unique in human history?

[Metric]

Having recently seen the movie "The Mission" I came across the Wikipedia entry after a web search, and found this in their entry on the South American Jesuit reductions:

"The indigenous people of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, the Guarani, would have been victims of the colonial conquest in South America, had the Jesuits not been able to persuade the King of Spain to grant that vast region to their care. Having first landed in South America in 1550, the Jesuits promised the Spanish monarch generous rewards, in the form of tributes, in exchange for exempting the Indians from hard labour to which all the other tribes were subjected.

For about 150 years, the Jesuits protected the Guaraní from the raids of the slave-hunters from Portugal and Spain. They founded several missions or Reductions and developed a kind of evangelisation that was possibly unique in Christian history. Putting into practice the precepts of the Gospel through this bold experiment, they isolated the Guaraní from the influences of the Europeans and developed their creativity.

The Reductions were established over a vast area which today covers part of Argentina, Paraguay, southern Brazil and Uruguay. The first settlement was founded in 1609. Many other missions were established along the rivers, in the Gran Chaco, Guaira and Paraná territories.

Guided by the Jesuits, the Guarani had advanced laws; they founded free public services for the poor, schools, hospitals, and abolished the death penalty. A society based on the principles of primitive Christianity was established. All the inhabitants of the Reductions worked the communal land - and all the products they produced were divided fairly among them.

The Guaraní were very skilled in handicraft works such as sculpture and woodcarving. Even advanced products such as watches and musical instruments were produced in the Reductions. The working day was about six hours, compared with 12-14 hours in Europe at that time. Free time was dedicated to music, dance, archery contests and to prayer. The Guaraní society was the first in the history of the world to be entirely literate."

I found this whole story to be rather moving and inspiring some faith in humanity. Can anyone think of any comparable episode in human history?

[Borodog]

Um, perhaps you should try to find a less biased source. The Jesuit Reductions in Paraguay were an experiment in theocracy. The Jesuits used their significantly more advanced technology to cow the Guarani into working plantations, building churches, and acting as their personal servants. It is easy to believe that those protecting you have a direct channel to God when all the native tribes around you are being brutalized by technology thousands of years ahead of your stone age technology. The ecclesiatical communities were basically administered like monestaries or convents, with the associated tight social restrictions and controls, including meeting out harsh punishments for disobedience.

[Metric]

I admit that I have no detailed knowledge of the subject, but it would seem that the situation was far better than the outright slavery that resulted elsewhere (and compared favorably in some ways with European life, as the article pointed out), and it also seems difficult to claim self-interest as the motivation for all this, when apparently the Jesuits were expelled from the Portugese empire over their resistance to colonial enslavement of the Guaraní... Do you know if the Guarani were ever compelled to work/stay at a Reduction?

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]
I admit that I have no detailed knowledge of the subject, but it would seem that the situation was far better than the outright slavery that resulted elsewhere (and compared favorably in some ways with European life, as the article pointed out), and it also seems difficult to claim self-interest as the motivation for all this, when apparently the Jesuits were expelled from the Portugese empire over their resistance to colonial enslavement of the Guaraní... Do you know if the Guarani were ever compelled to work/stay at a Reduction?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's been probably 15 years since I read up on the subject, so I don't recall too many specific details.

Note that I'm not saying the Jesuits didn't believe they were doing good works; I'm just saying that living as a servant under a theocratic regime based on tight social control over the individual was not the idylic utopia the wikipedia article makes it out to be.

[Metric]

I tend to believe that you're right (based on my somewhat jaded view of human nature) -- I suppose the wikipedia article tends to reinforce the picture painted by the movie. However, I still have to say that I was astonished upon reading that a Catholic South American jungle society was the world's first to be completely literate!

[cambraceres]

It certainly is suprising that the society was 100% literate, but think about the logistical challenges of verifying this. It would be not impossible in their day to verify, but difficult to such an extent as would preclude the society fron enbarking on such an enterprise. As I remember my Jesuit history they were founded as a sort of military theocracy, or at least became such. Perhaps we are overlooking some very important detail about the customs of this sect or their interface with these indigenous peoples that would provide some mitigating factor of sorts. I say this because military orders are not known for short working days, or perhaps through the complication of time I am skewing what military predilections this religion held.

Cambraceres