The Spread of
Christianity in the Atlantic World
By
Darrin Crago
Final Draft
As
different European countries scrambled to explore the Atlantic world around
them, their travels led them to encounter many different races of people that
had been unknown to one another previously. Dynamic changes were induced with
this new mingling of race and culture during the time of exploration and empire
building. One major byproduct of the meeting and intermingling of the race and
cultures among the European, African, and indigenous tribes of the Americas
over time, resulted in the creation of a new mixed-race of Atlantic people. But
it was not just race- mixing that was going on, anywhere settlement sprung the
inevitable act of mixing occurred, giving way to many different variations of
people through these mixtures as well the concoction of culture and beliefs
having many variables also
.
The
Christian Catholic Church and Islam both had roots in Africa by the time
Europeans had reached the Americas, but my focus will be on Catholic
Christianity in the Atlantic World. I will discuss how Christianity was, from
the dawn of discovery, a driving factor in settlement and continued to be of
importance throughout the colonization of all the Americas but resistance to
conformity was strong. I will investigate Catholic conversions in the new world
to find out if the conversions were successful in keeping their converts and
what were the causes of any success?
The
research I am using to discuss the Spanish crown and Catholic church’s’
conquest to convert souls in the Indies include journal entries from Columbus
and a letter from King Ferdinand to the Taino-Arawak, these primary sources
give sound evidence of the fact that the Catholic church and crown both shared
the view that conversions would be made. The journal entry written by Columbus
upon meeting the simple naked inhabitants of this newly found world showed that
introducing Christianity and the practice of Catholicism, was at the forefront
of thought with the religious leaders as well as the crown of Spain, he writes,
“As I saw they were very friendly to us, and perceived that they could be much
more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means than by force.
(Columbus). Columbus’ assumptions that these people were simple and
impressionable, seems to have made Columbus take on the feeling that the
Indians, through their gentleness, would automatically be accepting of their
beliefs.
In King
Ferdinand’s letter to the Taino- Arawak it is to be understood that they are
giving them the opportunity to convert to the Catholic faith, as many of their
neighbors on other islands already had. They were told if they comply with this
then they will have special privileges bestowed on them and their families from
the crown, and the rights and possessions of their people would be protected,
but if they did not, the promise from Ferdinand was war from all sides, through
any means available: they would then be enslaved and sold off at the will of
the king and that they would cause them as much harm as possible in the
process. (Ferdinand) These were forced conversions that allowed plunder to
follow if demands weren’t met, the fact that the Spanish were able to back up
their threats left little to no choice but to comply and if compliance was not
met then, they (Spanish) could then do as they wished. According to Keen, there
was much misuse of this required communication, stating many Conquistadores
took it lightly and, “mumbled it into their beards before an attack or reading
it to captured natives after a raid.” (Keen et al. 2004). If conversions such as this are the case, then
it seems that, if indeed they were able
to understand what was being read to them, they can only be able to look at it
through the eyes of survival, that is if indeed it was actually read to them
and made positive that it was
understood. It is basically human nature to do what it takes to continue, say
one thing and do another, either way, the Spaniards were in control.
From the
time of Columbus’ second voyage on, priests and friars accompanied the ships
headed to the Indies to save souls. Another source I will be using throughout
my research is the “History of Latin America” written by Benjamin Keen and
Keith Haynes, it has given me a good look into the missions and early
conversion, what life was like for the indigenous as well as the clergy
themselves in these missions. The Spanish example is important, as they are going
in first with no real model except for the forced conversions of the
inquisition, that would show up again in the tribes of the new world, plus a strong desire to do work in the name of
God as they saw it. There was a mixed school of thought when it came to dealing
with the pagan pasts of the natives, some friars destroyed all relics, idols,
temples and picture- writings, while other friars believed that to combat pagan
practice they should first learn all they could about it. (Keen et al. 2004)
This studying of the beliefs and culture of these people
that the church is trying to change I believe, helped in the Catholic churches
acceptance of mixtures and variations of African Christianity later on by being
able to understand more about how they worshipped and what they worshipped, the
church could keep its foot in the door by allowing these people to blend
beliefs and sort of replace Catholic Saints with the similar gods of their own
beliefs. It is unfortunate that many things were destroyed by way of thinking.
