A Reduction is a mission town founded by Jesuit missionaries. The Jesuit Reduction began in the 16th century and was the idea of ​​carrying out missions for the natives of Central and South America to reduce the spread of the native population. This reduction was initiated by the Spanish government to help Christianize, tax, and rule them, also this made it easier for Spain to use captured natives as crown slaves. The Spanish government at that time was one of the global superpowers over which it had much control until its lands became too unwieldy to manage. The area that was most affected by these Reductions was modern-day Paraguay of the Tupi-Guarani tribe (as seen in the movie “The Mission”) and later spread further south to places like Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. The Reductions in South America were different from those elsewhere because, although native tribes were expected to convert to Christianity, they were not forced to adopt European customs and lifestyles. The Reductions ended up having a high degree of autonomy and achieved great economic success. The Reductions were raided by slave traders, and the Spanish helped raise an Indian militia to protect the Reductions. The high level of autonomy, economic success, and danger posed by slave traders led to the expulsion of the Jesuits from Central and South America in 1767. The Jesuit Reductions began in the early 17th century when the priests decided to evangelize the native tribes of Central and South America. South America. Although these practices began in South America, they also spread to the north, in Mexico the policy was called congregationión, and also took the form of the hospitals of Vasco de Quiroga and the Franciscan Missions of California, and in Por... ... middle of paper......al and South America have had their reverses. Most of these collapses were due to the Spanish and Portuguese governments and their suspicions of growing power in Jesuit-occupied countries. Works Cited Bakewell, PJ. A History of Latin America: c. 1450 to date. 2nd ed. Malden, MA, USA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. Print.Caraman, Philip. Paradise Lost: The Jesuit Republic of South America. New York: Seabury Press, 1976-1975. Print.Ganson, Barbara Anne. The Guaraní under Spanish rule in the Río de la Plata. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2003. Print.Graham, R.B. A Vanished Arcadia: An Account of the Jesuits in Paraguay, 1607 to 1767. London: W. Heinemann, 1901. Print.Lippy, Charles H., Robert Choquette, and Stafford Poole. Christianity arrives in the Americas, 1492-1776. New York, NY: Paragon House, 1992. Print.