The English wished to establish new settlements or colonies in the Americas, both North and South America, India and Asia including Hong Kong and China, Africa and Australia and New Zealand. There were several reasons for this. Many of their settlements were along their trade routes. For example, the before the Suez canal was opened, the English needed to sail around the bottom of Africa to get to India. It made sense to establish a colony in South Africa. Another example of an English settlement is Australia. It was originally started as a penal colony.