Final answer:
The Aucas presented a challenge to missionaries, as they resisted abandoning their traditions, leading to conflict and contributing to the weakening of Spanish influence in the Americas. Cultural clashes and enforced conversion efforts by missionaries often spurred native resistance and aided in bolstering native confederacies and European rivals.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Aucas presented a continuing challenge to the missionaries during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Missionary efforts to convert indigenous populations to Catholicism often met with resistance, as the missionaries demanded complete abandonment of native traditions, causing friction and leading to conflict.
Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries, while sometimes initially finding success in parts of Catholicism dovetailing with indigenous beliefs, faced the challenge of the natives' reluctance to discard their own cultural practices entirely.
The persistence of native beliefs, drought, and external attacks by neighboring Apache and Navajo tribes were interpreted as consequences of Spanish presence, fueling the drive to return to native ways, as expressed by leaders like Popé.
Moreover, efforts to convert natives often clashed with established customs, leading to significant strife and contributing to hostilities that weakened Spanish power in the region and strengthened native confederacies and European rivals like the British.