why is most of south america's population roman catholics? What is the historical sig

HELP ASAP

Pl make it brief and clear

thank
also why is a lot of south America's population also protestant or increasingly becoming protestant ?

Much of South America was settled/colonized by Spain.

They were invaded and colonized by the Spanish and Portuguese, both are devoutly catholic.
Local population was forced to switch to Catholicism.

Brief - Spanish invaded a lot of South American countries and the Spainish were Catholics.

Spain was the main place to have colonies there and most Spanish people are roman catholics so the natives adopted this religion also.

Portugal,Spain and France had colonies there ,all predominately Roman Catholic nations.

Most of "Latin" America, including South America, Mexico, parts of the Caribbean and Central America was colonized by Spain and Brazil by Portugal. Most Spanish were Catholic at the time, in fact the early colonies in America were founded around the time of the Spanish Inquisition, so if somebody wasn't Catholic in Spain their life was in danger. So were the lives of Natives who refused to turn Catholic.

There is a lot of missionary work today, both from a religious standpoint and humanitarian aid from churches, both Catholic and Protestant. Since the Catholic Church in many cases has been identified with the rich landowners and the power in Latin America, Evangelical Protestant Christians are making inroads with the poor.