Entre 1851 y 1958 las Iglesias cristianas viven un periodo de intensa actividad evangelizadora. Uno de los recursos empleados para recabar apoyos a dicha empresa es la exposición etnológico-misional, en la que se exhiben materiales etnográficos de las poblaciones evangelizadas (o que han de serlo en el futuro) y, en ocasiones, se presentan nativos que recrean sus antiguos modos de vida. Estudiamos el desarrollo de estos eventos, sus vínculos (y desencuentros) con las exposiciones internacionales, la forma en la que se asocian o se distancian del fenómeno colonial y las diferencias existentes entre las exposiciones católicas y las protestantes.
Between 1851 and 1958 the Christian Churches lived a period of intense evangelizing activity. One of the most singular means to obtain support for such activity is the ethnological-missionary exhibition. In these shows ethnographic materials of the recently or future evangelized populations were always exhibited, and, occasionally, indigenous people too, whose theoretical mission was to recreate their ancient ways of life. In this article we study the development of these events, their encounters (and disagreements) with international expositions, the form they were associated (or not) with colonial contexts and the differences we could appreciate between Catholic and Protestant exhibitions.