Many of the missionaries who came to the new worlds had the sincere desire to spread their faith. There were also those who had other motives such as finding gold rather than converting the natives to their ways. The responses to these missionaries were varied with some accepting some of the elements of Christianity while there were others who firmly rejected the new religion of their invaders (MacNutt, 1908).
The Aztecs and the Mayans did need to be saved by the Christian missionaries. They lived in poor conditions and did not understand basic things such as sanitation, and were not in possession of any skills. The missionaries went ahead to teach them their language for easier communication and gave them skills such as trade to help them get by. They were able to learn from reading the bible, understand modern medicine and the rights they were exposed to from proper leadership. There were missionaries who took it upon themselves to interact and live with the natives as a way of learning their ways (MacNutt, 1908). For these missionaries, the conversion came much easier.
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Even as the conversation was taking place, it was met with much resistance from the natives. The brutal nature of the settlers was the main cause of resistance towards the religion being brought on. This brutality often had the natives seeking revenge for the injustices they suffered. It was the manner in which they spread their beliefs that impeded the conversion of the natives ( Kamen, 2003).
The growth of the Spanish and Portuguese empires was concerned with conquering as any regions of the world as possible. They were bent on spreading their religion and administrative structures to these undiscovered lands. The empires were in search of hidden treasures and exploiting these undiscovered lands and claim them as their own crown. There is a similarity of Spanish and Portuguese empires with the Greek colonization of the Mediterranean since these empires sought to have their territories expanded and rule over as many regions as they could possibly do. All these empires were also motivated by greed and after they had gathered information regarding a new colony, they went ahead to demand the resources that included gold and other precious metals ( Kamen, 2003).
References
Kamen, H. (2003). Empire: How Spain Became a World Power . New York: HarperCollins
MacNutt, F. A.(1908. The Five Letters of Relation from Fernando Cortes to the Emperor Charles V . New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons
