CULTURAL READINGS: Colonization & Print in the Americas

Jay I. Kislak Foundation

Francisco Pareja, Catecismo en lengua Timuquana, y Castellana, en el qual se instruyen y cathequizan... Mexico: Juan Ruyz, 1627.

Dictionaries of indigenous languages were not sufficient: missionaries also needed catechisms to aid in the work of translation. Pareja's catechism is one of the earliest documents relating to the language spoken by the first Indians in Florida encountered by the Spanish, the Timucuans. The systematic destruction of Timucuan culture by the Spaniards makes even catechisms such as this one precious cultural legacies.

Religion and Print

• Missionary Accounts
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