Education and evangelization in province of Cartagena during the sixteenth century

Abstract

In historical studies, absolute and definitive conclusions are not possible. The previous affirmation is valid, particularly, in relation to education and Christianization of indigenous Americans during the Hispanic period. The purpose of this article is to unveil the weaknesses of the thesis that suggests that Spaniards imposed, without judging formula, their culture in the New World. We mean to demonstrate that Spaniards utilized varied strategies in the westernization process of the American indigenous population. Representatives of the Colonial Spanish State systematically combined pedagogical domination strategies such as violence and consent, destruction and syncretism, imposition and persuasion. Also, the friars and clergymen employed psycholinguistics mechanisms, the fear’s pedagogy, artifices, and they took advantage of the ignorance of the native population to win the legitimacy of his spiritual power in America.