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Aside from the details of growing your economy and expanding your population, you also have to contend with other European colonists and with natives. The cultures that the European invasion of the Americas forced into contact couldn’t have been more different.
The competing Europeans have, for the most part, interests in common with your own. Like you, they want to establish profitable trade arrangements, expand their colonial empires, and build a viable society in the New World. Conflicts often develop over valuable resource deposits like silver mines, prime commodity lands, or ore deposits. In some cases too, there are conflicting land grants and charters. In addition to these issues, there are a host of purely European conflicts that date back through the generations and occasionally erupt into warfare that spills from Old World to New. In short, the behavior of both natives and Europeans can, at times, seem chaotic due to the complex societies from which it springs.
All four European powers depicted in Colonization can be controlled by a human player. To help distinguish them from more than just name alone, each has their ows advantages and characteristics that they bring to the Imperial Age within the game. Each of these advantages and characteristics have basis in fact which is considered historically accurate.
NATIONS
The Dutch, English, French and Spanish competed for New World dominance, When the dust settled, only the British and Spanish remained. There are still French-speaking peoples in North America today, notably Louisian the Canadian province of Quebec which is home to the world's greatest concentration of Frenchmen outside of France. Colonization gives you the opportunity to change all of this.
Every one of your European rivals will attempt to dominate the Americas, to establish a monopoly on the valuable trade coming in and out of American waters. As you operate your colonial concerns, you will encounter foreign vessels on the high seas and sometimes even in waters you consider your own. Rival Europeans aggressively attempt to colonize the entire area of the New World through whatever means available. If they sense weakness in your attitude or deployment, they are likely to take advantage of that and attack your forces. They attempt to capture your colonies and force allegiance to their rule upon the population.
To achieve dominance in the New World, your rivals will use their naval and ground forces in a variety of ways to interrupt the smooth flow of your commerce.
DUTCH
The Dutch are the premiere traders of the lot with the beaver the proud centrepiece of their North American enterprise. They have recently gained their independence from Spain and are quickly spreading their economic influence across the known world. Their ruling class is made up of primarily members of the merchant class who work to ensure trade is priority one. In-game, the Dutch economy is more stable than the other European markets and prices of goods in the capital Amsterdam are quite consistent. They also start the game with a trading vessel.
Here is a list of their default colony names in order of appearance:
| 1st EIGHT | 2nd EIGHT | 3rd EIGHT | 4th EIGHT |
| New Amsterdam Fort Orange Fort Nassau New Holland Vlissingen Curacao Recife Bahia | Paramaribo Pernambuco St. Martin St. Eustatius Essequibo Berbice Surinam Paraiba | Bonaire Willemstad Aruba Santa Catharina Saba Utrecht Haarlem Tappans | Hoboken Rensselaerswyck Nederhorst Fort Cristina Gottenburgh Fort Kasimiris Fort Elsenburgh Naiack |
From their entry on Wikipedia:
The Dutch are a Germanic people living in the Netherlands primarily descending from Franks and Saxons from Lower Saxony, who lived in the Netherlands during the 5th century. [..] The Dutch people descend from two early medieval people: the Franks and the Saxons. [..] The Franks have had the most influence on the Dutch culture in the early Middle Ages which makes the Frankish heritage the most dominant in Dutch culture though Saxon cultural heritage persisted in the eastern parts of the Netherlands until the 1960s.
Since the year 1000 the Dutch culture has been fairly independent from those of its neighbours, but the cultures of neighbouring lands have had their influence on Dutch culture, as the Netherlands were occupied by foreign powers several times in its history. [..] Since the late 16th century, when the Netherlands became an independent nation, Dutch culture has become more independent from that of its neighbours.
ENGLISH
Religious unrest in England means English ships docked in London harbour find more volunteer emigrants. Accordingly, England produces a greater number of immigrants than the other European nations.
