European missionaries to the Americas served two primary purposes. The explorers, monarchs financing the voyages, and missionaries themselves would argue that the more important reason was the Christianizing of the native peoples. Many "heathens" awaited conversion. Missionaries not only would help save "savages" from eternal damnation but also would help fulfill the larger project of spreading Christianity throughout the world, thereby helping to effect the Last Days or second coming of Christ. Sending missionaries to the Americas served a second purpose, too. The Catholic Church wanted to send Catholics to spread the faith all over the world and thus check the growth of Protestantism. Likewise, Protestants used missionaries to disseminate their religious beliefs.
Catholic missionaries were more successful than Protestants in the sixteenth century, for Catholics had the support of the Church and of monarchs. Dominicans, Franciscans, and especially the Jesuits each saw.....
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