Detail of the facade of the church of th

Detail of the facade of the church of the Jesuit Missions in Concepcion, Bolivia, 300 km from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, taken on December 1st, 2007. Concepcion's baroque-style Jesuit church was built between 1752 and 1753, and restored and reopened in 1982. The Jesuit Missions in the territories of what is now Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay, were intended to "civilise" and bring the Roman Catholic religion to the native tribes of the region, in a way of protecting them from the slave trade and the cruel exploitation and possible annihilation by representatives of the Spanish and Portuguese Crowns. AFP PHOTO/Evaristo SA (Photo credit should read EVARISTO SA/AFP via Getty Images)