Although European countries became the dominate colonial forces in the 18th and 19th centuries and ended up setting up colonies all around the world, there were some environmental and sociological factors which influenced where they chose not to settle. Dominant as the Europeans sometimes were over societies armed with more primitive technology, the Europeans could not simply settle wherever they wanted. A variety of considerations prevented them from colonizing certain parts of the world or for actually settling there themselves.
In some cases, the lands they encountered were already settled, as was the case in China
and the Holy Land. Of course, virtually all of the territory that Europeans ended up controlling in the 19th century were inhabited by others before the Europeans showed up. The difference, however, comes in terms of technological sophistication. Inhabitants of Eurasia enjoyed much of the same technology as the Europeans themselves did. In fact, these non-European cultures in Eurasia were often the source of those technologies. For the most part, Europeans found it difficult to settle in the lands occupied by people with whom they had already had extensive contact. There were exceptions, but most European colonization occurred in areas inhabited by people that had been isolated from the rest of the world and were therefore technologically behind the Europeans.
In other cases, the climate did not agree to settlers from Europe. Although Africa and the West Indies
were important sources of revenue for Europeans for a time, they were not places that Europeans themselves liked to live. They were too hot. Because of the climate, women in particular were loathe to settle in tropical regions. No civilization can exist without women, so European settlements were limited in the tropical areas. When Europeans did have colonies in the tropics, those colonies usually had a small Europe elite which ruled over the forced labor of natives of African slaves. The plantation system was the only type of settlement that Europeans established in these areas.
Probably the biggest thing which prevented European colonization was disease. The tropical zones of the world flourished with diseases for which Europeans had no natural resistance. It was not until Europeans managed to invent inoculations for diseases that they could safely live and work in these areas. If most of the European population is likely to be wiped out by malaria or some other exotic disease, it is not likely that Europeans will attempt to settle there.
These are just a few of the reasons why Europeans set up colonies where they did and why they set up the types of colonies they did in each area. Much more than mere personal preferences about climate, these factors imposed restrictions on European colonization from the 15th century until decolonization began in the 20th century.
