[eesmith]

British and Dutch colonialism were public-private joint affairs. The VOC was the first company to raise capital by selling stocks. Jamestown (first permanent English settlement in the Americas) was settled by the London Company, under Crown charter.

Compare that to the Spanish colonialism, where state power indeed mattered more than companies.

[realusername]

Yeah that's kind of the big difference I'd say between British and Dutch colonialism and French and Spanish colonialism. On the French empire, the state had almost all the power and territorial expansion was on everybody's mind.

Not that makes it better but it's essential to bring it back in the context.