<P> In the early years the new Jesuit reductions were threatened by the slave - raiding bandeirantes . The bandeirantes captured Indians and sold them as slaves to planters in Brazil . Having depleted the Indian population near Sâo Paulo, they discovered the richly populated reductions . The Spanish authorities chose not to defend the settlements, and the Jesuits and their thousands of neophytes thus had little means to protect themselves . Thousands of Guarani were captured by the bandeirantes before, organized and armed by the Jesuits, a Guarani army defeated the slave raiders at the battle of Mbororé . Subsequently, the viceroy of Peru conceded the right of bearing arms to the Guarani . Thereafter, well - trained and highly motivated Indian units were able to defend themselves from slavers and other threats . The victory at Mbororé set the stage for the golden age of the Jesuits in Paraguay . Life in the reductions offered the Guaraní higher living standards, protection from settlers, and physical security . These reductions, which became quite wealthy, exported goods, and supplied Indian armies to the Spanish on many occasion . </P> <P> The reductions, where the Jesuits created orchestras, musical ensembles, and actors' troupes, and in which virtually all the profits derived from Indian labor were distributed to the labourers, earned praise from some of the leaders of the French enlightenment, who were not predisposed to favour Jesuits . "By means of religion," d'Alembert wrote, "the Jesuits established a monarchical authority in Paraguay, founded solely on their powers of persuasion and on their lenient methods of government . Masters of the country, they rendered happy the people under their sway; they succeeded in subduing them without ever having recourse to force ." And Jesuit - educated Voltaire called the Jesuit government "a triumph of humanity ." </P> <P> Because of their success, the Paraguayan Jesuits gained many enemies, and the Reductions fell prey to changing times . During the 1720s and 1730s, Paraguayan settlers rebelled against Jesuit privileges in the Revolt of the Comuneros and against the government that protected them . Although this revolt failed, it was one of the earliest and most serious risings against Spanish authority in the New World and caused the crown to question its continued support for the Jesuits . The Jesuit - inspired War of the Seven Reductions (1750--61) increased sentiment in Madrid for suppressing this "empire within an empire ." </P> <P> The Spanish king Charles III (1759--88) expelled the Jesuits in 1767 from Spain and its territories . Within a few decades of the expulsion, most of what the Jesuits had accomplished was lost . The missions were mismanaged and abandoned by the Guaraní . Today, these ruins of a 160 - year experiment have become a tourist attraction . </P>

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