To preface, I am not defending colonialism in any capacity, even if some other forms were less barbaric than others. I'm just curious how the different European nations that colonized the Americas, the Carribean, Polynesia, Africa, and Asia differed in how they treated the local population, whether native people or foreign citizens of another colony. Were they forced to assimilate to their culture? Were they even given the option to integrate into society and have rights? I would imagine that each nation differed in their colonial policy across different colonies at different times, but in general what was their outlook in how to colonize? What made the French different to, say, the Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, and Russian way of doing things?