Editing History of Paraguay (section)

===Jesuit missions among the Guaraní===
{{main|Jesuit missions among the Guaraní}}
[[File:Réductions jésuites.png|thumbnail|right|Locations of Jesuit reductions]]
[[File:Crucifijo.Epoca Colonial. Paraguay.JPG|thumbnail|right|Colonial era crucifix]]
[[File:General view - Trinidad (Paraguay).JPG|thumbnail|right|Jesuit reduction of Trinidad]]
[[File:Jesus de Tavarangue - from above 2.JPG|thumbnail|right|Ruins of Tavarangue reduction]]
The Guaraní people of eastern Paraguay and neighboring Brazil and Argentina were in crisis in the early 17th century.  Recurrent epidemics of European diseases had reduced their population by up 50 percent and the forced labor of the encomiendas by the Spanish and mestizo colonists had made virtual slaves of many. Franciscan missionaries began establishing missions called [[reductions]] in the 1580s.<ref name="Hebblethwaite 2010 103">{{cite book |last=Hebblethwaite|first=Margaret|title=Paraguay|date=2010|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|page=103}}</ref> The first Jesuits arrived in Asunción in 1588 and founded their first mission (or reduction) of [[San Ignacio, Paraguay|San Ignacio Guazú]] in 1609. The objectives of the Jesuits were to make Christians of the Guaraní, impose European values and customs, and isolate and protect the Guaraní from European colonists and slavers.<ref name="Hebblethwaite 2010 103"/><ref name="Sarreal">{{cite book |last1=Sarreal |first1=Julia J. S. |title=The Guarani and their Missions |date=2014 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=9780804791229 |pages=20–28}}</ref>

In addition to recurrent epidemics, the Guaraní were threatened by the slave-raiding [[Bandeirantes]] from Brazil, who captured natives and sold them as slaves to work in sugar [[plantations]] or as concubines and household servants.  Having depleted native populations near [[São Paulo]], they discovered the richly populated Jesuit missions. Initially, the missions had few defenses against the slavers and thousands of Guaraní were captured and enslaved. Beginning in 1631, the Jesuits moved their missions from the [[Guayrá]] province (present day Brazil and Paraguay), about {{cvt|500|km|mile}} southwest to the three borders region of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. About 10,000 of 30,000 Guaraní in the missions chose to accompany the Jesuits. In 1641 and 1642, armed by the Jesuits, Guaraní armies defeated the Bandeirantes and ended the worst of the slave trade in their region. From this point on the Jesuit missions enjoyed growth and prosperity, punctuated by epidemics. At the peak of their importance in 1732, the Jesuits presided over 141,000 Guaraní (including a sprinkling of other peoples) in about 30 missions.<ref name="Ganson">{{cite book |last1=Ganson |first1=Barbara |title=The Guarani Under Spanish Rule in the Rio de la Plata |date=2003 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=0804736022 |pages=44–53}}</ref>

