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Missions and Colonialism
Book chapter

Missions and Colonialism

John E Worth
Methods, Mounds, and Missions, pp.283-309
Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series, University Press of Florida
10/19/2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9781683402138.003.0013

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Abstract

Missions have long been recognized as a fundamental aspect of the colonial experience in Spanish Florida. However, missions were the primary mechanism by which Florida became the first European-Indian colonial society in southeastern North America. This pivotal role evolved over time and is discussed in three broad phases. Under this three-phase model, Spanish missionaries first entered the indigenous landscape as a footnote to exploratory ventures by the military, having little interaction with the indigenous tribes. By the latter part of the century and extending into the early eighteenth century, the success of the Franciscan order led to a second phase in which indigenous tribes were converted in whole or in part to Christianity, missions were constructed, and both subsistence and spiritual support were provided to the native populations. In the third phase, this support largely vanished as European politics whittled away and then destroyed the mission system. The Southeastern Indians largely became wards of the Spanish state, dependent on the Spanish for subsistence and military protection.

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