The colonies that became the original United States were, in general, part of of the British, Spanish, and Dutch land claims. Although it should be noted that many of the people escaping persecution were from England.
Let's take a look at the name: colonies. If a land is a colony, it is a colony of something, that is, there is some other land that has control over it: in this case this was Great Britain: Great Britain had claims and control over the colonies.