The
Encomienda system was basically a system where a colonist or soldier would
receive a land grant from the crown and the use of its native people. The
Indians would pay tribute and in return receive protection and Christian instruction.
This was another way the indigenous were taken advantage of at times.
Bartolome` de la Casas, a Dominican denounced the encomienda system and said
that it was incompatible with the welfare of the natives and must be put in the
way of extinction.” (Keen et al. 2004)
While Franciscans felt that the encomienda, “carefully regulated to
safeguard indigenous welfare, was necessary for the prosperity and security of
the Indies.” (Keen et al. 2004)
“Spanish
missionaries charged with the colonization and conversion of frontier
populations shared common goals (despite differences between the religious
orders) and usually employed similar methods to achieve those goals.” (Williams
2008) Franciscan efforts lent themselves
to claims of over a million people converted by 1531, one account reported 1500
in one day, one can almost see lines of Indians at the end of a sword ready to
receive the body of Christ, there can hardly be any doubt that these were forced,
and if any relapsed into their former practices they were charged with heresy
and even burned to death for their crimes. The missions of these monks provided
education for some of the more privileged indigenous to learn Humanities and
Christian doctrine. “Indians who joined in the practice that the role required
gained enormously from the missionary. They learned the language of the
colonizers better than the other Indians did, which helped them learn tasks for
which there was better compensation than for tending herds, sowing fields,
clearing, planting and picking the fruit from orchards, making adobes, or
constructing buildings. They learned skills that could be sold to the settlers
in addition to the money they made secular music at settlers’ fiestas.” (Williams 2008) By educating
and forcing conversions in these first generations I believe they were looking
toward the future in where familiarity would eventually take over, due to the
disappearance of the past. Those that received education most often became
invaluable to the missionaries in their efforts to reconstruct the history,
religion, and social institutions of the ancient civilization. (Keen et al. 2004)
The first
Catholic Conversions in the new world were then mostly concerned with converting
the natives of the land. As time passed and disease and slaughter took its toll
on the Indians of the Americas, and the initial plunder of the land began to
slow, new ways were found to keep the new enterprise of the Indies going.
Agriculture, namely sugarcane, became the new fortune to be made here. With the
arrival of the sugar plantation new populations of workers would be needed, but
with the dwindled number of natives not much of a factor by now, plantation
owners looked back across the ocean to Africa to the slave trade that would
reach hellish proportions in the following years as it fed an endless supply of
humans into the utmost of despair, all at a cost that was affordable to them.
These
Africans came from many different regions some were already converted to
Christianity, others had an Islamic background, and still yet others from more
remote tribal areas worshiped pagan idols much as did the indigenous tribes of
the new world. Catholic conversion was not accepted by all but that did not by
any means keep people from converting. Again survival was the factor that made
the choice for them. Slaves with an Islamic background continued to meet and
worship behind closed doors, and African Christianity began its mixture of
belief.
So then Christianity and Islam both had roots in Africa at
the time of Columbus’ discovery. Ira Berlins “From Creole to African: Atlantic
Creoles and the Origins of African-American Society in North America”. Berlin
brings up that Catholicism was moving into the areas of trade in Africa prior
to discovery, the Africans saw this as a way to integrate with their trading
partners, as well as with Islam to the north, already setting into motion a
blending of beliefs as although they did convert, they kept up with the old
traditions as well. (Berlin)
In his work “ON THE TRAIL OF VOODOO: AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY IN
AFRICA AND THE AMERICAS” John K. Thorton suggests a “blending of African and
Christian elements” (Thorton 1988) in creating an African Christianity. He
accredits this blending and transition to earlier conversions, (“the initial
conversion of the Kongo took place the year before Columbus set out from
Spain.”) (Thorton 1988) in a great deal of Africa making it easier to
comprehend, even if they had not yet been converted they most likely would have
been exposed to it somehow. Thorton also gives credit to Catholicism in these
early conversions as the Protestants had little to do with the development of
Christianity in Africa. (Thorton 1988) The pairing of African gods with
Christian saints made the Catholic Church tolerant to the differences between
the two. The relevance of this writing is to show that the Catholics are being
given credit for the earlier conversions that took place in Africa prior to
Columbus’ discovery. And to also point out that this blending is an important
factor because not only does a blending take place with the indigenous in the
Indies, but again with people of import throughout the Atlantic realm already
watering down Catholic belief.
