Chapter 15:
Exploration and
Missionary Movements
THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
ANTICIPATORY SET
Analyze the illustration of the New World (“Novus Orbis,” p. 545). Identify
features of the map and explain why they are so distorted compared to
modern maps.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
BASIC QUESTIONS
 What factors made the Age of Exploration possible?
 What were the positive and negative effects of the Age of Exploration?
KEY IDEAS
 Technical innovations in the maritime arts and a desire to bypass the trade
monopoly of the Ottoman Empire and Italian merchants launched the Age of
Exploration. The Portuguese searched for and found an eastern route to
markets in the Far East.
 The Spanish sponsored Columbus, who set out to find a direct western route
to China and India. His discovery of the West Indies set off a frenzy of
exploration, including the first circumnavigation of the globe by Magellan.
Mercantilism and the Columbian Exchange had profound effects on the
world, both positive—developing the economies and increasing the food
supply of Europe—and negative—slavery, serfdom, massive epidemics, and
the destruction of native cultures.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTION
How did the European economy motivate people during the Age of
Exploration?
After the fall of Constantinople, it became increasingly difficult and costly
to receive goods from the East through the Ottoman Turks, and the
farther west one lived, the more expensive were those imported goods.
Spanish and Portuguese interests wanted to find a way to bypass Turkish
and Italian middlemen.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
How did government exploration and merchant trade beget one
another?
Government-sponsored explorations opened up new trading
opportunities, which increased tax revenues, funded further exploration,
and opened up further merchant trading.
What technological innovations aided the Age of Exploration?
Prince Henry the Navigator’s school employed cosmographers and
mathematicians to improve the quality of maps, charts, and navigational
techniques. The compass and astrolabe were important new navigational
instruments. The new caravel could sail against the wind, through high
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Complete the following table about the causes of exploration.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
GUIDED EXERCISE
Work with a partner to list the features that made the caravel the best ship
of its time.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What was important about the voyage of Bartholomew Diaz?
He sailed down the west coast of Africa and around the Cape of Good
Hope, proving it was possible to bypass the Ottoman-controlled land
route to the East.
What was the importance of Vasco da Gama’s voyage?
He sailed all the way to India, almost discovering Brazil in the process.
What did the Portuguese establish?
They established the first worldwide trading empire.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Work with a partner to complete the following table according to the map
“Voyages of Discovery” (pp. 548–549).
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTION
Why was Columbus rejected by Portugal and sponsored by Spain?
Columbus wanted to reach India by sailing westward. The Portuguese
were committed to opening an eastern route to India around Africa, so
they were not interested. The Spanish, wanting to compete against
Portugal, were open to alternate routes.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Why did Columbus think he could reach China by sailing
westward?
The second-century geographer Ptolemy wrote that the Eurasian land
mass stretched halfway around the northern hemisphere. Columbus
reasoned he could reach the easternmost part of China by sailing
westward that distance.
How far from Europe did Columbus estimate China to be?
He calculated 2400 miles, which is a little less than the distance to the
New World.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What did Magellan accomplish?
His crew circumnavigated the globe. For the first time, people had an
accurate idea of the breadth of the earth.
Who were conquistadors?
They were Spanish soldiers of fortune who conquered the Aztec, Inca,
and other peoples in Central and South America.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What other European nations joined the Age of Exploration?
France, the Netherlands, and England also explored the New World.
What did Columbus think he had found, and what had he found?
He thought he had reached the archipelagos, which holds the great island
cities of China, but he actually found the Bahamas.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What was the effect of Columbus’s success?
It set off a frenzy of exploration to the New World, pitting Spain and
Portugal in competition for colonial territory.
What was the “Line of Demarcation” (Tordesillas Line)?
Drawn by Pope Alexander VI, it ceded land east of it to Portugal and
west to Spain. Extension: Since no one knew how much land was to the
west, Spain was granted unwittingly much more land: almost the whole of
the Americas.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTION
What were some negative effects of the Age of Exploration?
The gold and silver mined in the New World and imported to Europe
inflated the money supply. England resorted to piracy to steal gold before
it could reach Spain. Serfdom, which bound peasants to the land, was
introduced in Germany and Austria and other Eastern European areas
that could not compete with colonial agriculture in the New World.
Mercantilism became dependent on slave labor. Disease brought by
Spanish conquistadors killed thousands of native people, and colonizers
disrupted and sometimes destroyed the indigenous peoples’ ways of life.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What effect did the discovery of the New World have on the common
laborer in Europe?
New foods such as squash, potatoes, and beans were introduced to Europe,
increasing the food supply.
What is mercantilism?
This economic theory holds that nations should import raw materials and export
finished goods, thus creating a surplus of capital for investment.
What was the Columbian Exchange?
