The Cross and the Sword

 

Extent of Spanish Colonization of the Americas

"But these great and marvelous results are not to be attributed to any merit of mine, but to the holy Christian faith, for that which the unaided intellect of man could not compass, the Spirit of God has granted to human exertions. For God is wont to hear the prayers of his servants who live his precepts even to the performance of apparent impossibilities. Therefore let the King and Queen, our princes and their most happy kingdoms, and all the other provinces of Christendom, render thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has granted us so great a victory and such prosperity. . . . Let Christ rejoice on earth, as he rejoices in heaven in the prospect of the salvation of the souls of so many nations hitherto lost"

- Christopher Columbus, 1492

I wonder "whether it could be worst to give the Indians into the charge of the deveils of hell than to the Christian of the Indies."

-  Bartolomé de Las Casas

 Detail from the Our Lady of Guadalupe icon

Taos Pueblo, a participant in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.