Why did the Dutch colonize North America?

Why did the French colonize parts of North America?

• Answer:

  This was part of Imperialism. People at the time believed in social Darwinism, or the belief that inferior nations will and must be taken over by the superior races. There was a huge race to own the world, as the country that possessed the most land became the most powerful. At that time, the fur trade in Canada was a large source of money. The French took advantage of this and made a ton of fortune off of the furs that they got both from hunting and from trading with the natives. If you look at maps of Africa in the 1800s, this illustrates Imperialism very well. England, France, Spain, Germany, and other countries all owned their shares of Africa, because the Africans were considered inferior savages that needed European influence to make them civilized. A search on 'White Man's Burden' will reveal much information on this topic.