What term refers to the network of churches set up by the Spanish to convert Native Americans?

• A. Cathedrals
• B. Temples
• C. Parishes
• D. Missions

Answer: (D)

Missions were a network of outposts established by the Spanish to convert Native Americans to Catholicism and to extend colonial influence. These settlements paired religious instruction with daily life—education, farming, and crafts—often led by orders like the Franciscans or Jesuits. They weren’t just individual churches; they were coordinated sites across regions designed to evangelize and integrate Indigenous peoples into colonial society. In contrast, a parish is a local church community within a diocese, a cathedral is the main church of a diocese, and temples refer to places of worship in other contexts. This makes missions the best term for that specific Spanish effort.