Religion and the Colonies

During the time of colonization, religious toleration was a concept unheard of within European nations involved. Early Spanish explorers exterminated native religious practices in the Americas they dominated, replacing it with their catholic institutions. Further along the historical timeline of colonization, European countries brought and therefore influenced colonials and natives alike with their religion in occupied areas. As the English grasp upon the new world grew stronger, interesting trends emerged in the American colonies. Groups fleeing religious persecution in Europe came to the Americas because of the crowns declining influence on colonies that declared total or selective religious toleration and religious regions developed within the new world. Although England was officially Anglican in religion, Puritans, Catholics, and Quakers sought refuge from religious persecution in the English colonies.
Puritan separatists and non-separatists fled to the Americas ...