Prior knowledge of Christianity, some were already even
converted in Africa, and for those who weren’t; they had most likely been
exposed to the idea at some point, or were somehow familiar with the concept as
Thorton said. Commonalities between Islam and Christianity helped hide the fact
that many Islamic Africans held onto their own beliefs without raising the
suspicion of their keepers. Many of the Islamic Africans were well educated and
respected men in their homelands, Sultana Afroz claims in her article “The Jihad of 1831-1832: The Misunderstood
Baptist Rebellion in Jamaica”, that 56.8 percent of the slave arrivals to
Jamaica were from Muslim areas and that a large percentage of these Muslims
came from the intellectual elite. (Afroz) The Muslims were able to build
networks throughout and because of these learned men, could, behind closed
doors, meet and practice their own faith as well as plot jihad.
So commonalities were found between Islam and Christianity
but there was also common ground to be shared with tribal practices of Africans
from still other regions who had not been exposed to either of the previously
mentioned beliefs that could also be used to mesh with Christianity. So the
culture and religion that was exchanged between communities across the Atlantic
found itself perhaps starting off as one thing but morphed into something
different as worlds intertwined. Elizabeth Kiddy explains how Our Lady of the
Rosary bridged a gap between African beliefs being brought to Brazil where
Portuguese Catholicism was dominant, she writes, “She became a cultural bridge
between what the Africans had known in their native lands and what they came to
know in captivity.” (Kiddy 2000) this goes along Thortons point of renaming of
pagan gods with Catholic Saints. “Although converted or baptized natives were
not kept from the unbaptized as a window to those still needing converted and
also points out that the old ways were still practiced. Thus phenomena like
comets continued to be interpreted by mission Guaycuruans as harbingers of evil
foretelling calamities, Abipon women continued to throw ashes when a storm
approached, believing that he storm ate the ashes and was satisfied.” (Williams
2008)
Perhaps it can be said from the information reviewed so far
that the similarities between all of my examples include people who change in
accordance with what is going on around them to benefit their stance or to
continue their survival. In each case whether it be a forced conversion
performed by a Spanish clergyman on an Indian or a transplanted African who in
all the shuffle across the ocean is now being held and told to believe a
certain thing it is clear that they did it to appease their captors or invaders
to make their situation more bearable.
I do not believe that it can be said that the Catholic
conversions I have talked about can be considered a success but it cannot be
considered a total failure either. Islamic people seemed to mask the fact that
they had converted, yet continued to practice their own religion in private and
this did also happen with people other than Islamic also. Perhaps some may have
taken the similarities in both and accepted Christianity, but mostly it just
stayed hidden. But in the cases relating to the writings of Thorton and Kiddy,
this blending does show some success for the Catholic conversions in the long
term and as I said before the Catholic Church was able to keep its foot in the
door and remain an influence in the region by allowing the mixing of beliefs
between Catholicism and Pagan beliefs and that is somewhat of a success.
References
1. Christopher
Columbus. Extracts From His Journal- (1492)- AMDOCS
2. King
Ferdinand’s Letter to the Taino-Arawak Indians- AMDOCS
3. Keen,
Benjamin, and Keith Haynes. A History of Latin America. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
4. Williams,
Caroline. "Opening New Frontiers in Colonial Spanish American History: New
Perspectives on Indigenous Spanish Interaction on the Margin of Empire." History
Compass. Vol.6. no. number 4 (2008): 1121-1139.
5. Berlin,
Ira. "From Creole to African: Atlantic Creoles and the Origin of African
American Society in Mainland North America." William and Mary
Quarterly. Vol.LIII. no. No.2, (1996): 251-288.
6. Thorton,
John K. "On the Trail of Voodoo: African Christianity in the
Americas." The Americas. vol.44 no.3. No. Jan. (1988):
261-278.
Afroz, Sultana.
"The Jihad of 1831-1832; the misunderstood Baptist Rebellion in
