The European empires did something that others were unsure about. They took North America to the next level for the time period. They went over to an unknown land and made it their own to expanded their territory. The Spanish and Portugal started a trend so to say because after they set up colonization then the British and French followed. North America was in a way a refugee safe place. The puritans came over for religious freedom to escape the corrupted Catholic Church. People that were in low standards came over to North America for more opportunities. Acquiring land made your standards rises giving them a better outlook on life. The main thing I took out of this chapter was that North America offered so many new things and new ideas. These people were brave to come to a new place and claim it as their own. The on,y thing that sucked about this was how these people coming over treated the Native Americans. England wanted to make slaves out of them all, the French wanted to trade with them, and the Spanish just wanted their gold. They took everything away from the people who were here first. Also, the realization of the typical pilgrim and Indian thanksgiving setting was a major let down. This changed American history by creating new ideas that just kept getting better and better