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Over in North America, the European presence in the 16th century had been primarily focused on the search for a way through to the riches of the Indies, still seen as the easiest way to wealth. America was not initially seen by many Europeans as a land to conquer and in which to settle, but more as a territory for settling the differences of the major European powers and as a source of plunder with which to finance their wars.
By the mid-16th century Spain held most of central and southern America, together with the huge amounts of silver it had mined there. Having enslaved and murdered a large proportion of the local population in their hunt for riches, the Spanish began to import slaves from Africa in the hope that they would be more resistant to disease and be harder workers. The Portuguese soon followed suit, importing slaves to man their sugar plantations in Brazil.
But as Spain grew rich, other powers looked to take this wealth from her, notably France, England and the Netherlands. England, under Elizabeth I, had specifically gained a reputation for piracy in the Caribbean, attacking the Spanish treasure galleons returning laden with gold and silver from the New World; after all, why mine for gold and silver when it could so easily be stolen instead? With few riches discovered in northern America and the Caribbean, this area was of little interest to Spain, and so its enemies were able to gain a foothold there.
Yet the European powers were slow to fully grasp the benefits of colonisation. It was not until 1565 that the Spanish founded a more substantial trading post on mainland America, at the city of St. Augustine in Florida. Twenty years later the English, under Walter Raleigh, also tried to establish a more permanent trading post, as opposed to a colony, at Roanoke Island, on the coast of present-day North Carolina. This was no easy endeavour though; the first colonists, having in the first place been convinced to go there by propaganda, asked to be carried home the following year. The next colonists to make the long journey across the Atlantic simply disappeared.
It was not until the early 17th century that a concerted effort was made by the European powers to colonise this part of the world. Religious persecution and bad harvests in early 17th century Europe meant that there were plenty of volunteers, despite the terrible crossings in which many died.