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1. French and English Colonization
- The economic system by which England and France regulated trade to try to maximize national wealth is now known as .
- French traders and missionaries from the order came to the River valley of New France in the 17th century. The largest French settlement in North America at this time was . The French did not have as much conflict with as did most other colonial powers, because local tribes traded and the French did not pressure them to surrender their territory.
- The English founded or took control of colonies for various reasons. In North America, English settlers founded and took control of –renaming it New York–for wealth from agriculture and trade. North Carolina and were awards granted by the monarch. Many colonies were founded by those seeking religious freedom: Pilgrims and Puritans in , Baptists in , Quakers in , and Roman Catholics in . One colony, , was founded by to provide a place for English debtors.
- slaves were first brought to British North America in . Much later, led the world by abolishing slavery in 1794.
- The primary economic activity of England’s North American colonies was . The port cities were generally small towns through which goods were traded with and English colonies in the . By the 1770s, , the City of Brotherly Love, was the second-largest English-speaking city in the world.
- Both the French and English had sugar-producing colonies in the . The plantations on these islands relied on the labor of from . Plantations were also used in British North America as far north as , generally growing cotton, tobacco, or sugar.