I will start off by saying that this is pretty broad, and I am going to narrow it down as best as possible. This is a great question and I hope the answer serves you well. The only question I do not answer in this response is the "distinctive differences between the colonization strategies". I hope someone else can speak to this for me and for you. I do know and recognize however the existing difference between British and French styles of colonization.

I think the best way to approach this is to take a look at the Mayflower and the founding of Plymouth. For sake of length and depth I will go into the importance and impact of the Mayflower Compact. If you have a question regarding it I will answer it subsequently.

On September 6, 1620 the Mayflower set forth from Plymouth harbor in England. Over the course of their journey they face many hardships as they travel to the new world. Two of these hardships include a storm blowing them off course, and running out of alcohol which influences their decision to settle. People can argue with me on the alcohol issue, but I have heard it multiple times from different sources. Here is one such instance from an article,

“In fact, our whole country may have been founded because of booze. The Pilgrims made an unexpected pit-stop on Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer. They had been headed for Virginia but finding themselves low on drink, the Mayflower’s captain, fearing a mutiny, headed for shore, landing on the wintry, unsettled and inhospitable coastline.”

With this being said the Pilgrims as we refer to the historically came ashore on November 9, 1620. There were 102 passengers with a mixture of both men and women. It is important to note that you had whole families coming over settle the new land. They came from a variety of places, but the primary purpose was to seek freedom of worship in the New World. You have two distinct groups of passengers besides the crew. As such you have the passengers of the Leiden, Holland Congregation, which includes their servants, and passengers recruited by Thomas Weston. Weston I would say is a London merchant who finances the journey and is not one of the members who set sail.

Getting back to your question and looking at individuals who came over to assess how many women and children came over. Here are some figures from the Leiden Congregation.

Notables to demonstrate the fact that families came over. Bradford's, Of Plymouth Plantation is the primary source. At the end of the post is a link via The Plimoth Plantation, a Smithsonian Institution Affliations Program, which provides the passenger list.

William Bradford and his wife Dorothy (May) Bradford

William Brewster and his wife Mary, who brought two children, Love and Wrestling

James Chilton and his wife, along with their daughter Mary Chilton

Now this is by colony may be a unique case, but I know Jamestown at first did not bring any women or children along. With the case of the Mayflower you have a pretty even distribution of men, women and children.

Return journeys and living off the land:

Insofar as return journeys that did not really happen, especially in the case of the Plymouth pilgrims. They were escaping religious persecution and for individuals like William Bradford, future long standing Plymouth Colony Governor) it would not be advisable. I do know that Squanto and Winslow will make journeys themselves though.

The Pilgrims did their best to live off the land and supplies for as long as possible. The first winter they encounter kill more than half of the original passengers and this will lead the Pilgrims to solidifying their relationship with Native American allies. Prior to this we can point to two individual Native Americans spurring on this relationship, Samoset and Squanto. Squanto is a member of the Patuxet tribe and through him he is able to be a guide and translator for the Plymouth people. Throughout all of this the pilgrims maintain a relationship with the Wampanoag tribe. It is Squanto who taught the pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn as well; by showing them how to use fish as a nutrient in the rocky and sandy soil of Cape Cod.

Quotes regarding Thanksgiving from William Bradford and Edward Winslow.

Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation:

They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to the proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.

Edward Winslow, Mourt’s Relation:

Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.

Supplies:

Provisions: Captain John Smith’s log, A Sea Grammar, 1627

“A Commander at sea should provision himself and company at sea with bedding, linen, arms and apparel; and keep his table aboard, and his expenses at shore, and provide his petty Tally, which is a component proportion according to the number of these particulars following: Fine wheat flour, close and well packed.

Rice.

Currants.

Sugar.

Prunes.

Cinnamon.

Ginger.

Pepper.

Cloves

Green Ginger.

Oil.

Butter.

Holland Cheese, or "old cheese."

Wine Vinegar

Canarie Sack.

Aqua Vitae.

Fine Wines.

Pure water.

Lemon Juice [for Scurvy].

White Biscuit

Oatmeal.

Gammons or Bacon.

Dried Neat's Tongues.

Beefe, packed in vinegar.

Legs of Mutton, minced and stewed, close-packed with tried sewet or butter in earthen pots.

TO ENTERTAIN STRANGERS:

Marmelade.

Suckets.

Almonds.

Comfits, and such like.”

Clothing:

The clothing supplies of the Pilgrims included hats, caps, shirts, neck-cloths, jerkins, waistcoats, breeches (cloth and leather), stockings, shoes, boots, belts, cloth, piece-goods (for dresses), etc. By the will of William Mullins, it appears he had twenty-one dozen pairs of shoes and thirteen pairs of boots on board. Undoubtedly, he intended to use these as a medium of exchange or barter. By the terms of the contract with the Pilgrims, the Merchant Adventurers were to supply all their actual necessities of food, clothing, etc., for a full term of seven years.

Furniture:

Among the furniture brought on Mayflower may be enumerated: chairs, table-chairs, stools and benches, tables of several sizes, table-boards, trestles, beds, bedding, cradles, cupboards and cabinets, chests, boxes, trunks, andirons, fireplace tools, shovels, cushions, rugs, blankets, etc.

Among the household utensils wee spits, bake-kettles, pots, kettles, lamps, candlesticks, snuffers, buckets, tubs, baskets, sand-glasses, pewter-ware including platters, plates, tankards, and porringers. There would have been wooden-ware such as trenchers, trays, noggins, spoons, ladles and scoops. The earthenware would have included jugs, crocks, bowls, etc.

Tools and other equipment:

The Pilgrims would have need of a number of other pieces of equipment in order to build their homes, plant their crops, fish and protect themselves against attack. Such equipment would have included hoes, shovels, rakes, several kinds of axes, hatchets, sickles, adzes, hammers, mallets, nails, rifles, armor, lead for bullet-making, and barrels of gun powder.

I went looking for the supply list and as such I found a source and just carried over the information.

Source for supplies:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mosmd/

Book Sources:

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation

Pamela J. Dell, The Plymouth Colony (Let Freedom Ring)

Donald F. Harris, PhD. The Mayflower Descendant

Caleb H. Johnson, The Mayflower and her passengers

Edward Winslow, Mourts Relation

Multimedia Sources:

A great documentary drama by the History Channel. “This epic four-hour documentary details the rough path of the Mayflower, evoking the drama of this famous journey through Bradford’s own writings, commentary from historians, and gripping re-creations.”

PDF of the History Channel Program: http://www.history.com/images/media/pdf/1463_Study_Guide_Desp_Cross_nonspread.pdf

Amazon Link to the Video: http://www.amazon.com/Desperate-Crossing-Untold-Story-Mayflower/dp/B000JU7JE6

Alcohol Reference:

http://www.thefix.com/content/are-we-republic-drinking?page=all

Passenger List:

http://www.plimoth.org/please-support/save-our-ship/virtual-passenger-list