Spanish.

The Catholic Church and the Spanish state were a team in the early exploration and settlement of America; conquest and conversion were assumed to go together. The Pope had granted such ecclesiastical power to the Spanish monarchs that they became virtually vice popes, and their religious fervor prompted them to evangelize and promote the church throughout their empire. The major Spanish settlements, however, were south of the present-day boundaries of the United States, although they did maintain footholds around Florida and in the Southwest. San Miguel in Virginia did not long survive its founding in 1526, but its chapel remained. Saint Augustine, Florida, prospered after its founding in 1565. Jesuits and Franciscans established missions, hospitals, and convents. By 1634 there were thirty-four Franciscan friars maintaining forty-four missions and ministering to over twenty-five thousand Native American converts within the present boundaries of the United States. In the...