Asistenciasorvisitas were smaller sub-missionsofCatholic missions established during the 16th-19th centuries of the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Philippines. They allowed the Catholic church and the Spanish crown to extend their reach into native populations at a modest cost.
Asistencias were much smaller than the main missions with living quarters, workshops and crops in addition to a church. They were typically staffed with a small group of clergymen and a relatively small group of indigenous neophytes in order to maintain the complex.
Particularly strategic asistencias were later elevated to the status of a full mission. This typically included an expansion of existing facilities to support a larger clergy and indigenous neophyte population, improvement of basic infrastructure such as roads, and rechristening under a new Catholic saint.[1][2]
InSpanish Florida, visitas were mission stations without a resident missionary. Church buildings at visitas were simple, or sometimes absent.[3] Visitas were often in satellite villages associated with a town with a doctrina (a mission with one or more resident missionaries). The mission of San Juan del Puerto served nine visitas in 1602.[4]
The following is a list of asistencias that remained so at the time of their abandonment, sorted by year of establishment.
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The following is a list of asistencias that were elevated to the status of mission, sorted by year of establishment.
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| South America |
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