How Did The Spanish Influence On American Culture

During the Colonial Era as Europeans became part of the new found Americas they found a new identity as different religions became present. One of these was the Native Americans religious traditions that involved Gods or beings that watched over nature or were some aspect of nature. Over centuries the Native people had developed their ways of living in the world and interpreting it. European settlers were marrying into native tribes or adopted into a tribal family. Some of these settlers such as Eunice Williams and her father were taken by Mohawk Indians during a raid in Deerfield Massachusetts, it was found years later that Eunice refused to leave her captors as she had converted and became "Indian". “Europeans who through coercion or choice simply changed their

The Spanish were quick to spread Catholicism to the Americas but the natives were not keen on converting. Much of western America was explored by the Spanish and many Catholic missions were erected in the new land. England also was setting a foothold in the Americas. After many years of fighting within the country, and disagreeing rulers, while united under the Church of England. "Queen Elizabeth the I authorized Sir Walter Raleigh and later voyagers to America to "seize remote heathen and barbarous lands" (page 135). England’s foothold in the Americas was mostly on the East coast where they tried to colonize. Many of the small colonies did not take hold and they found it difficult. Like many others who tried to bring Christianity to America they tried converting the Native Americans and would fail. The Protestant Reformation placed a division between Catholics and Protestant . Both Spain and England tried converting the Native Americans, but it wasn't until the Jesuits arrived and became one of the most rigorous missionary instruments of Catholicism "what historians call the "Counter-Reformation" (page