ABSTRACT
The development and operation of Christian institutions for the regulation of sexuality in Africa and Asia parallels that of Latin America in many ways. The first Portuguese colonies were established on many of the Atlantic islands, including the Azores, Cape Verdes, Madeira, and Sao Tome. As in Latin America, various lay religious groups were formed in the Portuguese colonies in Africa and Asia. During the early eighteenth century, a few Protestant missionaries went to other European colonies besides those run by the Dutch East India Company. The blending of Christian and local practices in terms of sexual issues was part of the cultural negotiation and creolization that occurred in colonial context. European authorities, both secular and clerical, brought with them a categorization of heterosexual relationships that was largely dichotomous: there was monogamous marriage, and there was everything else. Asylums for repentant prostitutes and other women charged with sexual crimes were opened in some European colonies, including Goa, Batavia, and Manila.