It was the widespread exchange of agricultural goods, animals, plants, diseases,
and ideas between the eastern and western hemispheres, which began after 1492.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What were some effects of the Columbian Exchange?
It brought the potato from South America to Ireland and coffee from the
Near East to the Andes. Horses and cattle were brought to the Americas,
oranges to Florida, and bananas to Ecuador. Tomatoes, paprika, tobacco,
peanuts, and cocoa were brought to Europe.
What effect did the Columbian Exchange have on the Plains
Indians?
They captured and learned to ride horses that had escaped from the
Spanish, becoming nomadic, horseback bison hunters.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Work with a partner to complete the following table according to the map
“Missionary Voyages” (p. 554).
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
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
Study Questions 1–14 (pp. 576–577)
Practical Exercise 1 (p. 577)
Workbook Questions 1–21
Read “Missionary Apostolate” through “The Philippines and Africa”
(pp. 556–564)
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
CLOSURE
Write a paragraph explaining the factors that contributed to the Age of
Exploration.
1. Opening the Atlantic (pp. 544–555)
ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
Work with a partner to discuss how the Age of Exploration reveals both
the greatness of man and the reality of Original Sin.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
ANTICIPATORY SET
Search the Internet for and view a map drawn by Matteo Ricci
about 1620.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
BASIC QUESTIONS
 How did missionaries overcome formidable obstacles to evangelize the people of the Far
East?
 What were some accomplishments of St. Francis Xavier and Matteo Ricci?
 What is inculturation, and why is it effective?
KEY IDEAS
 Despite many obstacles to missionary activity, the discovery of new lands and the reforms
of the Ecumenical Council of Trent resulted in an outpouring of evangelical spirit.
 St. Francis Xavier was perhaps the most successful missionary since St. Paul, winning large
numbers of converts in India and Japan and leaving behind a strong administrative system
and well-trained successors. In China Matteo Ricci provided a textbook example of how to
evangelize a culture that was both hostile to Christianity and considered itself superior to it.
 Inculturation—learning the language and customs of the people being evangelized and
adapting the expression of the Faith to that culture—was effective in India, China, Japan,
and the Philippines.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What effect did the Catholic Reformation have on evangelization?
The Catholic Reformation encouraged dedicated missionaries to spread
the Gospel to newly encountered people.
What is De Propaganda Fide?
This congregation was founded by the Pope in 1622 to promote and
establish apostolic missions.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What was the basic difference between how the Catholic and
Protestant settlers saw the native peoples?
In North America the Spanish and French Catholic settlers saw the native
people as human beings who should be protected, who could learn
Spanish or French culture, and who could be converted and intermarry
with Europeans. The English and Dutch Protestant settlers tended to see
the natives as reprobates who may be killed and their lands seized.
What was the importance of Fr. Bartolome de las Casas?
He was the first priest in the New World. He renounced his encomienda and
fought to eradicate Indian and African slavery.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
GUIDED EXERCISE
Read silently the selection from “History of the Indians” (p. 575), and
then discuss the following questions:
 According to Fr. Bartolome de las Casas, what basic method should a missionary
employ in a pagan land? Do you agree with him?
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What big obstacles did the missionaries face?
Vast distances to travel, extreme climates, differences in language, hostile
natives, and the poor examples of many European settlers were obstacles
to the work of missionaries.
What bad examples did many early European settlers set in
missionary territories?
Many early settlers were opportunistic adventurers—who were prone to
mistreating and enslaving local peoples—or government officials who
violated the native peoples’ human rights.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
According to tradition, who brought Christianity to India?
St. Thomas the Apostle brought Christianity to India.
Is this tradition true?
The scholarly consensus is that this tradition seems to be true.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTION
What is known about St. Thomas Christians?
Though they left no written records, they were influenced by heretical
Nestorians, which had proliferated in Mesopotamia; enjoyed a high status
in Indian society; and had an archdeacon in charge; parish councils; a
liturgy that included days of fasting and abstinence; and churches similar
in style to Hindu temples and Jewish synagogues.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
When St. Francis Xavier arrived in India, how did he counter the
scandalous activities of the European settlers there?
He worked for five months to reform their immoral behaviors.
What made St. Francis Xavier so successful?
Besides his tireless activity, he learned the languages of the peoples he
evangelized and displayed a simple charity toward all.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What was St. Francis Xavier’s legacy?
He converted tens of thousands of Indians. St. Francis Xavier always left
behind well trained successors and a strong administrative structure to
continue to serve the newly evangelized peoples.
What did missionary success in Japan entail?
While the Japanese were open to conversion, evangelization required the
permission of the Shogun, the strongest tribal warlord. St. Francis
baptized some 2000 Japanese.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Why did St. Francis Xavier seek entry to China, even though, if
caught, he could be executed?
