Compare And Contrast French And Spanish Colonization

European countries have had a lasting impact on colonization in the Americas ever since the first known instance of European exposure to another westward continent with Greenland’s Leif Eriksson. Continuing from that front, Christopher Columbus had independently brought forth information of these same new lands to Europe following his expedition to find an alternate route to eastern Asia. The information of Columbus’ travels combined with other independent journeys had then spread to other European countries, creating an interest in American exploration and colonization by Europeans in hopes of new riches, land, and freedom. Although many European countries have taken a stake at American land, Western European countries have had a particular

The French could be seen as a combination of the Spanish’s main goal for colonization with a widely different approach than the Spanish. While both the French and Spanish sought to colonize the Americas in order to create commercial success for their countries, the French approached doing so by integrating the natives instead of enslaving or killing them. Compared to Britain, French colonies were much more heavily focused on being hubs for trade. Fur trade, particularly from beaver pelts to make hats, were a particularly lucrative business and the French created an enterprise based off of this. Unlike the Spanish and similar to the British, the French were not interested in killing the natives to take advantage of their resources but instead, unlike both the Spanish and the British, were more interested in sharing the lands and trading with the natives for their resources (similar to how Dutch and Netherland colonies had treated the natives): “The French succeeded because they adopted the technology and accepted the social customs of Native people. These Frenchmen traveled by birchbark canoes along old trade routes, using Indian guides and interpreters, learning Indian names for rivers and villages, and surviving on Indian corn” (Indians of the Midwest). Unlike the British and especially unlike the Spanish, the French essentially treated the natives as equals, allowed intermarriage between the two groups, brought gifts to the Indians, and treated them with respect. In an overall sense, the French colonies were more hubs of trade and commercial venture (similar to Spanish colonies) for the country than a place focused on being for political or religious freedom such as in English colonies. The governmental relationship between France and their colonies were that they were trading hubs as well as lands that helped increase