WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands established colonies in North America. Each country had different motivations for colonization and expectations about the potential benefits.

Detailed explanation-2: -Britain and France were the prime competitors, especially as their sights focused on the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys-land claimed and long settled by the Native Americans. As Britain emerged as the dominant imperial power of Europe in the 1700s, American colonists were more than pleased to share the bounty.

Detailed explanation-3: -A number of European countries assisted the American colonists. The primary allies were France, Spain, and the Netherlands with France giving the most support. Why did they want to help colonists?

Detailed explanation-4: -The first Europeans to arrive in North America–at least the first for whom there is solid evidence–were Norse, traveling west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had founded a settlement around the year 985.

Detailed explanation-5: -Native Americans played pivotal roles in the North American conflict that came to be called the French and Indian War. In 1763, the British emerged victorious and the French were forced to relinquish their North American colonies in the Treaty of Paris.