Early Modern (1450 CE - 1800 CE)
Misión San Cayetano de Tumacácori
This church was founded during the late-seventeenth century, when the Spanish Crown claimed this region as the northern border of its empire in North America.
Mission San Xavier del Bac
Located in southern-Arizona, this mission was originally founded by Spanish friars in the late-seventeenth century. The church that stands today was built with indigenos labor in the following century.
San Ysidro and San Buenaventura de Humanas (Gran Quivira)
This church complex was established by Spanish Franciscan friars in modern-day New Mexico in the early seventeenth century. The Crown authorized the creation of several missions throughout this region with the objective of converting the native peoples to Catholicism.
Nuestra Señora de Purísima Concepción de Quarai
This church complex was built in the early-seventeenth century as part of Spanish friars’ efforts to evangelize the native peoples. Yet within 50 years, the settlement stood abandoned as a result of natural disasters and sustained military attack from rival indigenous groups.
Misión San Francisco de Asís
Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Spanish Crown authorized the founding of dozens of missions in the modern-day borderlands region of the United States.
Misión San Gregorio de Abó
The San Gregorio de Abó Mission once operated as a site of Spain’s evangelization efforts in the Americas.
Misión San José de los Jémez
The San José de los Jémez Mission is located near Albuquerque, New Mexico. It once belonged to a larger group of Spanish colonial churches along what is now the Us-Mexico borderlands. It was originally built in the early-seventeenth century to evangelize the native peoples, including the Jemez.
Misión San Lorenzo de Picuris
In the mid-seventeenth century, Spanish friars built a mission near modern-day Taos. The goal of this settlement was to convert the native peoples to Christianity. In this area, the local communities were the Picuris.
Nuestra Señora de la Concepción del Socorro
The Nuestra Señora de la Concepción del Socorro was originally founded in the late-seventeenth century in modern-day New Mexico.
Misión San José de Laguna
The San José Laguna Mission is one of several Spanish colonial churches that still stands in modern-day New Mexico. It was built in the late-seventeenth century by Spanish friars with indigenous labor.