ISBN: | 978-5-5120-6904-2 |
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Praying towns were developed by the Puritans of New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert the local Native American tribes to Christianity. The Natives who moved into these towns were known as Praying Indians. Before 1674 the villages were the most ambitious Christianization experiment in English colonial America.John Eliot first preached to the Native in their own tongue in 1646 at Nonantum, meaning “Place of Rejoicing,” which is now present day Newton, MA. This sermon led to a friendship with Waban who became the first chief to convert.