17A Exam1

Over time, many things have shaped history. Natural disasters have influenced our health and how we live, such as the plague, during which people were sick for many years. Another great influence is humans, or political figures. Political figures have rocked history with decisions they have made and the way they live their life in the public eye. In addition, people have made history by leading strikes, wars that have touched countries all over the world. The most common reason for war is religious differences. The effect of religion all through history is very visible, even in today's society: religion has had the most influence on wars, and is the bases on which America was formed.

I will be discussing the role that religion has played in the reshuffling of an American colonization process. When the Europeans explored America, their religious beliefs were major influences on how they approached the natives, treated the land, and fulfilled their exploration. Spain and Portugal were devout Roman Catholic countries. Unlike the Spanish and Portuguese, the English Colonists wanted religious freedom from the Church of England. Europeans felt that the Native Americans were savages and barbaric people referring to them as Devils. The Natives all held a belief of animism, which meant that a spirit was present in everything. The world was contentious and the Native Americans believed that the development of a relationship with the spirits helped keep the world in order. This relationship with the world and all its dwellings kept everything perfectly connected in some way. Everything had a social interaction. Unlike the European's state of mind that man is superior to everything on earth, the Indians worked very hard not to offend the spirits. When the Europeans started to colonize to this new found world, they also started to observe the