One significant outcome of the missionary efforts of the Society of Jesus was the transmission of some of the mathematical sciences from early modern Europe to East Asia. Following the Padroado (1493-1494), Portugal became the patron of all missions in that part of the world. This book brings together important new data and analyses by a reputed group of science historians on the extent to and ways in which the Jesuits' scientific culture as well as the Portuguese policies regarding education, trade and missions shaped the reception of Western learning in East Asia during the early modern period. Themes analyzed include the teachings at Macau's Jesuit College, Portuguese historians of mathematics and the Society of Jesus and its mathematicians, Eastern and Western astronomy and philosophy, and the role of science both within the Jesuit mission and in the toleration of Christianity in China during the early Qing dynasty.