Editing History of North America (section)

===European colonization===
{{main|European colonization of the Americas|Exploration of North America|Spanish Empire}}
{{further|16th century in North American history}}
[[File:FlorentineCodex BK12 F54 smallpox.jpg|thumb|[[Aztecs]] dying of [[smallpox]], ''[[Florentine Codex]]'' (compiled 1540–1585)]]
Colonization refers to large-scale population movements in which the migrants maintain strong links with their or their ancestors' former country, gaining significant advantages over other inhabitants of the territory by such links. When colonization takes place under the protection of clearly colonial political structures, it may most handily be called ''settler colonialism''. This often involves the settlers' entirely dispossessing earlier inhabitants, or instituting legal and other structures which systematically disadvantage them.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Howe|first1=Stephen|title=Empire : a very short introduction|date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-280223-1|edition=[Nachdr.]}}</ref>

Initially, European activity consisted mostly of trade and exploration. Eventually Europeans began to [[List of North American cities by year of foundation|establish settlements]]. The three principal colonial powers in North America were [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spain]], [[British colonization of the Americas|England]], and [[French colonization of the Americas|France]], although eventually other powers such as [[Dutch colonization of the Americas|the Netherlands]] and [[Swedish colonization of the Americas|Sweden]] also received holdings on the continent.

Settlement by the Spanish started the [[European colonization of the Americas]].<ref>Kane 1999, pp. 81–103</ref><ref>Ward 1997, pp. 97–132</ref> They gained control of most of the largest islands in the [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]] and [[Spanish conquest of Mexico|conquered the Aztec empire]], gaining control of present-day Mexico and Central America. This was the beginning of the [[Spanish Empire]] in the New World. The first successful Spanish settlement in continental North America was [[Veracruz, Veracruz|Veracruz]] founded by [[Hernán Cortés]] in 1519, followed by many other settlements in colonial [[New Spain]], including [[Spanish Florida]], Central America, [[New Mexico]], and later California. The Spanish claimed all of North and South America (with the exception of Brazil), and no other European power challenged those claims by planting colonies until over a century after Spain's first settlements.

The first French settlements were [[Port-Royal (Acadia)|Port Royal]] (1604) and [[Quebec City]] (1608) in what is now [[Nova Scotia]] and [[Quebec]]. The [[Fur Trade]] soon became the primary business on the continent and as a result transformed the [[indigenous North American]] ways of life.

The first permanent English settlements were at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]] (1607) (along with its satellite, [[Bermuda]] in 1609) and [[Plymouth Colony|Plymouth]] (1620), in what are today [[Virginia]] and [[Massachusetts]] respectively.
Further to the south, [[Slavery in Colonial America|plantation slavery]] became the main industry of the [[West Indies]], and this gave rise to the beginning of the [[Atlantic slave trade]].