provinces of Paraguay, Paraná, Uruguay, and Tape written by Antonio Ruiz de Montoya and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Available for the first time in English, THE SPIRITUAL CONQUEST is a moving first-hand account of the early days of one of history's most remarkable social experiments, the Paraguay Reductions. In the early 1600's, a handful of unarmed members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) penetrated the forests of present-day Paraguay & surrounding territories, & gathered tens of thousands of semi-nomadic Indians into large & prosperous towns. After flourishing for nearly 150 years both materially & artistically with their Jesuit mentors, these oases of independent Christian Indian civilization fell victim to European colonists' violence & rapacity. De Montoya's book is a fundamental & frequently cited document of South American history & ethnography. He vividly evokes the vast country he describes: its forests, its mighty rivers, its wild animals, its varied native peoples. He tells of the Jesuit efforts to establish their Christian towns, the opposition of both European colonists & native chiefs & sorcerers; he depicts the naive piety of the Indian converts, the frequent occurrences of the supernatural, the ever-present reality of cannibalism , the grim fact of martyrdom, the day-to-day life of the indigenous people & of the Jesuits.