Within a decade of Columbus’s discoveries and return, Portugal and England got into the American exploration game. The Dutch did not get into the game in the 1500s, but I will give them a pass because they were not an independent country yet. Yet France did not make a move until the 1520s with its sponsorship of the Verrazano voyage. It’s been said that the French wars of religion distracted France from external expansion big time in the 1500s, but the French wars or religion were not a thing I think until the latter half of the 1500s.
Poll - Why did France hold off so much longer than England?
a) Distracted by the Italian wars
b) The French court had less money to burn than the English in the 1490s
c) Because the English quit right after Cabot, had the English played more, France might have felt more like competing.
d) The French had a smaller merchant fleet enterprise than English or Iberians
e) The French had more geographical skepticism about westward trade routes
Poll - Why did France hold off so much longer than England?
a) Distracted by the Italian wars
b) The French court had less money to burn than the English in the 1490s
c) Because the English quit right after Cabot, had the English played more, France might have felt more like competing.
d) The French had a smaller merchant fleet enterprise than English or Iberians
e) The French had more geographical skepticism about westward trade routes