Congregation and Urban Plan: The Organization and Development of Jesuit Frontier Missions

Abstract

The Society of Jesus administrated mission communities on the frontier of Spanish America among indigenous groups with different levels of social-political organization. Jesuit missionaries attempted to evangelize indigenous peoples and engaged in a program of directed social-cultural change. They created new communities that, in theory, conformed to the norms of urban development based on the grid plan established by Spanish law. Where possible, the Jesuits congregated the indigenous peoples on the new communities. However, this was not always possible, and on some missions the Jesuits adopted a dispersed settlement plan with indigenous peoples living on the main mission community and other settlements designated as visitas. This article compares the urban plan and spatial organization of mission communities on the northern frontier of Nueva España and South America.