He heard about the magnificent culture of the Celestial Empire and
wanted to bring the Faith to it.
How did St. Francis’s life end?
He died before he could reach the mainland of China.
Extension: St. Francis Xavier is credited with having converted more
people than anyone since St. Paul.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Who first evangelized China?
Matteo Ricci evangelized China.
Why was China uniquely difficult to evangelize?
The Chinese were satisfied with the excellence of their traditions, which
included ancestor worship and philosophy based on truth and justice.
They had no inclination to embrace a new civilization or religion from the
West.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
How did Ricci evangelize the Chinese?
Ricci appreciated and valued the culture that he had entered. He blended
the eastern and western worlds in an attractive and compatible way—
dressing as a Mandarin scholar—yet filled his residence with Western
works of art and scientific instruments. Through his exemplary virtues
and tantalizing glimpses into Western civilization, Ricci earned respect and
attracted the attention of the emperor, whom he befriended.
How did the missionaries in India practice inculturation?
They assimilated local customs, learned various dialects, and integrated
themselves into the communities.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
How did Robert de Nobili apply inculturation to the high caste of
Brahmins?
He mastered Hindi and Sanskrit, studied the Brahmins, and learned what
they held sacred and worthy of reverence. He fasted and abstained from
foods that they considered unclean. With the permission of his bishop, he
presented himself as a Christian Brahmin holy man to show Christian
virtues in a way that the Brahmins could recognize.
What was the result of De Nobili’s respect for the Brahmin caste?
He converted some 150,000 souls.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
How did Matteo Ricci make Christianity attractive to the Chinese
people?
Besides his friendship with the emperor, Ricci gave lectures on science
and astronomy, translated Christian principles into Chinese, and
composed a liturgical rite in the vernacular.
How did Chinese Catholicism appear at its apex?
Ricci converted some 2000 Chinese. Under his successor, the number
grew to 237,000. In 1692 the emperor granted complete toleration to the
Church, and by 1724 the number of Chinese Catholics rose to 800,000.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What caused a decline in Chinese Christianity?
The Chinese became wary of Western domination and began
persecutions in 1724, which impacted missionary activity. The suppression
of the Jesuit order in 1773 also diminished the number of available
priests. By the end of the century, the number of Chinese Catholics was
only about 300,000.
In Japan, how did the Shogun view the Faith?
At the time of St Francis Xavier, the Shogun permitted missionary
activity, which resulted in some 200,000 fervent converts. A later Shogun
prohibited Christianity.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Why were there so many Japanese Christians martyred?
The Shogun was afraid of invasion and the destruction of Japanese
civilization. Many Japanese Catholics were tortured and crucified as
Christianity was suppressed.
When Japan reopened herself, what did French missionaries
discover?
They found some 50,000 secret Japanese Christians, who had retained the
Faith for almost 300 years. Remarkably, they still pledged obedience to the
Pope, venerated the Blessed Virgin Mary, and practiced clerical celibacy.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
GUIDED EXERCISE
Work with a partner to contrast the different experiences of the Church
in the Philippines and on the continent of Africa.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
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Study Questions 15–21 (p. 577)
Practical Exercise 2 (p. 577)
Workbook Questions 22–44
Read “The New World” through “Conclusion” (pp. 564–574)
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
CLOSURE
Write a one-paragraph essay in which you define inculturation and show
how Robert de Nobili exemplified this among the Brahmins of India.
2. Missionary Apostolate (pp. 556–564)
ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
Work with a partner to make a graph charting the growth and decline of
Catholicism in China from the late sixteenth until the end of the
eighteenth century.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
ANTICIPATORY SET
Discuss the following question:
 Based on last night’s reading, what did the Church do to promote the rights of
native peoples in the Americas?
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
BASIC QUESTIONS
 What did the conquistadors Cortez and Pizarro accomplish?
 How did the conversion of Mexico occur?
 How did the evangelization of North America begin?
KEY IDEAS
 Cortez and Pizarro, audacious and brutal adventurers, conquered the
Aztec and Inca Empires, respectively.
 The conversion of Mexico was effected miraculously by the Blessed
Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Guadalupe).
 Heroic missionaries and Popes tried to protect the native peoples and
African slaves from European settlers’ greed and inhumanity. In North
America French priests were the first martyrs, and English Catholics
established the Colony of Maryland.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
How did Spain show that it was serious about the propagation of
Christianity?
Kings Charles I and Phillip II supported missionary clerics financially and
passed legislation to protect the human rights of the native peoples.
What factors helped Cortez subdue Montezuma?
Evidently, Montezuma considered Cortez a prophesied Aztec god.
Fearing the Aztecs would turn on him, Cortez arrested the emperor.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
How was Cortez able to conquer the Aztecs?
