The following European countries established colonies in the Americas: England (also known as Great Britain), France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and the Hopsburg Family (who at the time ruled Prussia, Austria, and Romania). At first, the only two players in the colonizing the Americas game was Portugal and Spain. They split South America into two sections. The Western Half of South America went to Portugal, so they mainly got Brazil and parts of Argentina as well as a few other smaller countries. Spain took the eastern half of South America as well as all of Central America and the Western half of North America. At the time, it seemed like Spain got the worse deal because it was much harder to reach the western half of South America because they had to circle around the whole continent of South America to get there. Later, it became evident that Spain got the better deal. Spain also colonized Florida and established the first colonial city in the entire Western Hemisphere. The city became known as Saint Augustine, which is located in Florida and was established in 1565 (I have a house there). A bit later in the game, in the 1600's and 1700's, France and England started playing for the Western Hemisphere. France and England were rivals and soon became the dominent powers in North America. France claimed all of Canada and what would later be called "the Lousiana Purchase" (the area which Luis and Clark ventured into, which is mainly Lousiana, Georgia, and many states North of them). It was clear that France had the dominent power over the Great Lakes area (Michigan, Niagra Falls, etc.). But down in the South, England ruled Supreme. England ruled what is known as "The Original Thirteen Colonies." These were New York, Virginia (at the time Virginia and West Virginia was one colony), Penneslyvania, Carolina (at the time North and South Carolina was one colony), Delaware, Rhode Island, Georgia, and some other states which I forgot right now(it's past 1 am here, sorry). Virginia and Carolina quickly became the powerful colonies since they had the largest population, the largest slave population, the largest cotton producers, and the largest tobacco producers. New York wouldn't become an important colony until long after the United States was formed. The Carribean and surrounding islands were split between the British, Spanish, Portugese, Dutch, and French with most of the islands going to Great Britain and Spain. Spain used Florida as a place to send its prisoners to. Spain used its other colonies to send its rich aristocrats to in order to "civilize" the territories (brutally bring religion to the natives). England used its colonies as a major agriculture producer. France used Canada as an outpost for trades and their navy. Portugal used its territories the same way as Spain and England did. The Dutch were really just a thorn in England's heel (England's heel being their American Territories) and didn't really use their conquered land to the upmost effectiveness. The two biggest reasons that earlier settlers had trouble building colonies is because they were so far from home and they were so destructive. Since they were so far away, it took months or even years to receive supplies if they came at all. Many times entire colonies would starve to death or die from plagues since their supplies didn't come in time. In many more ways than one, the early settlers were extremely destructive and fearful. Most colonies were too afraid to ask for the Natives to help them and the colonials would frequently start wars and kill Natives for no reason other than fear or greed. In addition, the colonials tore up the land to make way for farms and houses. They did this with complete disregard to the environment and destroyed entire forests. This was completely against the Native American philosophy and mentality. This made Natives want to help colonials even less. If that wasn't enough, the colonials brought tons of diseases to the Americas which killed hundreds of thousands if not millions of Natives. This made the Natives see the colonials as a curse and therefore Natives tried to and sometimes succeeded in wiping out entire colonies. However, there were some Native American tribes that did help out Colonials. Because of the Natives, the Pilgrims managed to survive and establish a colony. I'm not very familiar with that area of Colonial History (or Colonial History in its entirity for that matter), I'm more of a WWII person, so I can't help you anymore there. That's about as much as I remember from my U.S. History classes. Good luck with your tests. Don't forget to give me the best answer! : )
