North American Religious Influence

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How did religious wars influence trade and colonial settlement in the New World? North American exploration began centuries ago. It started with the Vikings’ in 1000 A.D. and continued through England’s colonization of the Atlantic coast in the 17th century, which eventually became the United States of America (Morison). The centuries following the European arrival, Americans moved westward across the continent. The first attempt by Europeans to colonize the New World occurred around a.d. 1000. The Vikings sailed from the British Isles to Greenland, where they established a colony, and then moved on to Labrador, the Baffin Islands, and Newfoundland (Morison). Between 1000 and 1650 a series of developments occurred in Europe that provided the …show more content…
Born in Genoa, Italy, around 1451, Columbus learned the art of navigation on voyages in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic (Parry). In August 1492, Columbus sailed west with ships, Niña, Pinta, and Santa María. Columbus returned to Spain with many products unknown to Europe–coconuts, tobacco, sweet corn, potatoes–and with tales of dark-skinned native peoples whom he called “Indians” because he assumed he had been sailing in the Indian Ocean (Parry). He made three more voyages to America between 1494 and 1502, during which he explored Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, and Trinidad (Morison). Each time he returned more certain that he had reached the East. Subsequent explorations by others, however, persuaded most Europeans that Columbus had discovered a “New World” (Parry).Early Christian Europeans had inherited from the Jews a powerful prophetic tradition that drew upon apocalyptic biblical texts in the books of Daniel, Isaiah, and Revelations. They connected the Christianization of the world with the second coming of Christ. Such ideas led many Europeans to believe it was God’s plan for Christians to convert pagans wherever they were found