The Spaniards, on the other hand, counted more than two hundred cities and towns which they had planted in their territories. About two hundred thousand Spaniards, farmers, miners, traders, soldiers, and nobles, had either migrated from Spain to America or had been born there of emigrants since Columbus's discovery. Five million Indians had come under their rule, and most of them were living as civilized men, and called themselves Christians. One hundred and forty thousand negro slaves had been carried from Africa to the plantations and mines in Spanish America. [Illustration: Regions in the New World and the East claimed by the Countries of Europe after a century of exploration.] The City of Mexico, the largest in all America, was much like the cities of Spain. Well-built houses of wood, stone, and mason-work abounded. Churches, monasteries, a university, higher schools for boys and girls, four hospitals, of which one was for Indians, and public buildings, similar to those in the cities of old Spain, already existed. Spanish life and Spanish culture had spread over a large area in the New World, and the most remarkable fact was that the Old World civilization had been bestowed on the Indian population. As Roman culture went into Spain and Gaul, so Spanish culture went into a New Spain in a new world. THE PROSPECTS OF THE SPANISH COLONIES. But the outlook for Spain in America was not wholly bright. Her struggle with her Dutch subjects and the war with England, which grew out of that quarrel, left her completely worn out. She no longer had the people to spare for American settlements. These ceased to grow as they once had. Negroes and Indians outnumbered the Spaniards in most of them. The three races mingled together and intermarried until a new people, the Spanish American, differing in color and blood from either of the old races, was formed. THE LATER STORY OF COLONIZATION. Spain's rivals--the Dutch, the English, and the French--were just reaching the height of their power. They had settled their most serious religious differences. Their merchants were eagerly looking about for commercial opportunities. A considerable population in each of them, but more especially in England, was discontented and ready to try its fortunes in a new world. The Spaniards had passed by the best parts of North America as worthless. The people and the unoccupied land were both ready for the formation of colonies on a larger scale. In many ways a greater story of American colonization remains to be told. This will be the story of the Dutch, the French, and the English colonization of North America. QUESTIONS 1. Why had the English people not taken more interest in America before Drake's time? What finally, made the English sea-captains turn to American adventure and exploration? 2. What did Gilbert attempt to do? How many reasons can you find for his failure?