katchen
Banned
Much of what determined colonization in Europe was the result of emigration and population policy by kings. Both the Castillians and the French were worried about their farms getting depopulated (bubonic plague outbreaks were fairly common until 1500). So colonization was limited to a few very well vetted colonists. Feudalism and serfdom were issues in some places. According to Will and Ariel Durant (the Age of Reason begins), Danes and Norwegians were tied to the land. Which is why Denmark didn't get into massive colonization.
Only the English had the kind of peculiar situation that would encourage colonization. And it came about because English wool exports were in demand all over Europe and had been since the 13th Century (I get that from Ken Follett, Pillars of the Earth and I have no reason to doubt Follett's historical research). This meant that pasture tended to be in more demand than farmland, at least to a point. So unlike just about anywhere else in Europe, landlords actually threw peasants off their land--because local landed lords had better uses for land as sheep pasture than as three field farmland. ("the sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn!--with the landlord's blessing). At the same time, the British enforce a rule of primogeniture (eldest living son inherits the manor). So unlike just about anywhere else in Europe, the British consistently have surplus population to export and will find a New World very interesting. and useful, just as IOTL. And likely a lot sooner if John or his brother Sebastian Cabot explores the North American coast far enough.
It does help explain why the Brits were head and shoulders above the rest of Europe when it came to mass colonization.
Only the English had the kind of peculiar situation that would encourage colonization. And it came about because English wool exports were in demand all over Europe and had been since the 13th Century (I get that from Ken Follett, Pillars of the Earth and I have no reason to doubt Follett's historical research). This meant that pasture tended to be in more demand than farmland, at least to a point. So unlike just about anywhere else in Europe, landlords actually threw peasants off their land--because local landed lords had better uses for land as sheep pasture than as three field farmland. ("the sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn!--with the landlord's blessing). At the same time, the British enforce a rule of primogeniture (eldest living son inherits the manor). So unlike just about anywhere else in Europe, the British consistently have surplus population to export and will find a New World very interesting. and useful, just as IOTL. And likely a lot sooner if John or his brother Sebastian Cabot explores the North American coast far enough.
It does help explain why the Brits were head and shoulders above the rest of Europe when it came to mass colonization.