The Portuguese faced a problem, however, that the Spanish never encountered in the Americas. They met highly developed civilizations and ancient religions far stronger than those of the Incas and Aztecs. These had a significant impact on the way many Christian missionaries approached Asian peoples. In India, Japan, and China the policy of conversions by conquest was modified, and in some cases abandoned, in favor of the policy of adaptation. Jesuits, in particular, asked which Japanese, Chinese, or Indian customs were merely social or civil and which were incompatible with Christian baptism.
