Final Draft

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

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            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