Here is a list of their default colony names in order of appearance:
| 1st NINE | 2nd NINE | 3rd NINE | 4th NINE |
| Jamestown Plymouth Roanoke Barbados Penobscot Boston Baltimore Providence Hartford | New Haven New York Albany New Jersey Charleston Philadelphia Newport Yorktown Annapolis | Halifax Lexington Savannah Williamsburg St. John's Norfolk Concord Wilmington Richmond | Portsmouth Camden Springfield Newport News Antigua Rupert House Kingston Reading Ottawa |
From their entry on Wikipedia:
The English people are an indigenous European ethnic group originating in the lowlands of Great Britain and today represent a fairly homogenous composite population descended from a combination of Anglo-Saxons and Celts with Scandanavians, Jutes, and Normans, with minor recent mixture with other groups worldwide. The English as an ethnic group can partially trace their heritage back to the Anglo-Saxons who between the 5th and 7th centuries, after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire, came to occupy most of lowland Britain. [..] The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought Anglo-Saxon and Danish rule to an end, and began a diminished period, both culturally and socially for the native inhabitants. [..]
During Britain's centuries as a major colonial power, people migrated from all over Britain's sphere of influence to England, leaving a small, but noticeable mark on English culture.
FRENCH
While adept in cultivating beaver and otter pelts where available, the French are the best at co-operating with their aboriginal neighbours and founding long-lasting alliances and trade agreements. As such, they have the ability to live more peacefully with the natives than the other Europeans around.
Here is a list of their default colony names in order of appearance:
| 1st SEVENTEEN | 2nd SEVENTEEN | 3rd SEVENTEEN | 4th FIFTEEN |
| Quebec Montreal Guadeloupe Cayenne St. Louis Martinique Port Royal Port au Prince Trois Rivieres New Orleans Fort Caroline Fort Detroit Fort Frontenac Fort Pontchartain Fort Tadoussac Fort Canada Fort Niagara | Fort Crevecoeur Fort Roquelai Fort Laguille Fort Brest Fort Richelieu Fort Louis Fort Prudhome Fort Sandouski Fort du Quesne Fort Erie Fort Maurepas Fort Francois Xavier Fort St. Michel Fort Chicago Fort-de-France Fort Frances Fort St. Joseph | Fort Miannis Fort Orleans Fort St. Ignace Fort Le Rocher Fort Miyamis Fort Rosalie Fort Balise Fort Conde Fort Pensacola Fort Toulouse Fort St. John Fort Kappa Fort Biloxi Fort Mobile Sault Ste. Marie Baton Rouge Denonville | Gananoque St. Croix Port Cartier Terre Haute Trois Pistoles Sept-Iles Louisville St. Barthelemy St. Pierre Miquelon Des Moines Havre St. Pierre Port Menier Portage la Prairie St. Boniface |
From their entry on Wikipedia:
The French... or the French people, are the ethnic group native to the country of France, in Western Europe. Although most ethnically French people speak the French language as their native tongue, there are large numbers of people of French ancestry outside of Europe who speak other first languages, particularly English in North America and Spanish in South America. Although most French people are Roman Catholic to one degree or another, many others belong to other religions, such as Protestantism and Islam, or to no religion at all.
The French are a Western European people whose ethnic origins, for the most part, trace back to the mingling of the Celts, the Romans, and some Germanic peoples. [..] In the roughly 900 years after the Norman invasions France had a fairly settled population. Unlike elsewhere in Europe, France experienced relatively low levels of emigration to the Americas. [..] Most of the French people... are still Roman Catholic to one degree or another.
SPANISH
The Spanish, on the other hand, are most adept at conquering their aboriginal neighbours after exploiting their existing cultures to the greatest extent possible to enrich their royal coffers. They have at their disposal a large contingent of young men vying for greater glory through conquest after a recent series of successful campaigns on European soil. In-game, this tacticly translates into a 50% bonus when attacking aboriginal towns and villages.
