ABSTRACT
The conflict between settlers and Jesuits over the issue of Indian labor became particularly bitter in Paraguay because the Indian population of the missions was flourishing at a time when the towns where Indian workers were available to the settlers were rapidly declining. The rapid decline of the Indian population in Paraguay had far reaching effects on the economics, society and politics of the province, as well as on the relations between settlers and Jesuits. The settlers of Paraguay resented this, and throughout the seventeenth century they made frequent suggestions and demands that the mission Indians be made available to them. When Tomas de Torres, a Dominican, arrived in Asuncion as bishop, the governor of the province was Don Manuel de Frias, a man who became increasingly unpopular among the settlers because of his friendly attitude towards the Jesuits. In Paraguay, however, a similar reconciliation between the Fathers and the settlers proved impossible.
