I believe it's C. Zhu Yuanzhang hope it's right :)
Answer:
Religion
Explanation: The passage notes that it was originally for religious purposes since their was freedom of religion in the New England colonies.
Three of the mentioned events happened in the last (20th) centuty: Nafta went into effect in1994, Panama regained control over the Canal in 1970s and Fidel Castro was is still alive.
The event that came first was the following one: <span>(2) Simón Bolívar established Gran Colombia.
It happened in the 19th century. </span>
Before the panama canal people from East coast of America who wanted to go to Asia had to either sail around south America which took months or sail towards Asia and go around Africa which took even longer. The panama canal was a short cut right in the middle of central America which cut navigation time in half. Hope I helped. :)
Germany and Japan stroke fear into neighboring nations, concluding war.