1.What were the main causes, elements, and impact of the different approaches to colonies followed by the English, French, and Spanish?
By Columbus’s discovery, Spain got a religious justification fro conquest and an army of seasoned soldiers, named conquistadores. Also, rulers in Spain developed efficient techniques for controlling new colonies. The conquistadores left a trail of destruction by attacking native villages and killed or captured the inhabitant since they preferred seeking gold and slaves to creating permanent settlements. In 1519, some Spanish soldiers landed on the coast of Mexico. Three years later, these Spanish soldier conquered Aztec empire. The three factors of Spanish victory were technological advantages, division within the Aztec empire, and disease. Later, some other Spanish soldiers conquered a richer empire, Inca empire. By 1550, Spain’s New World empire, which stretched from the Caribbean through Mexico to Peru, was administered from Spain by the Council of the Indies. The council enacted laws for the empire and supervised an elaborate bureaucracy to maintain political control and extract wealth from the land and its people. Then, two expedition went to north America to find gold and silver but they did not find any gold and silver. So Spain stopped to extend its empire and just maintained two precarious footholds in north of Mexico. By a large number of gold and silver flowing into Spain, it became the richest and most powerful state in Europe. However, these American treasure undermined Spanish predominance. Many leading merchants who refused to become Christian was expelled from Spain. The remaining Christian merchants, awash in American riches, had no desire of trading. Consequently, Spain’s economy eventually stagnated.
French began to pay much attention to America after news of Cortés s exploits. King of France wanted to enrich