Under Jesuit management, the Guaraní missions of the Río de la Plata region of South America were the largest and most prosperous of all the Catholic missions established to convert, acculturate, and incorporate indigenous peoples and their lands into the Spanish and Portuguese empires. The book is a socioeconomic history of the Guaraní and their missions. It makes three central contributions. First, rather than studying cultural change like previous scholarship, it focuses on economic and social change to provide an understanding of the material changes experienced by the Guaraní in their day ... More

Under Jesuit management, the Guaraní missions of the Río de la Plata region of South America were the largest and most prosperous of all the Catholic missions established to convert, acculturate, and incorporate indigenous peoples and their lands into the Spanish and Portuguese empires. The book is a socioeconomic history of the Guaraní and their missions. It makes three central contributions. First, rather than studying cultural change like previous scholarship, it focuses on economic and social change to provide an understanding of the material changes experienced by the Guaraní in their day-to-day lives. Second, it shows that while the Guaraní missions were prosperous under Jesuit management, they were not run efficiently. Third, it is the first work to provide a detailed and comprehensive explanation about why the missions declined. The book contends that the missions declined not because of the corruption and incapacity of the Jesuits’ replacements but rather due to Crown reforms meant to push the Río de la Plata region and the Guaraní into the global economy.