Missionaries: From Alaska to Patagonia · Episode 8 of 10 · 44 min
How the Guaraní Fought Two Empires: The Jesuit Reductions and the Guaraní War
The Guaraní and the Jesuits built a self-governing, armed republic of about thirty mission towns whose army wiped out a Portuguese slaving expedition in 1641. In 1750 two European kings traded the land away in the Treaty of Madrid, and the Guaraní went to war rather than obey. The episode centers Guaraní agency and ends on UNESCO ruins and a living language.
Who's who
- Antonio Ruiz de MontoyaJesuit who persuaded Philip IV to let the Guaraní bear arms
- Sepé TiarajuGuaraní commander killed on February 7, 1756
- Philip IVSpanish king who authorized arming the Guaraní in 1640
- Charles IIIKing who expelled the Jesuits in 1767
Where it happens
- Uruguay RiverSite of the 1641 Battle of Mbororé
- Caiboaté, BrazilSite of the 1756 massacre
- Paraguay+1 more episodeCountry where Guaraní is the majority language
Timeline
- 1609First Jesuit reductions established among the Guaraní
- March 11, 1641Battle of Mbororé destroys a bandeirante expedition
- January 13, 1750Treaty of Madrid trades seven eastern reductions to Portugal
- February 10, 1756Battle of Caiboaté: about 1,511 Guaraní killed, four Europeans dead
- 1767Charles III expels the Jesuits
- 1992Guaraní becomes co-official in Paraguay
Still debated
Historians argue whether the reductions were a humane Indigenous commonwealth or a benevolent but total Jesuit-run order; they were more autonomous than other missions yet still directed. Entry was constrained by slavers on one side and forced labor on the other. The Caiboaté casualty ratio is the victors' count.