The systematic European colonization of North America unfolded between the first voyages of the 1490s and the outbreak of the French and Indian War in the 1750s. Spanish, French, English, and Dutch ambitions carved up the continent, with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 marking a turning point that curtailed French power and boosted British expansion.

During these centuries, empires built settlements, trading posts, and far-reaching claims. Spain dominated the south and southwest, France held Canada and the Mississippi Valley, and Britain steadily advanced along the Atlantic seaboard. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) ended the War of Spanish Succession by forcing France to cede Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, and Acadia to Britain — a reordering that laid the groundwork for future struggles over control of the continent.