Religion Played an Integral Role in the Development and Culture of European Colonialism in the New World

Religion played an integral role in the development and culture of the Spanish, French, and British colonies and extended into their relations to Indians. While many settlers sincerely wanted to convert the Indians to Christianity, there were settlers who used religion as a tool to both control and civilize Indians. The Indians who were exposed to the practices of conversion had experienced both suffering and benefitting from their relations with colonists. Throughout the early history of the colonization of New World, witchcraft had also figured into the religious observations of the groups that had led groups of settlers into a state of hysteria and panic which was indirectly related to their relations with the Indians.
The French and Spanish were heavily influenced by Catholicism. Both colonies had established missions across the New World in hopes of converting Indians to Catholicism. The Spanish colonists were especially determined to establish missions and convert Indians in their territories as a response to the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile seeking to “transform their own pluralistic societies into a purely Christian kingdom (Butler 28). The Spanish were also heavily influenced by religion due to the Crusades in the Old World as well being motivated by “gold, God, and glory” for voyaging into the New World. The role of religion in Spanish society extended out towards how they governed their colonies as the Catholic populations were under control of both the monarchy and the Vatican. The French Catholics had taken example from the Spanish by establishing multiple missions in the New World in efforts to become trading partners with local Indian tribes. Both New Spain and New France were heavily influenced by Catholicism c...

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...Canadian fur trade. Therefore each of the colonial groups sincerely wanted to convert the Indians, however, there were many underlying conditions for converting that would leave the Indians to either being oppressed or killed by the colonists.

Works Cited

Butler, J., Balmer, R., & Wacker, G. (2008). Religion in American Life : A Short History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dennis, M. (2003). American Indians, Witchcraft, and Witch-hunting. OAH Magazine Of History, 17(4), 21-27.
McShea, B. (2013). Presenting the "Poor Miserable Savage" to French Urban Elites: Commentary on North American Living Conditions in Early Jesuit Relations. Sixteenth Century Journal, 44(3), 683-711.
Shannon, T. J., & Gellman, D. N. (2014). American odysseys: a history of colonial North America. New York : Oxford University Press.
Taylor, A. (2001). American colonies. New York: Viking.