#4 The Struggle for the True Religion in Europe: The Renaissance and Reformations

The Protestant Reformation and the subsequent religious wars had secular consequences far beyond the improvement of weapons, which is dealt with in future blogs. The early invaders, from the 1490s, were from Catholic Spain and Portugal. The second phase of invasions carried out by the English, French and Dutch began as trading but soon turned into colonial invasions from the early 1600s.