In addition to the Spaniards’ brutality, audacity, and superior weapons,
Cortez was aided by thousands of subjugated natives who hated the
Aztecs. In addition, an epidemic of small pox decimated the Aztec
people.
What was the extent of the Inca Empire?
It covered territory that includes modern-day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia,
Chile, and Argentina.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Why did Pizarro not try to conquer the Inca Empire in 1526?
He had only a few men with him and realized he would have had to have
raised an army. He returned in 1536 with an army only to find the empire
embroiled in civil war.
How did Pizarro reveal his horrible brutality?
Pizarro, fearing a trap from Emperor Atahuallpa, invited the emperor to
his camp. When the emperor arrived with thousands of unarmed nobles,
Pizarro assassinated a majority of the nobles and arrested and executed
the emperor.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Who were three unsuccessful Spanish treasure hunters?
Ponce de Leon, Hernando de Soto, and Francisco de Coronado were unsuccessful.
What was the religion of the natives of the Americas?
They were largely animists who attributed human characteristics to material objects,
animals, and plants. Many engaged in human sacrifice.
What were some challenges of missionaries in the New World?
Besides native pagan priests who were bitter enemies of the missionaries, some of the
Spanish conquerors were terrible Christian examples, ravaging native villages and
enslaving the native peoples.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
To whom did the Blessed Virgin Mary appear at Tepeyac Hill?
She appeared to St. Juan Diego.
What task did the Blessed Virgin Mary ask him to accomplish?
She asked him to ask Bishop Juan de Zumarraga to build a church in her
name.
What was the miracle of Guadalupe?
An image of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on St. Juan Diego’s tilma.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
GUIDED EXERCISE
Perform a focused reading of the paragraph “The Church did much…”
(p. 568) using the following question from the Anticipatory Set:
 What did the Church do to promote the rights of native peoples in the Americas?
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
GUIDED EXERCISE
Answer the following questions according to the sidebar “Recent
Investigation of the Image” (p. 569):
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

How was the image on the tilma made?
What is remarkable about the condition of the tilma?
What happened to the image when it was bombed?
What is the Samson-Purkinje effect?
Where is the Samson-Purkinje effect found?
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Why did Spanish missionaries seek to establish missions far away from
European settlers?
They wanted to protect the native peoples from the bad examples of many
settlers and from their interference.
How were Spanish missions in the Americas?
Each was a highly cultured, self-sustaining settlement in which the native
people had complete control over their own affairs.
What were the effects of these missions?
Between 1610 and 1767, thirty-two missions were established in North
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Why did the Portuguese introduce slavery into Europe?
It was an effort to solve labor shortages that had arisen within mercantilist
economies. Extension: The ends do not justify the means.
Which countries dominated the slave trade in Europe?
The Dutch and English dominated it.
How was the slave trade for slaves?
Travel was extremely hazardous. Families were separated, resulting in great
suffering.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
GUIDED EXERCISE
Work with a partner to perform a paragraph shrink on the paragraph
“In the Spanish missions…” (p. 571).
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What did Pope Eugene IV order the authorities in the Canary
Islands to do?
He ordered they desist from depriving native peoples of their property
and from enslaving them; instead, their former liberty should be restored.
According to Pope Paul III, what was the motivation for slavery,
and how did people try to justify it?
He charged that slavery was “to satisfy their own avarice.” Slave owners
claimed that the Indians were “like brute animals… lacking the Catholic
Faith.”
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What did Pope Paul III assert about the enslaved Indians?
“The Indians themselves indeed are true men.”
What was the fate of St. John de Brebeuf in Canada?
After working among the Huron, St. John was tortured barbarically and
killed by the Iroquois.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What did St. Isaac Jogues suffer from the Mohawks when he was
taken prisoner in 1642?
He was tortured and forced into slavery. His captors bit off his fingers.
What was St. Isaac’s fate?
St. Isaac could have lived out his life safely in France, but he chose to
return to Canada to negotiate a peace settlement to the Indian wars.
In 1646 he was blamed for a crop blight, and Mohawk warriors beat him
to death.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Why did English Catholics found the colony of Maryland?
They fled religious persecution in England.
Why was a bicameral legislature established in Maryland?
It protected the Catholic minority from the growing Protestant population,
which sought to restrict the religious liberty of Catholics as in the other
English colonies.
What is nonestablishment?
This principle forbids a government from establishing an official state
religion.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
 Study Questions 22–28 (p. 577)
 Practical Exercises 3–4 (p. 577)
 Workbook Questions 45–73
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
CLOSURE
Write a paragraph about how Mexicans experienced the best and the
worst that sixteenth-century Europeans had to offer.
3. The New World (pp. 564–574)
ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
Discuss the following question:
 What might have been the most successful way to have evangelized the New World?
THE END