User:Jmg6x2/sandbox

Article Evaluation

I evaluated Spanish missions in the Americas.

Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?

    Everything was relevant but topics were not fully explained and large pieces of information were left out. 

Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?

    I did not find bias in the article. However, North America was covered far more in-depth than South & Central America. Another page is linked to Spanish Missions in South America, but the page contains very little information. The pages should most likely combined. 

Check a few citations. Do the links work?

    Several of the citation links work.

Does the source support the claims in the article?

    Yes

Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?

    No, each fact is not referneced appropriately. Many sentences need citations. 

Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?

    Much of the information is from works that were created between 1975-2007. The newest citation is from 2011. Several sections should be addded to this article and many should be expanded upon. 

Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?

    No conversations are currently present on this page. 

How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?

    The article is rated-c-class, mid importance. It is a part of WikiProject Spain, WikiPorject Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and WikiProject Catholicism.

How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

    There is no discussion on this article. Jmg6x2 (talk) 21:08, 22 September 2017 (UTC)

Article plan

Article ideas This article has limited information about missions in South America so we would like to expand the content in general. We are considering adding information about missions in different regions of South America and how they affected culture, religious beliefs, economic relations, and more. In addition, this article currently has a bias because it only contains information about missions in the Caribbean and critisms of missions. We plan to reorganize and remove bias from the article.

Sources for Article Additions

A companion to Latin American history. Holloway, Thomas H., 1944-. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 2011. ISBN 9781444338843. OCLC 659241109.

Information about Spanish missions in Bolivia http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/529/ Jesuit reductions in S America http://www.vqronline.org/essay/jesuit-republic-south-america Jmg6x2 (talk) 16:53, 6 October 2017 (UTC)

Article Notes

Mexico missions

• 1523 & 1524 Cortés requested Franciscan missionaries
• Other types of missionaries followed: Dominicans (1525), the Augustians (1533), and Jesuits (1571)
• goal: teach christian ideals to the indigenous people
• Established trust by:
  • protecting indigenous people from cruelties of other spaniards
  • studied indian languages,
  • teaching children to read and write
  • teaching adults trades such as carpentry and ceramics
• Bartolomé de Las Caseas (Dominican Friar) defended rights of indians
  • Bishop of Chiarapas, nickname "Father of the Indians"
• 1st archbishop of Mexico - Fray de Zumárraga - "Protector of the Indians"
  • defended rights
  • opened school for sons of indian nobles - Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco school
  • set up first printing press in America
• Part of indian culture to accept the religion of conquering tribes
  • similarities in Aztec religion & catholism
    • Human sacrifice = eating the body & blood of christ at Eucharist
    • Virgin Mary = Tonantzin (mother figure of Aztec culture)
• City of Mexico was constructed over Aztec Capital (Tenochtitlan)
• Remainder of conquered territory divided in to encomiendas that were controlled by landlords who reaped whatever benefit came from the land
  • indigenous people often served as unpaid laborers, landlords had the responsibility of caring for workers as well as christianizing them
  • continued into the 18th century
• natives bottom of social hierarchy, Spaniards abused them for labor

Jmg6x2 (talk) 20:13, 11 October 2017 (UTC)

Chiquitos (eastern territory of Bolivia)

• 6 missions that remain intact: "San Fransisco Javier, Concepción, Santa Ana, San Miguel, San Rafael, & San Jose"
• "blended european architecture with local traditions"
  • churches were not made of stone
  • gable roof, wooden columns & carved wood
• Missions in this region were not destroyed when Charles III of Spain expelled Jesuits in 1767 in the expulsion of the Society of Jesus

Franciscan Missionaries

• First missionaries to come to New Spain
• "meditation and contemplation gave them the power to preach the gospel"
• because Franciscans were forced to convert millions of indians they were unable to practice the traditional way of life which put strain on them
• the first franciscan missionaries from Spain had an extremely strict and limited way of practicing and religion
  • they came from the Observant faction
• second "batch" of franciscan missionaries were more laid back
• As colonies began to form colonial governments began taking responsibilities of the parishes
  • friars did not like this, fought to keep their duties to the people
  • friars thought it was undermining the work of the church
  • each side accused e/o of mistreating natives
  • controversy among friars whether or not they should take money from the King because franciscans take a vow of poverty
  • trouble recruiting more missionaries
• Many Franciscans moved to western mexico in 1574 when men came from Spain to settle this areaJmg6x2 (talk) 17:44, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

