European Nations Vie for North America

The first Europeans to reach North America and explore its interior were the Spanish in the early 1500s, who came mainly for “gold, glory, and God.” France also established a colonial empire in North America beginning with Samuel de Champlain in the early 1600s, calling their holdings New France. In 1692, La Salle, a former Jesuit priest, canoed down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, claiming the land for France and naming it Louisiana.