The Jesuits were part of a Catholic religious order called the Society of Jesus. Created with the aim of spreading the Catholic faith throughout the world, Jesuit priests were subjected to a regime of deprivation that prepared them to live in distant places and adapt to the most adverse conditions. In American Continent (in such colonies as Brazil), they arrived in 1549 with the aim of Christianizing the indigenous populations of the colonial territory.
In charge of this mission, they promoted the creation of the missions, where they organized the indigenous populations around a regime that combined work and religiosity. By subjecting populations to the European value sets, they undermined all the cultural diversity of the territory's native populations. In addition, they submitted them to a work routine that aroused the greed of the bandeirantes, who practiced the sale of indigenous slaves.
