European colonization of North America began with Spain’s permanent settlement at St. Augustine in 1565. England, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Russia later established colonies or trading outposts, while Native peoples remained present throughout the colonial era. The thirteen British colonies developed distinct regional cultures: Puritan New England, diverse middle colonies, Chesapeake tobacco plantations, and the slave-based lower South.
Colonization brought migration, religious experimentation, commerce, warfare, slavery, and catastrophic disease among Indigenous populations. Britain’s victory over France in the French and Indian War removed a major foreign threat but intensified disputes over taxation and imperial authority. By 1776, shared resistance, intercolonial cooperation, and ideas of self-government helped transform separate colonies into a revolutionary American polity.