Why did the Catholic Church send missions to the Native Americans in the Spanish colonies?
Incidentally, this makes Spanish colonial policy different from those of other European powers of the period, a policy expressed in the Laws of the Indies The beginnings of this law can be traced to legislation’s promulgated by the Catholic Rulers of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella which insisted that part of the colonizers’ responsibility in the territories is instruction and proselytization of the natives in the Catholic faith. This was done both out of conviction in the inherent humanity of these peoples, as wel as a means of investing on the newly-conquered subjects a level of protection from their conquerors. The logic can be summarized, thus: if the Indians remain pagans, they make fair game for the rapacity of the colonizers; the fear was well-founded, as the Carib Indians experienced after Columbus occupied Hispaniola, in fact one reason why Columbus was later treated badly by the crown was because of reports of his atrocities against the native population of the island. The Cath
