Which country began establishing missions in the American Southwest in the late 1500s ? France, Italy, England, or Spain?

Spain began setting up missions in the American Southwest in the late 1500s. These missions were part of Spain's colonial efforts to expand its influence, convert indigenous peoples to Christianity (specifically Catholicism), and integrate Native American populations into the Spanish colonial empire.

The Spanish expeditions into the Americas were driven by their desire for wealth, expansion of territory, and the spread of Christianity. The Spanish established a series of missions and presidios (military forts) to facilitate colonization, protect their claims, and teach Christianity to the native inhabitants.

The missions served several purposes. They were part religious institutions, part communes, and part military outposts. The friars who lived in the missions aimed to convert the indigenous populations and often gathered them into mission compounds where they were taught the tenets of Christianity and European-style farming and crafts.

One of the most well-known mission chains was established in present-day California by Franciscan missionary Junípero Serra. However, missions were also established in other parts of the American Southwest, including what are now Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Florida.

While the mission system aimed to assimilate Native Americans, it also led to significant disruption of local indigenous cultures, exploitation, and diseases that devastated native populations. The legacy of the Spanish missions is complex and they remain historical sites, some still active churches, that reflect this period of Spanish colonial history in the Americas