Question: What similarities ad differences characterized the choices that Spanish, French, and Dutch officials made in starting their empires in North America?
Overview
The similarities between Spanish, French, and Dutch included the mother country setting government policy in the colonies, including appointing colonial administrations. England was most successful in this. Growing bureaucracies emerged to govern the growing empires, and all sought profits. The differences involved the Spanish system in dealing with Indians. They were the primary Catholic country spreading their faith, and they were seeking gold, silver, and copper mines. However, the French went further north and concentrated on the fur trade, and explored the Mississippi River. The Dutch welcomed almost everyone, partly because few were interested in the Parton ships offered by the government.
Body
The Spanish were out for "God, Glory, and Gold," basically meaning they wanted to get rich and promote Christianity. Their empire was very organized, broken into administrative districts such as the Viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru. There were also big disparities between classes, which were primarily based on the closeness of the individual to Spain. Peninsular (Spaniards born in Spain) was the highest, then the Criollos (Spaniards born in the Americas), then mixed-race mestizos, and finally, any non-white members of Spanish colonial society. Despite this, there was a lot of intermarriage with the natives since the Spanish colonialists were mainly men. The colonies were built by conquering native peoples, unlike the Dutch and French. Mining and plantations were the major sources of income.
The interests of the French were at first entirely commercially based. The French colonies were primarily based on profit, whether through trading goods such as furs or using their colonies as bases for raiding Span...
