Which country found the colonies in US and Canada?

Answer 1

It depends which area and when.

The first Europeans to attempt colonization were the Vikings (as mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas) at around 985/986 CE. Then Leif Ericsson dropped by for a visit at around 1001 CE. There's archaeological evidence of settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, but that didn't work out too well due to bad weather and angry Inuit, so the Vikings turned tail and jumped back across the pond to Scandinavia.

Then in 1492 Columbus made the historic mistake of thinking Newfoundland looked like India. There was a bit of a kerfuffle with the Portuguese who wanted a bit of the action on the codfish market, but the second group of Europeans that permanently settled in North America were the French, who officially joined the party in 1534 when they renamed a chunk of land New France and stuck their flag to the ground (the colonial equivalent of calling dibs). They also colonized part of the US (hence areas like Louisiana, where French is still a big influence), but the French are mostly recognized as major players in the colonization game in Canada.

This double colonization is the reason Ottawa was built on the province line between Ontario and Quebec. Half the city is in French Canada and half is in English Canada, in recognition of the two main European colonizers of Canada.

Although, really, the true first colonizers of North (and South) America were the various bands and tribes of peoples now commonly known as First Nations and Inuit. They got there thousands of years before anyone else, after all.