Most modern American citizens consider Great Britain to be their European "parent" country. However, by the time the British arrived in the New World and established their first permanent settlement at Jamestown in 1607, much of the continent had already been claimed by other European nations.
Over time, more countries became interested in the New World. All of the modern Southwest, including Texas and California, had been peopled by Spanish settlers for about a century. The entire expanse of land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains (today, the U.S Midwest) had at one point been claimed by France. The Dutch settled in New York, there was a Swedish presence along the East Coast, and the Spanish had a large footprint in Florida. In South America, the Portuguese claimed Brazil.
Many factors contributed to Britain's tardiness. England was not the most powerful European nation in the 16th century. Instead, Spain was most influential. Along with Portugal, Spain dominated New World exploration in the decades that followed Columbus. France, the Netherlands, and Sweden all showed greater interest in the Western Hemisphere than England did.
