As a result of the report, the British gave the settlers in Canada what they wanted – effectively self-rule, with the union of Upper and Lower Canada in 1840. The British were anxious that Canada should stay friendly to the British empire and not become part of the USA.

The French crown’s plan was to let trading companies run New France and draw settlers there in exchange for the right to take advantage of the colonies’ natural bounties, the most lucrative of which were the large population of native animals. Champlain envisioned building a profitable fur trade in Canada.

By 1759, the British had roundly defeated the French and the French and Indian War (part of the broader conflict called the Seven Years War) ended soon after. In 1763, France ceded Canada to England through theTreaty of Paris. Now England controlled all of Canada.

Why were the French and the British interested in colonizing the area of North America that became the United States and Canada? They were attracted by the coastal fisheries and the inland fur trade.

See our Guide to New Nations. Are there still any countries that have colonies? There are 61 colonies or territories in the world. Eight countries maintain them: Australia (6), Denmark (2), Netherlands (2), France (16), New Zealand (3), Norway (3), the United Kingdom (15), and the United States (14).

Spain

Subsequent colonial empires included the French, English, Dutch and Japanese empires. By the mid-17th century, the Tsardom of Russia, continued later as the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, became the largest contiguous state in the world, and the modern Russian Federation continues to be so to this day.

Portugal, Spain

The major colonizers of Southeast Asia were Europeans, Japanese and the U.S. All in all, there were seven colonial powers in Southeast Asia: Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, the United States, and Japan. From the 1500s to the mid-1940s, colonialism was imposed over Southeast Asia.

25%

the Soviet Union