Jesuits

• came to new world 1748
• Jesuits argued they save the indigenous people from extinction
• created Utopian societies that could be viewed as socialists which could have slowed the development of these communities
• 1st missions established in Paraguay and Brazil
• brought first printing press to South America
• Jesuits expelled in 1767
  • many indigenous people fled b/c they felt the Spanish betrayed them after the indians had trusted them and worked for them
  • Some indigenous people could work in the settler economy with the skills Jesuits had taught them
• Jesuit mission towns were generally more well off than the settlements in Spanish America
  • Every one was fed and clothed for doing labor
• mission towns = reductions
  • called reductions because the missions had the goal of taking away the unchristian practices that were thought to occur in indigenous cultures such as "infanticide, polygamy, occasional cannibalism."
    • according to a a journal of a missionary (Florian Pauke- "All children born with physical defects were killed. Children were killed if they cried too much, if the father suspected the child was not his, if he decided the family was too large, or if the infant inhibited travel."
  • taught "useful skills like tanning or carpentry, the arts—painting, sculpture, and music"
  • missions sought to placate the indians and convert them to christianity
    • this helped the colonizers as well
  • closed to Spanish settlers
  • reductions were between 1000-5000 people
  • residents elect mayor & governing council that oversaw two jesuits (1 was admin, 1 was spiritual leader)
  • each indian family had house & field
  • schools, churches, hospitals
  • embraced indian languages unlike other orders Jmg6x2 (talk) 02:41, 17 October 2017 (UTC)

Article Outline Draft

Introduction

Catholic Church motivation and approach

Age of Discovery Colonization and propagation

Noted Bias

book burning and decimation of oral history

missionary accounts

Cultural impacts

Economic development

NOTE: maybe a map of impact based on country or order?

Changes to be made to current the article:

• remove criticism section
• remove quotes
• convey the bias of the information
• Points of emphasis:
  • Jesuit Reductions and colonization process/governing
  • Preservation or destruction of indigenous culture Jmg6x2 (talk) 22:57, 18 October 2017 (UTC)

Cmunchycrunch (talk) 16:44, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

Article Draft

Introduction

At the start of the Age of Discovery; European governments sent explores to find trade routes to facilitate economic relations with Asia and Europe. During this time, these men found the new lands that could be used for economic benefit of their home countries. In order to understand these new lands and the resources that might be available, explorers fostered relationships with the native people. This led to the colonization of the Americas. The Catholic church was an essential part of both the Spanish and Portuguese Empires so as the empires spread to new lands it was the duty of the King to be sure Christianity was spread into the New World.

Often these empires used missions to teach indigenous people about Christian values. Missions were formed in different ways across the Americas and has had a lasting impact on the culture of these areas. Catholicism is still a prevalent religion in both North and South America. The formation and implementation of the missions across the New World reflected the beliefs of the Catholic monks who created and implemented the missions. In the Catholic church, monks take vows and are affiliated with a certain order. These orders, their ideologies, and era can be linked to the way of life and teaching in the missions. Jmg6x2 (talk) 14:59, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Jmg6x2 (talk) 17:53, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

Noted Bias

Despite extensive efforts and even successes in recovering the cultural history of the cultures colonized in the Americas, much of the evidence currently available comes from the colonizers themselves. Many of the cultures impacted by missionaries had no written language and were thus robbed of much of their oral history when the populations were decimated by Old World illnesses. Cultures that did possess written language, such as the Maya, often had their artifacts deemed sacrilegious and burned<nowiki>. Therefore, much of the evidence of these events come from accounts of missionaries and--to a much smaller extent--archaeological investigation and should be subsequently handled with care. Cmunchycrunch (talk) 18:23, 19 October 2017 (UTC) Therefore, readers should consider the ethnocentric and theocratic context in which accounts recorded by missionaries are presented. Cmunchycrunch (talk) 16:06, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

Spanish Colonialism

Catholic missions were the first step in effort to establish European order in the Americas in the pursuit of gold, silver, and other resources. The missionaries’ goal was to convert natives to Christianity and ease the transition into a colonial system and minimize the friction required to establish European dominance in the area. One symbolic example of this was the practice of constructing churches and cathedrals, such as Santa Domingo and Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, on top of demolished native temples. Establishment of missions were often followed by the implementation of Encomienda systems, which forced native labor on land granted to Europeans by the Spanish Crown and led to systematic oppression. Cmunchycrunch (talk) 16:44, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

