ABSTRACT
In the 15th century, the construction of sea-going caravels allowed Portuguese and Spanish sailors to explore beyond Europe. The Portuguese sought a sea route to the Spice Islands, hoping to bypass the Muslim intermediaries in the East and make large profits from the trade. However, to avoid conflict between the Iberian powers, under the aegis of the Pope, the world was divided into two, with Portugal allocated the eastern half – Africa, India and Asia, and the Spanish the Western half, the newly discovered America. Along with profit, their mission was to Christianize the infidels, who, with Papal approval, they were allowed to enslave and colonize their lands. This Christian world view dominated the Portuguese engagement with indigenous people who, in not being Christians, were often regarded as primitive and uncivilized. Yet, when the Portuguese reached Japan, in the mid-16th century, they found the Japanese to be different: white and good mannered, with a sense of private property, living in a bucolic landscape with well-ordered towns – all signs of civilization in the Portuguese mind. But they were not Christians, so when the Jesuit Francis Xavier learnt about them, he established a mission to convert them to Christianity.
