The motivation of European governments for sending Christian missionaries to Iran during Safavid era

Religious changes and reforms which occurred in most European countries in the fifteenth century, Ottoman danger which was an important issue in the Christian world and Europe, and some other factors made European countries seek to disseminate Christianity and promote Catholicism by collaboration and advice from Pope. Therefore, any European country selected missionaries among Catholic sects and sent them to other areas including Iran. What was governments` main motivation to send missionaries to other areas? Were religious factors influenced by political and economic issues? The present article attempts to have an analytical view and to utilize the reports related to the presence and activities of missionaries in Iran, Travelogues, and all historic documents and books to answer the two questions. According to political, economic and religious situation of Europe, it seems that the missionaries were sent by the support from European governments. However, because of the especial importance of the religious issues in Europe, the factor of religion was the most important matter in sending missionaries. On the other hand, due to a feud with Ottomans, commercial competitions in Europe, and development of capitalism, political and commercial issues had attracted the attention of European governments and the Pope. Priests and missionaries were very influential in development and success of political and commercial relations among European governments. But, the claim that the missionaries were sent just for political and commercial purposes is not acceptable.