Fill in the Blanks European Colonization Online version Explain reasons for European exploration and settlement of North America, with emphasis on the interests of the French, Spanish, and British in the southeastern area. by Aaron Stinson 1 French European riches missions gold explored colonial European English disease Spain convert Christianity England Soto eastern de died Georgia By the 1400s , countries were looking for new routes to get to the of the Middle and Far East . Many countries the New World including , France , and . In 1540 , Hernando , a Spanish explorer , traveled through present - day during his expedition to search for . The Spanish established along the Georgia barrier islands and coast to the Indians to . By 1685 , however , the Spanish had abandoned the missions and retreated to Florida . Forced labor , starvation , and especially took a fearful toll on Native American lives . With little natural resistance to diseases , the native peoples were ravaged by smallpox , measles , and typhus , and many of them . During the 1600s , the colonized parts of what is now Canada and Louisiana . settlers , meanwhile , founded Virginia and the Massachusetts Bay Colony . By 1700 , the English had established a empire along the seaboard of North America . They also had set up sugar plantations on various islands in the Caribbean Sea .
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