This history of early European colonial efforts in North America examines why three colonies--St. Augustine, Jamestown and Quebec--succeeded where many before them had failed. Chapters cover Columbus' exploration and the Treaty of Tordesillas; other Spanish explorers and settlements in the New World; French attempts at settlement prior to Quebec; early English settlements, including Roanoke; failed settlements dating to the Norse enclaves on Greenland; and in-depth studies of the three colonies that survived.