Focus Question:
How did regional differences in climate, types of farming, populations, and sources of labor shape the economies and societies of the first 13 colonies during the 18th century?
Topics on the Page
Differences Among Colonies in farming, populations and sources of labor
Government and Types of Colonies
Native Americans in the Colonies
Women in the Colonies
LGBTQ People in the Colonies
Order of Ratification of the Constitution
Differences Among the Colonies
- New England Colonies: Long, cold winters; major industries were fishing, shipmaking, lumbering, and trade
- Middle Colonies: Good climate for farming; major crops were wheat, barley, rye; larger ethnic diversity in population
- Southern Colonies: Rich soil and warm climate; main industry tobacco plantations
Rap video on differences between Colonial Regions
Video lecture by high school history teacher Jeff Raymond
Explore the town of Williamsburg on this interactive map
Government and Types of Colonies
- Royal Colony: Governor chosen by the King of England
- Charter Colony: Members of a corporation; electors controlled the government
- Proprietary Colony: Owned by individuals with direct responsibility to the King
Indentured Servants
Indentured Servants in the U.S. PBS History Detectives
Indentured Servants in Colonial Virginia
Voices of Labor in the Atlantic World: An Interactive Tour of Servitude, Commerce and Travel in the 1600s and 1700s
Native Americans in the Original Colonies
Click here for a map of Native American Tribes in North America (1783) from the Mapping History Project at the University of Oregon.
Click here for interactive maps on the Development of Native American Culture to 1500, also from the Mapping History Project at the University of Oregon that includes views of cultural areas, materials used for clothing, population density, sources of food, and linguistic divisions.
Some colonies relied on the enslavement of Native populations for wealth and growth -- although this waned with the rise of the African slave trade.
This article discusses colonial Germ Warfare on Native Americans, including the distribution of smallpox blankets by Lord Jeffrey Amherst.
Women in the Colonies
- Overall, women were held to similar expectations across all colonies: maintaining household order, teaching moral behavior to children, and doing as their husbands told
- However, women in Southern colonies had the possibility of more freedoms, as the Northern colonies were founded as religious, puritanical, and heavily patriarchal societies
- Single or widowed women in the South could run their own businesses, whereas women in the North could only do so if their husband had purposely deserted them
LGBTQ+ People in Colonial America
- ATTN partnered with Colonial Williamsburg to write this article on the surprising roles of LGBTQ+ people and awareness in Colonial America
Order of Ratification of the Constitution by Colony
Delaware
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Georgia
Connecticut
Massachusetts
Maryland
South Carolina
New Hampshire
Virginia
New York
North Carolina
Rhode Island
Lesson Plan for Younger Students
Image IDs from left to right
1. Narragansett Indian Tribe Flag Wikimedia Commons, "Bandera Narragansett".
2. Onedia Indian Tribe Flag Wikimedia Commons, "Bandera Oneida".
3. 13 Original Colonies University of Texas at Austin, Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection - Cambridge Modern History Atlas, 1912, "The Thirteen Original Colonies at the End of the Colonial Period".
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