Final answer:
The thesis statement is: The maritime empires of the British and Spanish differed in state building and expansion due to their different motivations, strategies, and outcomes.
Step-by-step explanation:
In evaluating the extent to which two maritime empires differed in state building and expansion, the thesis statement could be: The maritime empires of the British and Spanish differed in state building and expansion due to their different motivations, strategies, and outcomes.
In the body paragraphs, you can present arguments that discuss the motivations behind their empire-building, the strategies they employed, and the outcomes they achieved. For example, you can argue that the British Empire was primarily driven by economic interests, while the Spanish Empire had a strong focus on religious conversion. The British used a combination of naval power and trade networks to expand their empire, while the Spanish relied heavily on conquest and colonization. The British Empire eventually became the largest maritime empire in history, while the Spanish Empire declined due to various factors.