When the colonization of the Americas began, the dominant force was Spain, or rather the Crown of Castille. The Spanish managed to move in very quickly into the New World and establish lot of colonies over very large areas. Considering that the focus of the Spanish was on getting as much gold and silver as possible, their ships began to be very interesting, especially for the competition. England tried to use this, sending ships to plunder the Spanish ships that were full of treasures, as at that point of time it seemed much more profitable to rob the Spanish than establish colonies. The English managed to gain a lot of wealth in this manner, making huge damage on the Spanish, and after that they too started to move in gradually into the Americas and establish colonies on their own.
