I believe one important reason why England was behind Spain and Portugal in colonization was because the latter two countries are in or closely associated with the Mediterranean and that is where the heart of the foment for world explorations came from especially in Italy during the Renaissance. These world explorations led to the conquests of the New World indigenous people such as in the present day Mexico and Peru and Bolivia as early as the early 1500's. The English colony in the present day US was not established until 1607.
