The three countries that colonized North America are Spain, France, and England. Spain took the lead after Columbus's voyages, and established itself in the Caribbean and Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America). It had a very deliberate policy of conquest, with the goal of establishing colonies and extracting natural resources (especially gold and silver). It also sought to evangelize Native American peoples as a way of legitimazing its rule. France and England had a much more hands-off approach. The French established trade colonies in Canada and along the Mississippi, and became heavily involved in the fur trade. The English did not have an "official" policy, which left colonization to private initiatives; it also became a sort of release valve for social tensions, as in the case of the Puritans and other religious minorities that abandoned England for the New World.
