Final answer:
Richard Hakluyt promoted the creation of English colonies in North America for economic gains, such as trade and resource extraction, social alleviation of poverty, and the spread of Protestantism against Spanish Catholic influence.
Step-by-step explanation:
Richard Hakluyt encouraged the creation of English colonies in North America primarily for economic reasons. In his 1584 Discourse on Western Planting, he advocated colonization as a way to provide economic benefits to England. He saw the New World as an opportunity to enrich the English treasury through trade and resource extraction while simultaneously providing a solution to social issues like the problem of the landless poor in England. Moreover, Hakluyt viewed colonization as a means to assert Protestantism and curtail Spanish-Catholic influence in the New World.