Experiencias de la evangelización : la construcción del concepto "indio" realizado por los franciscanos durante la segunda mitad del siglo XVI

Abstract

In the second half of the 16th century, the Franciscans ended up arguing that the Indians were only "minors", and their care and guidance belonged them. This idea had nothing to do with previous concepts or with reality. The Indian revealed to them as a lazy, ignorant, and vicious being who could not govern himself. The semantic burden imposed by the Franciscans would be complemented by other paternalistic postures that reduced the American Indian to an uneducated, barbaric and naive individual on which his legal status in Indian legislation was based, as so many historical prejudices that still weigh on his condition.