---
title: "Spread of Christianity — AP Euro Definition & Exam Guide"
description: "The Spread of Christianity was a core motive for European exploration (1450-1648), pushing missions abroad and justifying conquest. Key to AP Euro Topic 1.6."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-euro/key-terms/spread-of-christianity"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP European History"
unit: "Unit 1"
---

# Spread of Christianity — AP Euro Definition & Exam Guide

## Definition

In AP Euro, the Spread of Christianity refers to the religious motive behind European exploration from 1450 to 1648, when states and church authorities sent missionaries overseas to convert indigenous peoples, and used conversion as a justification for conquering and subjugating their civilizations (KC-1.3.I.C).

## What It Is

When [AP Euro](/ap-euro "fv-autolink") talks about the Spread of Christianity, it's not asking about the early church in the Roman Empire. It's asking about the religious engine behind the Age of Exploration. The CED is blunt about it in KC-1.3.I.C. Christianity was a *stimulus* for exploration, meaning governments and religious authorities actively wanted to spread the faith abroad, and for some Europeans it served as a *justification* for the subjugation of [indigenous civilizations](/ap-euro/key-terms/indigenous-civilizations "fv-autolink"). Both halves matter. Spain and Portugal sent priests alongside conquistadors, and later the Jesuits ran missions in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

Think of it as the "God" in the classic "God, Gold, and Glory" trio of exploration motives. Religion rarely traveled alone. It sailed on the same ships as mercantilist profit-seeking (KC-1.3.I.A and B) and was carried by the same navigational and [military technology](/ap-euro/key-terms/military-technology "fv-autolink") (KC-1.3.II). So when you see "spread of Christianity" on the exam, your job is usually to identify it as one motivation among several, and to explain how religious goals got tangled up with economic and political ones.

## Why It Matters

This term lives in [Unit 1](/ap-euro/unit-1 "fv-autolink"), Topic 1.6 (Age of Exploration), and directly supports learning objective AP Euro 1.6.B, which asks you to explain the motivations for and effects of European exploration and expansion from 1450 to 1648. The CED names Christianity explicitly as one of three core motivations, alongside the search for gold, spices, and luxury goods and the rise of mercantilism. It also connects to 1.6.A, since religious ambitions only became actionable once the [compass](/ap-euro/key-terms/compass "fv-autolink"), astrolabe, portolani, and superior military technology made overseas empires possible. Beyond Unit 1, the missionary impulse is one of the clearest threads tying exploration to the religious upheavals of Unit 2, where the Catholic Church responded to the Reformation partly by going global.

## Connections

### Missionaries (Unit 1)

Missionaries were the people who actually carried out the spread of Christianity. The Jesuits are the go-to example, running missions in the Americas, Asia, and Africa, which is exactly the scenario Fiveable practice questions use to test religious motivation for expansion.

### Catholic Reformation (Unit 2)

The [Catholic Church](/ap-euro/key-terms/catholic-church "fv-autolink"), losing ground to Protestantism in Europe, looked outward for new converts. The Jesuit order, founded during the Catholic Reformation, became the church's overseas conversion machine. Losses at home fueled missions abroad.

### Colonialism (Unit 1)

Conversion and conquest were a package deal. The CED notes [Christianity](/ap-euro/unit-1/technological-advances-age-exploration/study-guide/1enqWWyjgHxXchQ2fAtx "fv-autolink") served as a justification for subjugating indigenous civilizations, which means religion gave colonial powers moral cover for taking land, labor, and resources.

### [Aztec Empire (Unit 1)](/ap-euro/key-terms/aztec-empire)

The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs shows how the pieces fit together. Steel and [firearms](/ap-euro/key-terms/firearms "fv-autolink") beat obsidian weapons, conquest followed, and forced conversion to Catholicism came right behind it. Technology enabled what religion justified.

## On the AP Exam

On multiple-choice questions, the spread of Christianity usually appears as the answer to a "what motivated European expansion?" stem, often paired with a primary source about Jesuit missions or conquistador accounts. Practice questions in this style ask what motivation is reflected by 16th-17th century Jesuit missions in the Americas, Asia, and Africa, and the answer is the religious drive to spread the faith. The classic trap is picking a religious answer when the source is actually about profit (the Dutch in the East Indies were chasing spices, not souls). No released FRQ has used this term verbatim, but it's a reliable piece of evidence for any LEQ or DBQ on the motivations or effects of exploration. The strongest move is showing how religious, economic, and political motives reinforced each other rather than treating them as separate.

## Spread of Christianity vs Catholic Reformation

The spread of Christianity is about exporting the faith overseas during exploration, while the Catholic Reformation is the church's internal response to Protestantism in Europe (reforming abuses, the Council of Trent, founding the Jesuits). They overlap because the Jesuits did both jobs, but on the exam, exploration questions want the overseas conversion story and Unit 2 questions want the response-to-Luther story.

## Key Takeaways

- The CED (KC-1.3.I.C) names Christianity as both a stimulus for exploration and a justification for subjugating indigenous civilizations, and you should be able to explain both sides.
- Religious motives never traveled alone; they mixed with the pursuit of gold, spices, and luxury goods and with mercantilist state policy as the core motivations for expansion from 1450 to 1648.
- Jesuit missions in the Americas, Asia, and Africa are the standard exam example of the religious motivation for European expansion.
- Navigational advances (compass, astrolabe, portolani) and superior military technology made overseas conversion possible in the first place, linking objective 1.6.A to 1.6.B.
- Not every explorer was after souls. The Dutch in the East Indies were driven by trade and profit, so read sources carefully before picking the religious answer.
- Catholic losses to Protestantism in Europe pushed the church to seek converts overseas, connecting Unit 1 exploration to the Unit 2 Catholic Reformation.

## FAQs

### What was the Spread of Christianity in AP Euro?

It's the religious motivation behind European exploration from 1450 to 1648. Governments and church authorities, especially Spain, Portugal, and the Jesuit order, sought to convert indigenous peoples overseas, and conversion often doubled as a justification for conquest (KC-1.3.I.C).

### Was religion the main reason for European exploration?

No, it was one of three intertwined motives. The CED lists direct access to gold, spices, and luxury goods, mercantilist state policy, and the spread of Christianity. The Dutch in the East Indies, for example, were primarily after trade profits, not converts.

### How is the Spread of Christianity different from the Catholic Reformation?

The spread of Christianity is the overseas conversion effort tied to exploration (Topic 1.6), while the Catholic Reformation is the church's internal reform and counterattack against Protestantism in Europe (Unit 2). The Jesuits link the two, since the order founded to fight Protestantism also ran missions in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

### Did Europeans actually use Christianity to justify conquest?

Yes, and the CED says so directly. For some Europeans, spreading the faith served as a justification for the subjugation of indigenous civilizations, which is how the Spanish framed conquests like the defeat of the Aztec Empire.

### Who spread Christianity during the Age of Exploration?

Missionaries, most famously the Jesuits, who established missions across the Americas, Asia, and Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries, usually with the backing of Catholic monarchies like Spain and Portugal.

## Related Study Guides

- [1.6 Age of Exploration](/ap-euro/unit-1/technological-advances-age-exploration/study-guide/1enqWWyjgHxXchQ2fAtx)

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