the Building of Forts and Trading Posts
The English were intent on building communities and expanding
the farms and plantations that provided supplies for the settlers and tobacco
and other products for shipment to England. After 1630 the pace of arriving immigrants began to pick up. Their settlements grew
slowly, but became quite populous.
The French were intent on expanding their access to the
natural riches of the continent. Their trading posts soon spread
into the heart of the continent and their contacts with the native Americans
increased. Although the area they covered was quite vast, their population remained much smaller than the British population.
