They were called actualités
        
             
        
        
        
That is true. The water canal system helped trade to go easier if you were to be traveling by water.
        
                    
             
        
        
        
I would mostly say they would ask something like. "what do you think of this such of a topic"
        
                    
             
        
        
        
Historians believe the battle of Fort Sumter started the Civil War. I hope that helps. :)
        
                    
             
        
        
        
English colonization would save the New World from Spanish tyranny.
Hakluyt posited that England would receive numerous benefits  by creating colonies in the Americas. He considered this necessary given what he considered as Spanish tyranny whereby the Spanish forced people forswear and renounce their religion and their loyalty to the Queen