They were founded for a diverse range of reasons, from the pursuit of fortunes to the desire to create havens from persecution and model societies, and had differing systems of governance. Although most of the white colonists were from the British isles, the colonies also included people from other European countries, particularly Germany. The 13 colonies supported diverse economies, from those in the northeast that focused on urban commerce, to the southern coastal colonies that exported huge amounts of tobacco and rice, explains Carroll Van West , a history professor at Middle Tennessee State University.
The colonies also had some key unifying factors. Economically, from the southern plantation to port cities of the north, they all were dependent in some way upon both slave labor and access to overseas markets, as West notes. Ultimately, the 13 colonies became united in their opposition to British rule and desire to govern themselves and make their own collective destiny. In the late s, the settlements of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield began unifying under a rudimentary form of government that was composed of magistrates and representatives from each town.
But they soon decided that they needed a more formal common government, and wrote a document called the Fundamental Orders, which often has been called the first constitution in any of the colonies. According to ConnecticutHistory. George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, was a government official in England who became interested in colonizing North America.
George Calvert eventually tired of all the strife, and in , obtained a royal charter for territory north of the Potomac River, according to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. The Calverts eventually built a capital, St. Maryland became predominantly Catholic, and in enacted a law that guaranteed religious freedom—at least for Christian believers. In , John Winthrop established the Saugus Works, which had a dam to provide water, a smelting furnace, a forge, and a rolling and slitting mill.
The facility produced two types of iron—cast iron that could be poured into molds to make a product, and pig iron, large lumps that could be remelted and used in manufacturing. The Mayflower Compact was a set of rules for self-governance established by the English settlers who traveled to the New World on the Mayflower.
When Pilgrims and other settlers set out on the ship for America in , they intended to lay anchor in northern Virginia. But after Some people, many of them seeking religious freedom in the New World, set sail from England on the Mayflower in September That November, the ship landed on the shores of Cape Cod, in present-day Massachusetts. A scouting party was sent out, and in late December the Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault.
Recommended for you. How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland. The 13 Colonies. Jamestown Colony. The Mayflower. Jamestown Colony On May 14, , a group of roughly members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company founded the first permanent English settlement in North America on the banks of the James River. Plymouth Colony In September , during the reign of King James I, a group of around English men and women—many of them members of the English Separatist Church later known to history as the Pilgrims—set sail for the New World aboard the Mayflower.
The Lost Colony of Popham Many of the details of the Popham colony have been lost to history, but in its heyday the tiny settlement in Maine was considered a direct rival of Jamestown. The Mayflower In September , a merchant ship called the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, a port on the southern coast of England. A great educational resource for kids on the subject of the 13 Colonies. For facts, laws and statistics about emigration today, and in the past, please visit www. The 13 Colonies.
The New England Colonies list consisted of four of the original 13 Colonies:. The Middle Colonies list also consisted of four of the original 13 Colonies:. The Southern Colonies list consisted of five of the original 13 Colonies:. This article on the first 13 Colonies of Colonial America provides facts and information about: The original names of the first 13 Colonies The location and a map of the 13 Colonies The first 13 Colonies in order of their establishment Fast facts and an overview of the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies and the Southern Colonies.
American Colonies Index. First 13 Colonies. New England Colonies. Middle Colonies. Southern Colonies. Date of Colonization. Famous People. John Smith John Rolfe. The king later divided the region into two royal colonies. In he created South Carolina. And in he created North Carolina. South Carolina attracted settlers from many countries. They built a seaport named Charles Towne Charleston. It soon became the most prosperous southern seaport. Settlers started rice plantations in the rich swampland along the coast.
They brought in slaves to work on the plantations. By this time tobacco planters in Maryland and Virginia were already using slave labor.
Slavery became firmly established in the South. The last of the 13 colonies, Georgia, was founded by James Oglethorpe. In those days English debtors people who owed money they could not repay were sent to jail.
Many remained behind bars for years. Oglethorpe knew that many prisoners were poor but honest. They could become good colonists. Oglethorpe arrived in with a group of debtors. They settled at a site they called Savannah.
Savannah became a thriving seaport. By then, the English flag flew all along the coast of North America. The colonists were building a new way of life, and they also built a new nation that would become the United States of America.
Teacher Info: About Us. A civics and media literacy resource from Scholastic Magazines. About Us. Bookmark Bookmark. Grades home. The Thirteen American Colonies.
A painting of colonists building a fort at the Jamestown, Virginia, settlement. The Settlers and Why They Came. Why did these people leave their homes in the Old World? Virginia: The First Successful Colony. New England.
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