By
the
1400s
,
____________________
countries
were
looking
for
new
routes
to
get
to
the
____________________
of
the
Middle
and
Far
East
.
Many
countries
____________________
the
New
World
including
____________________
,
France
,
and
____________________
.
In
1540
,
Hernando
____________________
____________________
,
a
Spanish
explorer
,
traveled
through
present
-
day
____________________
during
his
expedition
to
search
for
____________________
.
The
Spanish
established
____________________
along
the
Georgia
barrier
islands
and
coast
to
____________________
the
Indians
to
____________________
.
By
1685
,
however
,
the
Spanish
had
abandoned
the
missions
and
retreated
to
Florida
.
Forced
labor
,
starvation
,
and
especially
____________________
took
a
fearful
toll
on
Native
American
lives
.
With
little
natural
resistance
to
____________________
diseases
,
the
native
peoples
were
ravaged
by
smallpox
,
measles
,
and
typhus
,
and
many
of
them
____________________
.
During
the
1600s
,
the
____________________
colonized
parts
of
what
is
now
Canada
and
Louisiana
.
____________________
settlers
,
meanwhile
,
founded
Virginia
and
the
Massachusetts
Bay
Colony
.
By
1700
,
the
English
had
established
a
____________________
empire
along
the
____________________
seaboard
of
North
America
.
They
also
had
set
up
sugar
plantations
on
various
islands
in
the
Caribbean
Sea
.