The missions are much-romanticized. "Proponents...highlight that the Jesuits protected the Indians from exploitation and preserved the Guaraní language and other aspects of indigenous culture." {{sfn|Sarreal|2014|page=6-7}} "By means of religion," wrote the 18th century philosopher [[d'Alembert]], "the Jesuits established a monarchical authority in Paraguay, founded solely on their powers of persuasion and on their lenient methods of government. Masters of the country, they rendered happy the people under their sway." [[Voltaire]] called the Jesuit missions "a triumph of humanity".<ref>{{cite book
  | last1 = Durant
  | first1 = Will
  | last2 = Durant
  | first2 = Ariel
  | title =  The Age of Reason Begins
  | series = The Story of Civilization, vol. 7
  | oclc = 1145805546
  | pages = [https://archive.org/details/ageofreasonbegin07dura_0/page/250 250]
  | publisher = Simon & Schuster
  | year = 1961
  | isbn = 978-0671013202
  | url = https://archive.org/details/ageofreasonbegin07dura_0
  | url-access = registration
  | quote = Paraguay founded solely on their powers.
  | access-date = 2006-04-22 }} the preceding paragraph is based on pages 249–50</ref> Detractors say that 'the Jesuits took away the Indians' freedom, forced them to radically change their lifestyle, physically abused them, and subjected them to disease."  Moreover, the missions were inefficient and their economic success "depended on subsidies from the Jesuit order, special protection and privileges from the Crown, and the lack of competition"{{sfn|Sarreal|2014|pages=6-7}}  The Jesuits are portrayed as "exploiters" who "sought to create a kingdom independent of the Spanish and Portuguese Crowns."<ref name="Wilde">{{cite journal |last1=Wilde |first1=Guillermo |title=Imagining Guarinis and Jesuits |journal=ReVista |date=2015 |volume=XIV |issue=3 |pages=4–5 |url=https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/imagining-guaranis-and-jesuits/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420003145/https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/imagining-guaranis-and-jesuits/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 April 2021 |access-date=24 March 2022 }}</ref>

The [[Revolt of the Comuneros (Paraguay)|Comunero Revolt]] (1721&ndash;1735) was a serious protest by Spanish and mestizo Paraguayans against the Jesuit missions. The residents of Paraguay violently protested the pro-Jesuit government of Paraguay, Jesuit control of Guaraní labor, and what they regarded as unfair competition for the market for products such as [[yerba mate]]. Although the revolt ultimately failed and the missions remained intact, the Jesuits were expelled from institutions they had created in Asunción.<ref name="Saeger">{{cite journal |last1=Saeger |first1=James Schofield |title=Origins of the Rebellion of Paraguay |journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review |date=1972 |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=227–229 |doi=10.1215/00182168-52.2.215 |url=http://www.jstor.com/stable/2512428 |access-date=30 March 2022|doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1756, the Guaraní protested the relocation of seven missions, losing a brief war with both the Spanish and Portuguese. The Jesuits were accused of inciting the Guaraní to rebel.{{sfn|Ganson|2003|pages=107-111}} In 1767, [[Charles III of Spain]] expelled the Jesuits from the Americas. The expulsion was part of an effort in the [[Bourbon Reforms]] to assert more Spanish control over its American colonies.<ref name="Guedea">{{cite book |last1=Guedea |first1=Virginia |title=The Oxford History of Mexico |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |page=278 |isbn=9780199731985}} Edited by Michael Meyer and William Beezley.</ref> In total, 78 Jesuits departed from the missions leaving behind 89,000 Guaraní in 30 missions. {{sfn|Sarreal|2014|page=115}}

According to historian Sarreal, most Guaraní initially welcomed the expulsion of the Jesuits. Spanish authorities made promises to Guaraní leaders and gained their support. Within two years, however, the financial situation of the former missions was deteriorating and Guaraní began leaving the missions seeking both freedom and higher wages. A decree in 1800 freed the Guaraní still in the missions from their communal obligation to labor. By 1840, the former missions were in ruins. While some Guaraní were employed outside the missions, many families were impoverished. A growing number of mestizos occupied what had formerly been mission lands. in 1848, Paraguayan President [[Carlos Antonio López]] declared that all Indians were citizens of Paraguay and distributed the last of the missions' communal lands. {{sfn|Sarreal|2014|pages=231-236}}{{sfn|Ganson|2003|pages=153-160}} The ruins of [[Jesuit Missions of La Santísima Trinidad de Paraná and Jesús de Tavarangue]] have been designated [[World Heritage Sites]] by [[UNESCO]].<ref name="wdl2581">{{cite web |url={{wdl|2581}} |title=Paraguariae Provinciae Soc. Jesu cum Adiacentibg. Novissima Descriptio |language=la |trans-title=A Current Description of the Province of the Society of Jesus in Paraguay with Neighboring Areas |work=World Digital Library |date=1732 }}</ref>