Catholic Orders

Franciscan

The Franciscan monks were the first to arrive in New Spain in 1523 following the Cortes expeditions in Mexico and soon after began establishing missions across the continents. In addition to their primary goal of spreading Christianity, the monks studied the native languages, taught children to read and write, and taught adults trades such as carpentry and ceramics. The first monks to arrive to the New World were Franscican monks from the observant faction which believed in a strict and limited way of practicing religion. Because the monks believed teaching and practicing can only be done through “meditation and contemplation” Fransiscans were not able to convert as many people as quickly as the Spanish would have liked. This caused strain between colonial governments and Franciscan friars which eventually led to several of the friars fleeing to present day western Mexico and the dissolution of Fransiscan parishes. Other issues also contributed to the dissolution of Fransiscan parishes including the vow of poverty and accusations made by the colonial governments. The vow of poverty is taken by monks to ensure monks live a life devoted to learning and teaching about the church and are not concerned with material goods and monetary gain. This prohibits monks from taking money from the Spanish King, however, Spanish missions often used money provided by the King to fund missions. Because monks were taking money this proved to be a controversial issue within the church. In addition, the colonial government claimed missionaries were mistreating indigenous people who were working on the missions. On the other hand, the Franciscan missionaries claimed that the Spanish government enslaved and mistreated indigenous people. In present day, Franciscan missionaries are well known for efforts to protect the indigenous people from Spanish cruelties and supported empowering the native peoples. Jmg6x2 (talk) 14:59, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Jesuits

The Jesuits had a short-lived, but relatively wide-spread impact between their arrival in 1748 to their expulsion in 1767. The Jesuits set up missionary communities called “Reductions”, so named for the intended reduction in un-Christianly behaviors, of 1,000 to 5,000 people with the intent of saving them from extinction. The Jesuit Reductions were socialist societies in which each family would receive a house and field, and individuals were clothed and fed in return for work. Additionally, the communities would include schools, churches, and hospitals as well as an elected mayor and governing council to be overseen by the 2 Jesuit advisers. Like the Franciscans, the Jesuit missionaries embraced the native languages and taught skills to the adults.

Spanish settlers were prohibited from living or working in reductions. This led to a strained relationship between Jesuit missionaries and the Spanish because in surrounding Spanish settlements people were not guaranteed food, shelter, and clothing. Jmg6x2 (talk) 15:17, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Dominicans

The Dominicans were centralized in the Caribbean and Mexico and, despite a much smaller representation in the Americas, had one of the most notable histories of native rights activism. Bartolomé de Las Casas was the first Dominican bishop in Mexico and played a pivotal role in dismantling the practice of “encomenderos” with the establishment of the New Laws in 1542 which essentially validated enslavement of natives.  Cmunchycrunch (talk) 23:22, 19 October 2017 (UTC)

Peer Review by Rcm3b

In this article I really like the Noted Bias section. For someone that is going to take this class and not have the knowledge that we’ve gained about the fact that a lot of the sources were from the Spanish point of view, need to know that is a problem with these sources. By establishing this information right before the main talk points of the article, this allows the viewer to read with that point in mind. I am a little confused with the intro of this article what the main topic will be. The intro seems to focus more on the overall impact of Catholicism on Latin America. But when I get to the main points of the article it seems to focus more on the different groups of people that come over to the Americas. I am aware that this could be could be because the main wiki article has this info but I haven’t seen the main article. Within the article you mention the “Spanish Cruelties” that the Franciscan try to protect the indigenous people from. I’m curious what methods the Catholics were using to try and convert people. Was there a back lash from the Latin American people for these cruelties to be used? Were the people that were imploring these cruelties one of the groups mentioned? There is also a grammar/typo issue within the Introduction. “The Catholic church was an essential part of both the Spanish and Portuguese Empire so the as the empires spread to new lands it was the duty of the King to be sure Christianity was spread into the New World.” With your source #3 there might be a problem with people being able to pull up your source. It is labeled as “Library Proxy Server”. I, personally, could access this pdf but I am also logged in. So this may cause a problem for people who are not.Rcm3b (talk) 16:46, 20 October 2017 (UTC)

Comments – Esqm8

Introduction

Overall this is a great introduction on how the Kings in charge of the empires helped spread Christianity throughout the Americas, and why they felt the need to evangelize the area.

From the format of the article in the sandbox it appears that this whole section was original content. However, it appears you are missing a citation or two. I would like to know where this information is coming from. Also, there are some small grammatical tweaks that could be made to make the paragraph flow better.

First sentence: explores → explorers

Third and Fourth Sentence: Consider combining these two sentences as the 4th sentence is a little short. Use Which?

Sentences 6-8: Right now, these sentences are just statements, they don’t really flow together.

Noted Bias

I really like this summary, it points out that a lot of the information about the Americas and the groups that were there can have a bias.

I would make a point to clearly state that by receiving the information from colonizers we are getting a view that idealizes values held by the conquering nations. I understand what you are saying but that is because we have the same background. People without our class may not realize that the how the missions talk about the culture can impact what we know about them. Also, maybe point out how archaeological evidence is an educated guess but it still a guess.

--Esqm8 (talk) 16:52, 20 October 2017 (UTC)