Question

What was the major goal of the friars and Jesuits who went to the Spanish colonies in the Americas?

a. enforcing Spanish laws against slavery
b. finding new land routes to the Pacific
c. converting native peoples to Catholicism
d. collecting Indian art and artifacts

Answer 1

c. Converting natives to Catholicism. They intended to convert as many native peoples as possible by setting up missions in the Americas. 

Answer 2

Converting Native peoples to Catholicism. This was arguably a noble venture in the minds of the colonists - by converting the Natives, they thought, they were saving their souls. Friars and Jesuits, by the way, were both orders of Catholic priests.