Here is a list of their default colony names in order of appearance:
| 1st TEN | 2nd TEN | 3rd TEN | 4th NINE |
| Isabella Santo Domingo San Salvador Veracruz Havana Trinidad San Juan Panama Cartajena St. Augustine | Lima Buenos Aires Guatemala Honduras Potosi Santiago Guadalajara Asuncion Managua Costa Rica | Santa Fe Los Angeles Bogota Corpus Christi Acapulco Santa Marta San Agostin Caracas Tobago San Francisco | Santiago San Diego San Angelo El Paso Cancun Valparaiso Concepcion La Plata Port of Spain |
From their entry on Wikipedia:
The Spanish people... are the ethnic group or nation native to Spain, in the Iberian peninsula of southwestern Europe. Spain is a European Latin nation with cultural ties to other Latin countries in the Mediterranean. Their main native language is the Spanish language (in Spain there are around 32 million first-language speakers of Castilian Spanish, and a total of almost 43 million of Spanish nationality), which is a Romance language. Their main religion is Roman Catholic. [..] Overall, the Spanish are a southern European population (Mediterranean fused with Nordic elements). Their ethnic origin is a combination of various groups, invaders, and migrants including the pre-Roman Basques, Celtic and Iberian tribes...and Romans.
LAND CONQUEST AND DIPLOMACY
As your colonies expand and you build more of them, you will inevitably come into contact with other Europeans on land. The attitude you decide to take toward these rivals is very important. In some cases, the government of the power with which you’re dealing will leave you no choice but to take some particular action, but in others you can decide the best course—whether to be conciliatory or aggressive, sly or forthright... what have you. Be forewarned though that, unlike the native population, the Europeans are ruthless. They will stop at nothing to control large areas of your “hard-won” territory.
WAR
If you commit an act of war against a colonial power, they immediately declare war upon you and pursue it vigorously. An act of war is an attack upon one of their colonists, colonies or vessels. Once war has been declared, it continues until one side or the other seeks and gains peace through diplomatic means. These colonial wars may languish on and on, draining both sides of much-needed resources. Long, protracted colonial warfare can be damaging even if you are “winning,” so it’s best to avoid it if possible. However, sometimes it may be to your advantage to prosecute a lightning campaign of conquest, if you feel the deed can be ended quickly.
PEACE TRIES
You can seek peace through diplomatic means or grant peace to a repentant adversary. Signing a treaty symbolizes cessation of hostilities between the colonial portions of both signatories. However, a treaty is not entirely binding; either you or the other side are capable of treachery at any time.
MERCENARIES
When you have built up your treasury to the point where foreign powers begin to take notice (around 5000), they may offer you mercenary forces to aid you in your cause. Most often, the troops offered are combined arms forces — that is, several units in one package, with a mixture of cavalry (dragoons), artillery, and infantry (soldiers). You can pay the fee and hire the whole package, or you can decline the deal, but you cannot choose to hire only some of the troops offered. Once hired, mercenary forces look just like your own, and they are always veterans. Declining to hire mercenaries on the first occasion they are offered does not stop them from approaching you again.
COLONIAL TRADE
Once Jan de Witt joins your Continental Congress, you may trade with the colonies of other nations provided you are not currently involved in a war with them.
The four European powers available for play in Colonization are the ones that had the greatest and longest-lasting influence on the New World: England, France, Holland, and Spain. Says the game's developer/publisher MicroPROSE (MPS), 
One uncredited player recommends that 
Francisco de Coronado (1510-1554): A Spanish Conquistador, he led the first European expedition into the American southwest. He was the first “white man” to observe the Grand Canyon, and the Pueblos of New Mexico.
Regardless of what nationality you represent and how ‘independence minded’ you are, the bonds that bind you to your home country are strong and enduring. Your home country supplies you with people to populate the New World, ships to get them there, goods to trade with the aboriginals as well as muskets, tools, and other provisions that allow your colonies to exist in the early years. However, this relationship is not without price.