Did it ever do them any good?

Did colonialism in the New World serve the Brit or French national interests?

Did they serve the interests of the Brit or French people, at all?

Not that I am aware.

Though American conservative historians, Anglophiles as conservatives have been since the revolution and admirers of colonialism and imperialism, rejoice in mocking Voltaire’s attack on the French attempts to keep or even expand their colonies in North America during the Seven Years’ War, referring to Canada as “a few acres of snow.”

Spanish colonialism in America made the monarchy and part of the aristocracy rich, but did it do any good for Spain or the Spanish people?

One has to suppose the people who came to the New World to struggle as hard as they did to survive and make their way were better off for it, as long as they needed or wanted sponsorship by the mother country.

(Or maybe not, eh? But how do you get back?)

But who else?