Colonies would also often live on the boat(s) they came on for some time even after land was discovered. First, it takes time to build all those buildings. Second because it was a great form of protection before a fort or wall could be made.
Common buildings in a colony include stuff like:
- Cabins for living. That is kind of a given
- Saw/Lumber mill.
- Warehouses for storing goods while waiting out the bad season (winter) and/or until the next ship comes to take them.
- Docks. For fishing and for shipping.
- Place of worship or other cultural center.
- Factories. No, not smoke spewing industrial sites. These wouldn't show up till the colony is well set up. But these factories are the kind that create the more pricey trade goods. Examples include: Distillers, furniture makers, metalsmiths, tanners, etc.
- A fort/palisades depending on how dangerous the land was.
Colonies are basically business ventures. That’s why many colonies were under the rule of Companies in history. Dutch East Indian Company, Manhattan Trade Co., etc, etc. The mother nation sends out people to create/extract raw goods like lumber, food, furs, etc. and sends them back to the mother nation where it then turns it into finished goods, lumber = furniture, ships. furs = coats, hats. Then the mother nation then sells these finished goods to other nations and back to the colony for more money then they got the raw resource for. The sole purpose of a colony is to benefit the mother nation.
There are different ways in going about this. Not every 'colony' needs to be a little town of 100 settlers trying to live off the land. Take for example the common practice of the French and their system of colonization in America. Often, the French would claim large sections of land. Take for example the area of the Louisiana Purchase. Among all of this land they claimed, there would probably be one or two main/major port colonies that would be well established and 'built up'. New Orleans and Montreal are two examples of this. By staying on friendly terms with the people around the colonies and in the land (the Native Americans) the French would build very simple outposts throughout their vast claims of colonial land, which could hold as little as a dozen people. These few residents would be fur trappers and very hardy folk who would build some houses to live in and a warehouse out in the middle of nowhere, trap all season, keep the furs in "depots" all over the trapped area, and then sell their huge loads of furs in bulk during the selling season. They would survive by the aid of Natives and minor bartering for goods the natives wouldn't have when they sold their furs. And that’s it. These little outposts never grew or were built to house people. In fact they were built with the idea that they could be dismantled and moved somewhere else when the area had been over trapped and let it repopulate itself. And these little outposts would all be served by the one (or two) larger permanent colonies. The French did not want to trade back with their own colonies (much). Instead they built colonies for the sole purpose of getting raw material (furs) back to France so those expensive hats and coats could be sold to the continent for lots of money.
Now take the English system. English colonies were all, for the most part, built with a more permanent idea in mind. The idea was that as these colonies grew, there would be enough population in them to create a good tax base. Along with being people to tax, they would also work as ports to trade with for further money.
As far as how colonies are run? Well, it depends again from country to country. Now, I don't have my notes in front of me, so I'm just going of memory. So I'll do my best to remember exactly what goes on...
First, a country/king/head of government decides a colony is needed. Then, they set up a charter and create a company, usually with a fancy name. This company is given monopoly status and the king places some good friend or nephew, etc. as the President/CEO of the Trade Company. If the company plans to build on one 'colony'... as in like, one town, then the President of the Trading Company usually makes himself the Governor of the colony. If there are more that one colony, then the President may assign governors to run the towns/colonies or the king might. Depends on the country and politics and stuff. The government then gives the company a loan (grant) basically and assumes the company will pay the government back from profit, plus make extra on inflation. This company then buys/charters/rents ways (boats usually, but maybe something different in a fantasy world) to get to the new land. They advertise this new investment and people whom think that they might have a chance at making it big in the new world sign on
as employees of the company. The company ships them over to the new land and the colony is created. Because the company has a monopoly, they receive all the profit. They then pay the settlers money (sometimes flat prices up front, sometimes over time, sometimes letting them keep their own profits, it changes from colony to colony.) and pays back the government their loan (grant). All over the course of several years. Whether or not the settlers get upset that they are being treated as simple employees and start to demand civil rights is up to you.
Those are just two examples of how a nation might go about colonizing a new land. There are others, and I'm sure in a fantasy world, there would be even more. I could image a nation in a fantasy world sending colonies out to search for rumored artifacts (which is not to far from what the Spanish Kingdom did with the City of Gold and Fountain of Youth!).
Phew that was a lot. Hope it helped. I'm a history major and Colonial America (North and South) was one of my recent topics of study
(thus the reference to notes not being near me). And, just to add, I didn't even talk about other forms of colonialism by such peoples as the ancient Greeks and the most Imperialistic nation ever, Rome