Missions, Missionaries, and Native Americans

From the 1600s through the 1800s, Spanish missionaries came to America to convert Native Americans. Maria Wade provides in-depth information on their efforts, their varying missionary ambitions, and native peoples' responses to evangelization and conversion efforts.No other study offers such a broad, comparative approach. By examining the missionary efforts of the Franciscans and Jesuits in Florida, Texas, California, and northern Mexico, Wade brings into sharp contrast the different experiences and outcomes as these two Catholic orders sought to gain a foothold in North America.""Missions, Missionaries, and Native Americans"" also provides an ethnohistorical and archaeological perspective on the structure and daily activities of early mission life. Of particular interest is the discussion of the similarity between Catholic religious practices and Native American shamanistic practices.