In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, initiated colonization by the English and the Spanish in the New World when he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. The English and Spanish colonies grew to become very different from one another with frequent similarities. The Spanish colonies and New England were noticeably similar yet greatly differed in their views on religion, their economic base, and their treatment of the indigenous people. The role of religion in the Spanish colonies and New England were certainly similar yet somewhat different in terms of the conversions of natives’ religions and extremely different because of the reasons for coming to the New World. The New England Puritan church and the Spanish Roman …show more content…
Conquistadors, or spanish conquerors, were then sent to the Americas to help enforce the conversions taking place. The natives began to accept the Christian god as one of their gods, but the friars did not think that this was adequate. Natives who did not completely convert to Catholicism were tortured and even killed. In New England, the Puritans formed Praying Towns. In Praying Towns, Wampanoag Indians who converted to Puritanism, or Praying Indians, would be housed together. These Praying Indians were coerced to give up their native customs and cultures and live a farming lifestyle as a fully converted Puritan. Acknowledging Christianity and adding it to their current beliefs was not enough for the Puritans. Each Indian would have to completely convert their religion to Puritanism. Though there were no consequences for not converting to Puritanism, the unconverted natives were seen as devil-worshipers. On the other hand, the Spanish Catholics and New England Puritans were extremely different in their reasons for coming to the New World. The Spanish ventured off to the New World to strengthen their empire. While the