British and French colonists were British and French people who had come to America. Europeans discovered America in late 15th century. Spain was the first to establish colonies but most Spanish colonies were in Latin America. In the 16th century, Britain and France started establishing colonies in North America.
The colonists were people who arrived in small groups to North America. They established colonies, these colonies quickly grew in size and by the 18th century, they were rich and actively traded with Europe.
No. They arrived separately in small groups. The early French and British colonists met with disappointment. When they arrived in America, they had no food and had a hard time. Some of them died, others failed.
In early 17th century, larger groups of French and British colonists started to arrive. The British colonists settled themselves along the eastern coast of North America. The French colonists established their colonies slightly towards the West.
All the important British colonies in North America were established along the east coast. The French colonies occupied a larger area, extending from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico and from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains. At the peak of its colonial territories in America, France had control of all the Great Lakes of North America.
The colonists built houses, grew crops and started trading with their home nations. The French traded with France, the British colonists with Britain. Sometimes, they also traded with each other. As a result of this trading, the colonists became rich and were joined by more colonists from their home nations.
The size of their colonies also increased. Some of the colonists left one colony to establish a new colony of their own. This is how the initial few French and British colonies led to the establishment of many more colonies in North America.
Both France and Britain wanted to expand their colonies, to have more land under their control so that they can have more resources and increase their trade. This resulted to a sort of competition between French and British colonists.
The competition led to a conflict called the Seven Years’ War. During this war, France and Britain fought in many places around the world, including their colonies in North America.
In North America, British colonists were luckier than the French colonists. The British army won and France had to give up most of its colonies. As a result, British colonies grew in size while French colonies were greatly reduced in their size.
After France gave up most of its colonies to Britain, the main settlement of the colonists in North America became the 13 British colonies. These were all located along the east coast of the continent. All of these colonies came under direct British rule in 1763, at the end of the Seven Years’ War.
But the colonists didn’t like direct British rule and they finally revolted against it in 1775, leading to the birth of United States of America and the end of British rule.
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