Essay On How Did The Mexican Attempt To Christianize The Mayan
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During the years of the Spanish conquest one of the main mission of the Franciscans were to Christianize the New World and to trade goods to their country. The Mayan at the Yucatan became one of the main targets for the conquistadors. Due to the Mayan’s tough nature at war, the conquistadors believe that they might use force against the Mayan in order for them to fully obey the Spaniard and follow the Spaniard’s culture. Hence, the harsh and brutal treatment that the Franciscans had on the Mayan had greatly impacted Mayan’s life. At the early year of the Spanish conquest, the Franciscans had attempted to Christianize the Mayan through verbal learning. However, the Franciscans felt that verbal learning is not enough for the Mayan to be converted to Christianity because the Mayan were not completely Christianized. In order to further achieve their mission, the Franciscans began to inflict brutal punishments on the Mayans. The Franciscans therefore have become the object of terror of the Mayans.…show more content… The Mayan were afraid that the Franciscans would further punish them as a result of not fully obeying them. The Spaniard wanted the Mayan to convert to Christianity and to obey them completely by following the Spanish’s ritual tradition and learning their languages. This shows the Spaniard’s personality of wanting to take full control of the people in the land that they conquer. Another major impact that affected the state of the Mayan after the Spanish conquest was the outbreak of epidemics that the Spaniard brought to the land. The Spaniard brought epidemics such as measles and small poxes to the New World. As a result of the outbreak, many Mayan and Spaniard died. This outbreak had caused many of the Mayan to be so afraid of death that they would baptize themselves multiple of times in hope that it will protect them from the