Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were colonies in British North America in what is now the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. They were founded for different reasons. Some people thought that they would make a lot of money in new goods in America that could not be found in Europe, such as tobacco. Others left to find freedom of religion or just to make a new start. Some wanted to be in charge and to change things that they did not like back at England.

Thirteen Colonies
1607–1776
Anthem:
The Thirteen Colonies (shown in red) in 1775 with modern borders overlaid
Status	Colonies
Government	Various colonial arrangements
Monarch
• 1607–1625	James I & VI (first)
• 1760–1776	George III (last)
History
• Roanoke Colony	1585
•	1607
• New England	1620
• Rhode Island Royal Charter	1663
• New Netherland ceded to England	1667
• Treaty of Utrecht	1713
• Province of Georgia	1732
• French and Indian War	1754–1763
• Articles of Association	1774
• Independence declared	1776
•	1783
Population
• 1625	1,980
• 1775	2,400,000
Preceded by Succeeded by Pre-colonial North America New Netherland United Colonies
Today part of	United States

The first colony was Virginia, which was started in 1607 at Jamestown. The last colony of the thirteen to be started was Georgia in 1732.

The Thirteen Colonies (listed from north to south):

1. New Hampshire
2. Massachusetts
3. Rhode Island
4. Connecticut Colony
5. New York
6. New Jersey
7. Pennsylvania
8. Delaware
9. Maryland
10. Virginia Colony
11. North Carolina
12. South Carolina
13. Georgia

The colonies are often divided into three groups. The northern group was called New England and included New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

There were four Middle Colonies: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

The South had five colonies: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

New England had small farms and focused on fishing, forestry (trees and lumber), shipping, and small industry to make money.

The South had large plantation farms that grew tobacco and later cotton. Plantations were farmed first by indentured servants, who would work for a period of years in return for their passage to America and land. They were later replaced by slaves.

The Middle Colonies had medium-sized farms. They also had people from many different cultures with many different beliefs.

All three regions were tied to the "Atlantic economy". Colonists built merchant vessels, and merchants traded slaves, agricultural goods, gold, fish, lumber, and manufactured goods between America, the West Indies, Europe and Africa.

After the French and Indian War, Great Britain made new taxes and other laws that angered some people in the colonies. That led to a war between Great Britain and its former colonies: the American Revolutionary War.

The colonies said why they wanted to become independent of Great Britain on July 4, 1776 at the Declaration of Independence and became known as the United States of America.

Thirteen Colonies Media

• Rufst du, mein Vaterland, God Save the King, Oben am jungen Rhein and Kongesangen (1938)

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  The Thirteen Colonies of British America:      (Dark Red): New England Colonies       (Red-Brown): Middle Colonies       (Brown): Southern Colonies

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  The 1606 grants by James I to the London and Plymouth companies. The overlapping area (in yellow) was granted to both companies on the stipulation that neither found a settlement within 100 miles (160 km) of each other. The location of early settlements is shown, including Jamestown (J), Quebec (Q), Popham (Po), Port Royal (R), and St. Augustine (SA).

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  New Netherland with 17th-century Dutch claims in areas that later became English colonies shown in red and yellow. Present U.S. states are shown in gray. Four British colonies, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, are referred to as the middle colonies.

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  Territorial changes following the French and Indian War; land held by the British before 1763 is shown in red and land gained by Britain in 1763 is shown in pink

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  Join, or Die by Benjamin Franklin was recycled to encourage the former colonies to unite against British rule.

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  A map of the Thirteen Colonies (in red) and nearby colonial areas (1763–1775) just before the Revolutionary War

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  Map of higher education in the 13 Colonies immediately prior to the American Revolution.

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  Some of the British colonies in North America, c. 1750

  1. Newfoundland
  2. Nova Scotia
  3. Thirteen Colonies
  4. Bermuda
  5. Bahamas
  6. British Honduras
  7. Jamaica
  8. British Leeward Islands and Barbados