British colonization of the Americas (including colonization by both the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland before the Acts of Union, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707) began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas. The English, and later the British, were among the most important colonizers of the Americas, and their American empire came to rival the Spanish American colonies in military and economic might.