THE RISE AND FALL OF JESUIT REDUCTIONS IN PARAGUAY - William Cho
William is currently a 1L at Columbia Law School and has recently graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in History. So far, despite spending his formative years in Washington, D.C., he has spent the other half of his life in South Korea, where he attended high school. William is an avid tennis player and a dedicated Stan Wawrinka fan, and he can be found cooking with friends, refining his daily cup of moka pot coffee, and seeking out the best bowl of noodles in NYC. Following his graduation from law school, William would like to be a bankruptcy attorney.
Introduction
In the 16th century, the Spanish began gathering the dispersed native populations of newly acquired South American dominions to place into organized communities. For the Spanish, the bringing together of indigenous people represented a strategy to better exploit the labor of the natives while inculcating Christian values and European culture. The Spanish monarch adopted the conquered people as vassals, who then entered the encomienda system, in which natives performed hard labor and could be subjected to extreme punishment for resisting. Indigenous labor and resources were exploited to provide tributes usually in the form of agricultural products or metals. Under the encomienda system, Spanish colonial expansion also included forced conversions of indigenous people to Christianity. Needless to say, the natives were devastated.
Spanish conquerors arrived in South America looking to gain riches, expand borders, and force Christianity upon the indigenous population. Soon after, the Catholic missionaries followed in the mid-16th century seeking converts. The Jesuits, a religious order of the Catholic Church founded by Ignatius of Loyola and Pope Paul III, arose during this era of Spanish exploration and expansionism. Some of the chief aims of the Jesuit society were to engage in both missionary and educational work. Their ambitions for evangelization and apostolic ministry took new heights when the Jesuits persuaded the King of Spain to grant the vast regions bordering Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil to their care. With the King’s permission, the Jesuits now oversaw the Guaraní, the indigenous people from these lands