Cultural Differences Of The Guarani And The Europeans

The Guarani and the Europeans During the 17th and 18th centuries, Europeans were on the search for land and spices across the globe. Their voyages led to many discoveries and they affected many other civilizations. Even with their influence, though, the natives still managed to keep their own culture alive. For example, the Guarani of South America still kept to their values, even with some integration of Europeans’ culture. The Spanish brought religion and missions to the natives, and their ways of living. Even though the Europeans affected them somewhat, the Guarani still allowed their own culture to prosper. The Guarani and the Europeans have their similarities, but also their differences. The Guarani and the Europeans are not that different …show more content…
Before conversion, the Guarani lived off the land and had a spiritual religion. They knew nothing of Christianity. The Europeans were not an agricultural, or hunter/gatherer society. They relied on the lower level citizens to give them what they needed, with the wealthy living more comfortably. The Guarani were not colonizers, either. They were peaceful people that did not like outsiders. The Europeans were conquerors that did not care about the natives or the natives of other civilizations. They were violent and their only goal was to gain land and resources. There is also a difference in attire. The Europeans had elaborate, fancy clothing that covered their whole bodies, complete with shoes. The Guarani wore only loincloths and some shoes, but not as durable as the Europeans leather-made hard shoe. The housing differed, also. The Guarani lived in huts and manmade buildings. The Europeans had brick houses with furniture and servants. The people themselves differed. Father Gabriel, who sided with the natives, was the leader of the mission on their land. He cared about the Guarani. He was peaceful. He was kind and compassionate. Lastly, he was a pacifist. He did not want war between the Guarani and the Portuguese. Contrastingly, the mercenary for the Spanish, Rodrigo, was a ruthless killer that did not care until later on. He was money hungry. He was selfish. He was uncompassionate and evil, some could say. Lastly, he put himself above others, but he did change in the end, fighting alongside the natives to keep their mission, even though it was against Father Gabriel’s wishes, which is another example of their differences. These examples show that even with similarities, there is still a huge