ABSTRACT
Life in Spain was organized around the town, and the colonial authorities reproduced the social and political structures of Spanish town life in the Americas. Spain's chief interests in the Americas were in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America, where its largest, most profitable colonies were located. France's first North American colony was in the valley of the St. Lawrence River, and its first lasting settlement was Quebec. The Treaty of Paris gave Spain ownership of another French colonial city, one that was also located on a river. Spanish colonies in Florida and in the Southwest were natural extensions of Spain's holdings in the Caribbean and in Mexico. Because Florida and the Southwest formed the northern edge of Spanish territory, this region came to be called the Spanish Borderlands. Although the British colonies were smaller in area than the Spanish and French colonies, they had many more inhabitants.
