José de Anchieta (1534-1597) was an influential Jesuit missionary in Brazil who was especially concerned with the welfare of the Indians under Portuguese control.

José de Anchieta was born on March 19, 1534, in São Cristóvão de la Laguna on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. His well-to-do Spanish family sent him to the Jesuit College at Coimbra University, Portugal, in 1547. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1551. His biographers credit him with being an exceptionally intelligent student whose intellectual prowess compensated for physical infirmity.

In 1553 Anchieta accompanied Duarte da Costa, the second governor general of Brazil, to the New World. In 1549 the Portuguese King had established a central government for the huge but underpopulated American colony. One of his principal concerns was to introduce to Christianity the various Indian tribes, but this Christianization also served as an effective means of incorporating the...