The Guaraní and Their Missions: A Socioeconomic History

Julia Sarreal's study reveals that Guaraní Indians' collaboration with Jesuit missions was driven by rational self-interest, not coercion. Analyzing 18th-century economic data from the Bourbon period, she demonstrates that the Guaraníes joined missions for protection and material benefits, avoiding forced integration into encomienda systems. The research highlights their agency through active participation in mission councils (cabildos), which influenced policies despite secular rule's failures. Sarreal also shows that missions like Yapeyú thrived economically with yerba mate cultivation and cattle ranching until demographic shifts led to abandonment. Contrary to the image of sudden collapse, she finds a gradual decline, supported by quantitative records and maps. A minor error involves anachronistic maps referencing a 1945 lake.

Whigham, T. (2017). The Guaraní and Their Missions: A Socioeconomic History. Ethnohistory, 64(1), 152–153. https://doi.org/10.1215/00141801-3688503