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Why Was England Late to Colonize?
No nation ever dominated global trade and geopolitics more than Great Britain from the mid 18th century until World War I. But the English arrived late to the scene of colonization. The Age of Discovery began in the early 15th century. But the English didn’t establish any permanent colonies until the early 17th century, at the close of this era. So, what delayed them? Why did they sit back on their island and watch Spain conquer the most advanced peoples in the Americas and take South America’s riches for itself? Why did they allow the Portuguese to gain the initial footholds in Africa and Asia?
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Why Did Western Europe Explore and Colonize?
Western Europe—beginning in the 15th century—succeeded in spreading its peoples, languages, and cultures across a greater expanse of the globe than any region in world history. But why exactly did Western Europeans explore and colonize to such an extent? Simply having the capability to explore and colonize doesn’t adequately explain why nations do it. Neither the Romans nor the Chinese felt the need to devote their resources to sea exploration as the Western Europeans did in the 15th and 16th centuries.
