r/AskHistorians 17h ago

Why did the British Empire create colonies in North America?

In the US education system it is portrayed that before the seven years war, what are now called “the 13 colonies” were pretty much autonomous and British parliament levying taxes on them was unheard of. They even saw each-other as separate pseudo-nations. (I could be wrong about that).

Why then did the British Empire go through all the effort and money of establishing and defending these colonies? What benefit did the empire have in doing so?

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